Finding the right mix of stocks to balance out your portfolio can be tough at times, particularly when needing to factor in diversification, market opportunities, and whether to put the focus on growth-driven or income-producing stocks.
Fortunately, the market provides plenty of opportunities for investors to realize significant gains that meet all of those requirements and much more. Here are several compelling options to consider buying today.
Enbridge (TSX: ENB)(NYSE: ENB) is the first company on the list and is among several companies often mentioned as great investment options. Enbridge operates one of the largest pipeline networks on the continent and carries a substantial amount of the crude and gas across the continent. This results in a toll-booth-like revenue model that is incredibly attractive and stable, particularly as demand for crude grows and pipelines remain in short supply. Additionally, Enbridge prices usage of its pipeline network based on volume and not on the price of those commodities.
In other words, rain or shine, irrespective of oil prices, Enbridge continues to collect the fees it charges. Adding to that appeal is Enbridge’s dividend, which currently offers a tasty 5.93% yield that is both stable and growing.
Timing also plays into Enbridge’s appeal. The stock is currently down nearly 5% this week following a decision by a U.S. court that the controversial Line 3 replacement program had a less-than-adequate environmental impact statement. While this ultimately means that Line 3 could be delayed, it doesn’t make Enbridge any worse of an investment. In fact, prospective investors should seize the opportunity and buy the stock now that it is discounted.
Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX: TD)(NYSE: TD) is a top pick from the financial sector, and I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the opportunity that Canada’s second-largest bank has to investors.
TD expanded heavily into the U.S. market in the years following the Great Recession, particularly along the east coast. Today, those assets are re-branded as TD Bank in the U.S., and TD is regarded as one of the largest banks in the U.S. market with a network of locations that stretches from Maine to Florida, with more branches in that market than back home in Canada.
That large network helps provide a boost to TD’s bottom line during earnings season, while also adding an element of diversification into the mix.
TD also provides investors with a handsome quarterly dividend; it currently amounts to a tasty 4.01% yield, which is not only stable but growing thanks to a series of annual or better upticks that stem back years.
Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX:ATD.B) rounds out this list as yet another great growth stock while adding a bit of diversification into the mix. Couche-Tard is one of the largest convenience store gas station operators on the continent, operating in a unique market that is full of opportunity.
Couche-Tard makes this list for three key reasons. First, there’s the unique market for convenience stores and gas stations itself, which is mostly controlled by regional players. This makes Couche-Tard ideally suited to swoop in and acquire those regional players (which the company has done over the years) to stitch together a massive network.
That appetite for expansion is the second noteworthy point. As Couche-Tard has acquired those regional players around the world, the company has not only integrated them in terms of branding and products but also realized significant cost synergies along the way.
The final point to note is Couche-Tard’s continued push for innovation. Rather than resting on its laurels and letting that massive network of locations generate revenue, Couche-Tard is constantly looking for more opportunities that will drive profits even higher, such as the proposal to acquire locations in Asia and convert them into more of a destination for customers with seating and a larger selection of foods, rather than the North American stereotype of locations acting as an interim stop on the way to a final destination.
