Long-term investing is crucial for success. It’s much easier to pick businesses that can perform over the long run than it is to try and pick securities that will perform in the short run. Therefore, any time you’re looking at buying Canadian stocks, it’s crucial to keep a long-term mindset.
The best businesses to buy are companies you can have confidence owning for decades and that you don’t have to ever sell.
These businesses are constantly expanding their operations and growing both their earnings and their cash flow. So, for many, which are dividend stocks, that means constant and consistent dividend increases year after year.
And periodically, as your portfolio grows in size, you’ll want to add more exposure to each of your top holdings. Plus, when you plan to hold stocks forever, you can be highly picky about when you decide to invest more.
And right now is one of the best opportunities, so if you’re looking for some of the best stocks to buy now, here are five of my top holdings that I don’t think I’ll ever need or want to sell.
Two top defensive Canadian stocks to buy and hold for years
In this environment, it’s crucial to have confidence in your portfolio and therefore, owning highly defensive and reliable Canadian stocks is so important.
However, even besides this environment owning high-quality and defensive stocks is ideal for the long haul. That’s why two of my top holdings are Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (TSX: BIP.UN)(NYSE: BIP) and North West Company (TSX: NWC).
Brookfield is an incredible stock that owns infrastructure assets all over the world. These are highly defensive, can benefit from inflation, and offer plenty of opportunity for growth.
Plus, Brookfield is also constantly recycling capital, which is why it’s also an incredible growth stock.
Meanwhile, North West owns grocery stores in supermarkets, mostly in remote regions in northern Canada and Alaska. This is a highly defensive business, and because North West is vertically integrated and controls its costs so well, it’s one of the top consumer defensive stocks that Canadian investors can buy.
Plus, in addition to the defence these stocks offer, they are also both high-quality dividend-growth stocks. Therefore, I don’t think I’ll ever sell these two stocks, and if they’re ever trading undervalued, I’ll certainly look at buying more.
A top energy stock
There’s no question that energy stocks have been some of the hottest investments this year. However, even if the energy industry was to cycle and these stocks became ultra-cheap, I’d almost certainly continue to own Freehold Royalties (TSX: FRU) for years to come.
Freehold is an incredible stock because it buys land where other energy companies produce oil and gas and then pay it a royalty. This is a lower-risk method of investing in energy, but one that still benefits when prices for energy rise.
Plus, because Freehold earns so much free cash flow and has no capital expenditures, it can use excess cash flow to continue acquiring more land, which, as we’ve seen recently, allows Freehold to expand rapidly across the United States.
Therefore, not only is Freehold one of the best Canadian stocks to buy now due to its 7.7% dividend yield, but it’s also an energy stock that you can plan to own for decades.
Two of the best growth stocks in Canada
Building a portfolio is all about finding the right balance of stocks for your financial situation. So, for me, it’s crucial that in addition to highly defensive stocks, I also own a ton of high-potential growth stocks.
That’s why goeasy (TSX: GSY) and Aritzia (TSX: ATZ) are two of my top holdings. And right now, many growth stocks, including these two, are trading ultra-cheap, making now a great time to take a position.
goeasy is a specialty finance stock that’s been growing impressively as of late. In just the last three years, it’s grown its earnings by 164%.
Aritzia, however, is a vertically integrated women’s fashion retailer. The company has long been popular in Canada, but now it’s expanding rapidly across the United States, offering tons of long-term growth potential.
Therefore, while these two top Canadian growth stocks continue to perform well, I will continue to add to my positions, especially while they’re undervalued.
