As savvy investors know, the current market environment has created numerous buying opportunities. There are already several high-potential growth stocks to buy in Canada, but with an uncertain market environment and many stocks trading off their all-time highs, the current economic climate is making this an opportune time to buy for the long haul.
Many growth stocks have seen major declines in their share price over the last two years, as interest rates have increased, uncertainty has picked up, and the market environment has worsened.
For many of these stocks, though, especially the highest quality businesses, their long-term growth potential never changed, regardless of how the economic environment has regressed. It’s short-term headwinds and uncertainty impacting their share prices, which is precisely why now is an excellent time for long-term investors to buy stocks.
Many of these stocks are much cheaper than they’ve been in the past, giving investors an excellent opportunity to gain exposure while these stocks temporarily trade at a discount and offer tremendous value.
And while there are a handful of high-quality growth stocks on the TSX to consider, one of the very best to buy now is WELL Health Technologies (TSX:WELL).
In fact, of the eight analysts that cover WELL Health, all eight of them give the stock a buy rating. Furthermore, the average analyst target price is currently $8.46, which is more than 86% higher than where WELL Health stock closed on Friday at just $4.54.
So, if you’re looking for a high-potential growth stock to buy and add to your portfolio, here’s why WELL is a top choice, and why you’ll want to take advantage of its current discount.
WELL Health is one of the best Canadian stocks to buy now
Although WELL Health looks extremely attractive today due to its current price and the value it offers, the most important factor making the stock a high-quality investment, as with any company, is its business operations.
WELL Health has intriguing operations, owning both tech businesses as well as physical clinics. In fact, while many know WELL as a healthcare tech stock, and while much of its growth potential is due to its telehealth businesses and digital health apps, WELL is also the largest owner/operator of physical outpatient medical clinics in Canada.
This diversification helps to lower the risk of WELL. Plus, the fact that it serves the healthcare sector makes WELL much more defensive than many of its tech stock peers. So, although it offers attractive long-term growth potential and is trading ultra-cheap, like many tech stocks, you can also have more confidence in its ability to weather an economic downturn.
Not to mention, WELL has a nearly four-year track record of either meeting or exceeding analyst expectations for growth.
And in the last three years, WELL’s sales have grown from just $33 million in 2019 to more than $569 million in 2022. Plus, this year, analysts expect its sales will grow by another 30% to more than $744 million.
That’s not all. In addition to the impressive sales growth, WELL also continues to improve its profitability. Normalized earnings per share are expected to grow by roughly 13% this year and then jump by over 36% next year.
Therefore, the fact that WELL is trading so cheaply makes it one of the best stocks you can buy now, and it’s easy to see why analysts are so bullish on the healthcare tech stock.
How cheap is WELL trading?
Right now, WELL trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of just 1.4 times, which is well below its three-year average of 4.8 times. Furthermore, its forward price-to-earnings ratio of just 15.4 times is considerably cheap for a high-quality growth stock like WELL.
So, if you’re looking for undervalued stocks to buy now before the market eventually recovers, WELL is certainly one of the best Canadian stocks to consider.
