Some of the best long-term investments are reliable companies with defensive businesses that can constantly find ways to expand their operations. And when you can find a reliable and defensive business that also offers attractive long-term growth potential, there’s no doubt it’s a stock you’ll want to add to your buy list.
Investors often look for the hottest stocks to buy, and while investing in stocks with momentum and short-term catalysts can have benefits, there can be significant risks that these stocks could be overvalued.
Furthermore, when investors target the hottest stocks on the market, emotions can take over, especially if a stock doesn’t rally right away, causing investors to become impatient and sell at a loss.
That’s why the best way to invest is to find high-quality stocks to buy that have years of growth potential to outperform the market and then hold them for years or even decades to come.
It’s extremely difficult to time the market, so it’s far better to simply buy and hold the best investments on the market.
For example, over the last decade, Brookfield Corporation has earned investors a total return of 288%, Alimentation Couche-Tard has earned investors a total return of 569%, and Dollarama has earned a total return of 655%.
And while these are some of the top examples, and not every stock will perform like that, it shows the potential that you can make buying and holding stocks for the long haul.
Those stocks all had ups and downs over the last year, but to try and trade these stocks and time the market to outperform their natural growth would be extremely difficult.
Therefore, the goal is to look for the highest-quality stocks on the market that have years of growth potential and then buy and hold them for years.
So, if you’re looking for top Canadian growth stocks to buy today, one that’s a no-brainer is GFL Environmental (TSX: GFL).
Why is GFL Environmental one of the top growth stocks to buy today?
GFL Environmental is now the fourth-largest environmental services company in North America, an essential industry, making it a highly defensive stock and perfect for this economic environment. Furthermore, it has been consistently growing by acquisition over the years and continues to have tonnes of growth potential going forward.
Plus, in addition to the potential it has to make more acquisitions going forward, GFL also has significant growth potential in the renewable natural gas space, especially as governments around the world continue to invest in cleaner energy technologies.
Therefore, considering the stock is one of the few stocks in Canada offering both growth and defensive qualities, it’s certainly one the best stocks to add to your buy list today.
Recently the stock has been divesting its non-core operations and using the funds to pay down debt and strengthen its balance sheet while continuing to look for value accretive acquisitions it can make.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that as the TSX has struggled over the last 12 months, only gaining 2.7%, GFL stock is up by 48% over that stretch.
However, even despite this impressive performance, the growth stock still looks like one of the best stocks to buy today.
In fact, all 10 analysts that cover GFL rate the stock a buy, and its average analyst target price of $55.55 offers a potential return of roughly 13%.
That’s not bad for a reliable stock that can help protect your capital should a recession materialize soon. So, if you’re looking for one of the best growth stocks to buy now, given the uncertain economic environment, GFL Environmental seems like a no-brainer.
