5 Stocks You Can Confidently Invest $500 in Right Now

With all the discounts on the TSX today, you don’t need to break the bank to invest in Canadian stocks right now.

Nicholas Dobroruka

Nik has been writing for The Motley Fool Canada since 2020. After studying marketing at University in his hometown of Montréal, Nik decided to pack up and move west to Vancouver. By day, Nik is a digital media ninja, specializing in Programmatic advertising. By night, you can find him either Mountain biking in Vancouver’s famous North Shore trails or writing for TMF Canada. Tech, digital payments, and renewable energy are three areas that Nik enjoys following and writing about.

Published February 28, 2023 1:30 pm EST

It can be difficult to find confidence in today’s volatile market. And with both interest rates and inflation not looking like they’ll drop significantly anytime soon, we may be in for another bumpy ride in 2023.

Regardless of how the year turns out, though, I’m certainly not staying on the sidelines this year. As a long-term investor, there are too many good deals on the TSX to pass up on right now.

With that in mind, I’ve put together a list of five top Canadian stocks you can feel good about buying, regardless of the market’s condition.

goeasy

It’s not often that goeasy (TSX:GSY) goes on sale like this. And with shares already nearing a 20% gain in 2023, these discounted prices may not be around for much longer.

After a monster performance in 2021, shares of goeasy dropped 40% last year. Today, the stock is trading close to 50% below all-time highs that hit in late 2021.

High interest rates have understandably hurt demand in the short term for the consumer-facing financial services provider. But for those that can afford to be patient, this is a proven growth stock that likely won’t be trading at a discount for much longer.

Toronto-Dominion Bank

During volatile market periods like these, it’s never a bad idea to own a few dependable companies like Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX:TD) in your portfolio. Growth investors may not have much interest in owning any of the Big Five. But growth is far from the main reason to have a company like TD Bank on your watch list.

In addition to adding stability to an investment portfolio, the bank stock can also be a meaningful income generator.

At today’s stock price, TD Bank’s dividend is yielding above 4%.

Fortis

Speaking of dependable companies, you won’t find many TSX stocks that can provide a portfolio with as much defensiveness as this utility stock.

For anyone that feels their portfolio is over-indexed towards growth stocks, Fortis (TSX:FTS) would be a wise investment to make.

Fortis’s dividend is also yielding upwards of 4% at today’s stock price.

Northland Power

If you’ve had a renewable energy stock on your watch list, now is the time to invest. The sector as a whole has been trending mostly downwards since early 2021, resulting in many top green energy stocks trading at hugely opportunistic discounts right now.

Northland Power (TSX:NPI) is currently trading 30% below all-time highs. Still, shares are up a market-beating 50% over the past five years. And that’s not even including the energy company’s impressive 3.5% dividend yield, either.

Descartes Systems

Last on my list is a high-growth tech company that’s outperformed many of its peers during what was a tough year for the tech sector in 2022.

Descartes Systems (TSX:DSG) managed to remain close to on par with the market’s return last year and is currently trading just shy of 10% from all-time highs. Shares are also nearing a 200% gain over the past five years.

Not many other TSX stocks can rival this tech company’s performance over the past two decades. And with a massive market opportunity still in front of Descartes Systems, this is not a growth stock I expect to begin trailing the market’s returns anytime soon.