If you’re a student in need of work, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has a few benefits available to you. One of those benefits include the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB), which offers students up to $13,000 in benefits for those that are eligible.
There are two things to keep in mind for students. First, eligible students can receive $1,250 every four weeks for up to 16 weeks between May and August, 2020. If you have a disability or dependents, that’s raised to $2,000 every four weeks.
If you volunteer, you could be eligible for the Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG), which could give you between $1,000 and $5,000. That’s a grand total of potentially $13,000.
While you shouldn’t ever put all your money into one stock, if you’re able to take that $13,000 and put it toward a stock right now it should be WPT Industrial REIT (TSX:WIR.U).
Growth and dividends
There are few stocks out there that offer both huge growth opportunities along with dividends. WPT Industrial is one of those stocks. The company owns about 102 light industrial properties to date. While this sounds boring, the properties are used by e-commerce giants.
The businesses store and ship out products from these properties. WPT Industrial already has partnerships with companies like Amazon.
E-commerce was already slated to grow by leaps and bounds. With the pandemic, e-commerce jumped even further, with many relying on the industry to receive products for both personal and business use, which means a company like WPT Industrial has actually seen an increase in its earnings.
During the first quarter of the year, the REIT saw revenue and net operating income increase by 28.9% compared to the same time last year. It acquired a further 27 distribution buildings and three land parcels for future development. Meanwhile, the company’s dividend yield has remained strong even during the economic downturn.
Foolish takeaway
Investing while the markets are down can seem like a strange thing to consider for students, While share prices could go lower, even for a stock like WPT Industrial, if you’re willing to hold onto the stock for years, huge share growth is almost guaranteed — especially from REITs, which must pay out at least 90% of net earnings to shareholders as dividends.
Right now, WPT Industrial has a dividend yield of 5.89%. That yield has increased an average of 11% each year, and has remained strong even during the downturn. Meanwhile, the company’s share price has defied the markets. The stock is only 15% away from reaching pre-crash levels, so time is running out for a great share price. Meanwhile, since its initial public offering the stock has grown 62% as of writing.
For students able to use that $13,000 to invest, you could put it into a stock like WPT and see both a huge increase in share price and amazing dividends for years to come.
As e-commerce grows, so will this stock. But while you wait, you can bring in $1,173 in dividends each year from this stock, with the company giving out $97.75 in dividends each month.
