The global markets have seen better days, that’s for sure.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index is down more than 6% over the past two-and-a-half weeks heading into Friday. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has lost a little more than 5% of its value over the past two trading days alone.
When the market undergoes bouts of volatility as it has in the past week or so, it’s easy to start panicking.
And even while that type of emotionally-charged response is never a good thing, as some investors out there will impulsively reach for that “sell button.”
But if you can manage to stomach the turbulence and hang in there even as the market gets a bit choppy, what usually happens is that great companies go on sale at outstanding prices.
Enbridge Inc (TSX: ENB)(NYSE: ENB) is one of those truly great Canadian companies.
Yet to be perfectly honest, the ENB stock has struggled a great deal, trying to break out of the slump that’s plagued since 2015.
I still like the company and its 6.47% annual dividend yield – a lot – over the long term, but I come from the “show me” state and until I see otherwise from Canada’s largest energy infrastructure giant, I’d tend to go with an investment in one of – or all three of – these three companies first.
Shares in BCE Inc. (TSX: BCE)(NYSE: BCE) have fared a lot better than the broader market averages over the past week, virtually flat this week compared to significant losses for many popular indices.
That has a lot to do with the stable nature of the company’s operations as one of North America’s largest telecoms.
BCE isn’t quite a utility company – but it has some similarities.
Spending on communications services like telephony, wireless internet and cable are notoriously sticky, and it will take a lot before Canadians start scaling back on their wireless usage in droves.
In the meantime, the company increased its payout by 5.2% last year; with its shares yielding 5.94% today, you’re getting a very respectable return while you wait.
Cineplex Inc (TSX: CGX) is a bit of an anomaly, as the shares actually up 1.93% this week despite the turbulent markets.
Coming off five-year lows, the stock, currently trading at $33.87 and yielding shareholders 5.14% annually, has a long way to go before it returns to its all-time high just north of $50 on the TSX reached back in 2017.
Some have suggested that the firm faces very real threats in the form of digital technology, virtual reality and over-the-top streaming services.
Whether that proves to be the case, it has taken proactive steps to diversify its operations in recent years, including launching its new Rec Room concept, which helped led Cineplex to record performance in the second quarter.
Molson Coors Brewing Co (TSX: TPX.B)(NYSE: TAP) is a stock that I’ve been banging on the table about for much of the past calendar year.
But with TAP stock once again trading near the $60 mark, I don’t like it any less than I did earlier in the year.
The alcoholic beverage market is about as recession-proof as it gets, and you could even make the argument that if Canadians were forced to tighten their purse-strings, it could even led to a shift in buying patterns away from premium craft brews and back to cheaper mass-market beers like Coors and Molson Canadian.
Not to mention that recently enacted tariffs on steel and aluminum could threaten to jeopardize the profits of Molson’s smaller mom-and-pop craft brewing competitors, paving the way for some opportunistic M&A (mergers and acquisitions) activity on the part of North America’s largest alcohol brewer by volume.
