There is an assortment of high-quality Canadian stocks that have provided exceptional returns for shareholders in the long term. Many high-quality stocks have taken a hit in 2025. The market has favoured mining, banking, and speculative stocks. As a result, you can add some very good stocks at reasonable valuations.
If you have an extended time frame (like 10 or 20 years), you don’t need to pick a bottom in these stocks. Slowly build a position over a year or two, then just hold on and do very little else.
Long-term investing is boring, but it can be extremely profitable. Here are three Canadian stocks I’d look to buy and hold for the next 20 years ahead.
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A top Canadian software stock for the long run
With a market cap of $11 billion, Topicus.com (TSXV: TOI) is the largest stock on the TSX Venture Exchange. It has been a rocky ride for Topicus shareholders this year. Its stock rose 64% to a new high of $194 per share. However, it has given up most of those gains with a recent 30% decline to $137 per share today.
It looks like an opportunity. Topicus.com has made very good progress in 2025. It acquired several larger businesses, including a large stake in a Polish vertical market acquirer. Year to date, revenues, earnings per share, and free cash flow rose 18%, 97%, and 11%, respectively.
It is a very resilient business with a large focus on government, education, and financial clients. Europe has a large, fragmented market of software companies, so it has a wide net to cast. It has a strong balance sheet to continue executing on its growth-by-acquisition strategy.
Being a spin-out from Constellation Software, it has a focus on smart capital allocation and high returns on invested capital. The recent pullback creates a long-term buying opportunity where the stock is attractively valued.
An industrial stock with great capital allocation
Another Canadian stock to consider for the next 20 years is TerraVest Industries (TSX: TVK). Even though it only has a market cap of $2.9 billion, it has delivered incredible returns for shareholders. Its stock is up 800% in the past five years and 2,192% in the past 10 years.
With those types of returns, you might be surprised to discover that it operates in some mundane industries. It operates several industrial businesses focused on tanks, trailers, and boiler manufacturing, as well as energy services.
Its strength is in its ability to deploy its capital into these relatively cheap businesses, improve and optimize operations, and yield attractive cash flows. Over the past 10 years, net operating profits after tax are up 500% for a 20% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR). If it can continue this 20% growth rate, long-term shareholders should be very happy.
A Canadian small-cap stock with more to go
Canadian small-cap stocks can be a great place to hunt for long-term value. With a market cap of $256 million, Firan Technologies (TSX: FTG) is an interesting small-cap today.
Firan makes specialized cockpit components, circuits, and high-tech airplane intelligence and communication hardware. Since COVID-19, aircraft demand has rapidly surged. Major aircraft manufacturers have decades of backlog from airlines desperately seek more efficient vehicles.
In the past three years, revenues have risen by a 30% CAGR. Earnings per share have soared by a 47% CAGR. Wise acquisitions have expanded its product assortment and manufacturing geography. This has smartly diversified its production to help manage tariff threats and customer concentration.
This Canadian stock is targeting 15% annual growth. If it can continue to quietly execute like it has, this could be an excellent stock to buy on the recent pullback and hold it for several decades ahead.
