Although the pandemic came out of nowhere and severely impacted the value of almost all Canadian stocks across the board, ranging from riskier growth stocks to even some reliable dividend stocks, when you look back now, it also showed investors how each company responded and ultimately performed in the face of severe economic headwinds.
It wasn’t just about responding to the initial pandemic and how shutdowns might affect business but also about how these companies were able to recover and ultimately grow their operations, as the economy reopened and economic growth picked back up.
With several different headwinds over the last two years, though, it hasn’t been smooth sailing coming out of the pandemic. However, that hasn’t stopped the best of the best from finding new ways to grow value for shareholders, whether through capital appreciation or dividend growth.
So, if you’re looking to add high-quality Canadian dividend stocks to your portfolio in these unpredictable times, here are two of the top performers since the pandemic.
One of the top Canadian dividend stocks to buy now
Even when the pandemic hit, Pizza Pizza (TSX: PZA) was one of the best stocks at weathering the storm, especially when compared to other restaurant stocks in Canada.
The stock trimmed its dividend by just 30% while others suspended it altogether. And even that was a conservative move by Pizza Pizza.
Since its initial trimming of the dividend in April 2020, Pizza Pizza has now increased its monthly payments eight different times as of its most recent dividend increase yesterday during its third-quarter results, bringing its annual dividend to $0.93 now — 8% higher than it was at the start of the pandemic.
Pizza Pizza also reported another quarter of impressive revenue and earnings per share (EPS) growth, with same-store sales increasing 7% and EPS ticking up to $0.26 from $0.23 last year.
This marks the 10th straight quarter of revenue growth for the Canadian dividend stock coming out of the pandemic and shows what an excellent job it’s doing to continue to expand its operations, despite the significant macroeconomic headwinds in Canada.
So, if you’re looking for a high-quality Canadian stock to buy now, Pizza Pizza’s dividend now offers a yield of roughly 6.5%.
One of the best growth stocks to buy now
In addition to Pizza Pizza, another impressive Canadian stock that’s performed exceptionally well since the pandemic and offers both capital gains potential and dividend growth is goeasy (TSX: GSY).
goeasy has a long track record of rapid growth. However, one of the biggest issues the stock has faced, especially as the economic environment has worsened, has been the uncertainty about how its loan portfolio might be impacted and the increase in charged-off loans that it could see as a result.
This has caused its stock price to trade significantly undervalued for more than a year now, despite its continuous ability to grow its revenue.
In fact, in its third-quarter earnings, also released yesterday, goeasy reported adjusted EPS of $3.81, up 29% year over year. That was well ahead of the consensus estimate of $3.46.
Perhaps more importantly, its charge-off rate actually fell and continued to be within its target range, showing what an excellent job goeasy has done at managing its loan portfolio while rapidly expanding it.
This impressive operational performance has also contributed to consistent dividend growth, with goeasy’s dividend up a whopping 45% since the end of 2021. Today, it has a yield of roughly 3%, but the Canadian dividend stock has also only paid out roughly 29% of its trailing 12-month EPS.
So, if you’re looking for a high-quality and high-potential stock to buy now, goeasy trades ultra-cheap today, at just 8.1 times its forward earnings.
