When investors think of stocks that generate market-beating returns, they may try to come up with the latest tech innovators. However, often the best-performing stocks come from companies that simply operate reliable businesses. In this article, I will discuss the two top-performing stocks in Canada within the past decade. These companies may surprise you.
A leader in the North American automotive industry
This first company is a leader in the automotive industry, but not in the way you would expect. It leads the automotive repair industry. Do you know which company it is? If you guessed Boyd Group Services (TSX:BYD), then you guessed correctly. For those that are familiar with my writing, you will be well-aware that this is not the first time I have mentioned this company. Because of its strong performance, I doubt it will be the last.
Boyd Group operates one of the largest non-franchised collision repair centres in North America. Its over 600 locations are known as Boyd Autobody & Glass and Assured Automotive in Canada. In the United States, it is known as Gerber Collision & Glass. I have previously discussed this company as a dividend company with hidden growth stock potential. However, even I failed to put their previous outstanding performance into perspective.
Over the past decade, Boyd Group stock gained about 4,247%! This is a remarkable outperformance. Since its initial public offering in 1999, the company has returned 6,530% to investors. This trend shows that Boyd Group stock has been appreciating more quickly as it has become more established. At a market cap of under $4.5 billion, Boyd Group may still have a significant growth runway ahead of it.
This company is now a Canadian tech giant
This second company is one that most Canadian investors will have heard of. Constellation Software (TSX:CSU) was one of the top- performing stocks in the country over the past decade. Constellation Software is a company I often write about, and one that I recently mentioned as being at the top of my watch list.
In case you are not familiar with the company, Constellation Software is a diversified tech company. It has made its name around the Canadian technology scene by strategically acquiring top companies. Once these companies are integrated into its network of businesses, Constellation will help coach executives in hopes of building the company into an outstanding business.
I often talk about Constellation’s President, Mark Leonard, as being one of the top Canadian executives you may not know about. He has been involved with the company since its founding and is very much working towards continuing Constellation’s outstanding growth story. As long as he is involved, I believe the company has a lot more room to grow. Over the past decade, Constellation Software stock gained 4,064%.
Foolish takeaway
Boyd Group Services and Constellation Software may not have the most exciting businesses. However, both companies are led by very experienced executive teams and have a long history of great execution. These two companies both returned over 4,000% over the past decade and appear to still have a lot of room to grow from here.
