Now that school is back in session, it’s time to look back on this weird summer we’ve had and start to do some studying. While the markets overall definitely didn’t perform all that well, there were a few stocks that stood out as overperforming in the markets.
While these stocks may have done well, that might not necessarily mean you should buy them today. After all, Canada is headed toward a recession and all the gains these three stocks have made could plummet to pre-summer levels — and then some. But as I said, it’s a time of study, so let’s take a look at the three best-performing stocks of this summer.
Shopify: A 35% summer increase
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. As analysts continued to spew out reasons why this stock shouldn’t continue to soar, Shopify Inc. (TSX: SHOP)(NYSE:SHOP) kept coming out with reasons to keep them soaring. Those reasons were mainly due to two factors.
The first is its earnings. The company announced a 48% year-over-year increase in its total revenue, with its subscription solutions revenue growing by 38%, driven by monthly recurring revenue.
This is excellent news for investors, as recurring means revenue that returns repeatedly. The company also increased its full-year financial outlook for 2019 to between $1.51 billion and $1.53 billion. Needless to say, investors were impressed.
The second factor is the company’s ability to continue coming out with new customer and merchant solutions. The company came out with Shopify Plus and the Shopify Fulfillment centre, both of which should prove highly lucrative in the long run.
Shopify Plus brings on the large clients with even more revenue, whereas Shopify Fulfillment allows Shopify to ship out its own products. Needless to say, it was an amazing summer for this stock.
Gran Colombia: a 40% summer increase
Next up, we have a stock that apparently has been able to take advantage of the gold boom. Gran Colombia Gold Corp. (TSX:GCM) may not have the price tag of Shopify, but it certainly had a huge increase over the summer.
The company started the summer with production increasing 12% to 118,483 ounces of gold in the first half of 2019, and increasing its guidance for the rest of the year to between 225,000 and 240,000 ounces of gold.
With gold on the rise, Gran Colombia has placed itself in a prime position to take advantage over the rest of the year. The stock was already seeing a rise from this news, but its announcement of its growing its Venezuelan assets created another boost in the stock. This could be just the beginning for this company.
Bellus Health: a 20% summer increase
Finally, Bellus Health Inc. (TSX: BLU) also had a banger summer, with the stock jumping back in June after the company announced the success of its clinical study for its BLU-5937 drug to treat chronic cough.
The second phase should be complete this year, with results announced in 2020. The company has a monopoly on this type of drug, leading investors to believe that now is the right time to get in before more success comes along, as the chronic cough market could be incredibly lucrative once this drug is approved.
Meanwhile, the company has plenty of cash on hand and zero debt, meaning that it can continue these research and development projects in the future.
Given the company’s incredibly cheap share price, Bellus is a great stock to keep in mind. Especially now that the initial excitement is passed, and its share price has flattened for the time being.
