Although this year may not have been the best for the markets, there have still been some standalone companies for investors to sink their teeth into. In fact, investors may have made a killing it they’d bought and sold at the right time.
Now, I’m not suggesting this is a great strategy going forward. In fact, I’m more of a buy-and-hold type of investor. But if you’re looking to see where some huge gains could be made not only this year but in the future, I would take a look at these three companies.
West Jet
WestJet Airlines Ltd. (TSX:WJA) was doing pretty well at the beginning of the year, with not much going on until May. That’s when the stock almost doubled in price on the news that investor group Onex Corp. would be acquiring the airline business for $5 billion in value.
Since then, the stock has been stable around $30 per share at writing – just when a recession could be hitting us any minute.
However, the stock hasn’t risen at all either, which is due to a number of factors, most recently that rival Air Canada has filed a challenge on the takeover, stating that a foreign company can’t own more than 49% of a Canadian company.
Regardless, if you had bought about $70,000 worth of shares in WestJet at the beginning of the year, you would have made $50,000 by now.
Ero Copper Corp.
Another stock that has just about doubled in share price is Ero Copper Corp. (TSX:ERO). This copper company has been on a steady incline since the beginning of the year, only coming down slightly in the last month or so.
The company’s share price soared after it announced its drilling exploration programs in Brazil had been successful, along with the discovery of further copper to be found in mines the company already owns.
The news and discovery pushed Ero’s 2019 guidance up 2,000 tonnes of copper to between 38,000 and 40,000 tonnes of copper. This, coupled with strong books overall, sent investors running to the stock.
If you’d purchased about $35,000 worth of shares at the beginning of the year and sold in the beginning of August, you would have made $50,000.
Shopify
Then of course there’s Shopify Inc. (TSX:SHOP)(NYSE:SHOP), where if you were the brave investor it might have been easy to make that $50,000.
Earnings results after earnings result of positive news sent shares sky rocketing this year, launching 2019 with a share price of $187 that topped off just shy of $545 last month.
The company’s share price has since fallen, but that hasn’t lost the future potential of Shopify. The company has proven that it can take on even the largest producers in the e-commerce industry, announcing its fulfillment centres and the success of Shopify Plus to encourage future investors.
However, with a recession on the books, it looks like investors are starting to shy away from Shopify and other tech companies. So if you had purchased about $27,000-worth of the stock at the beginning of the year and sold in late August, you would have made $50,000 by now.
