1 Canadian Dividend Stock Down 44% to Buy and Hold Forever

A short-seller attack knocked this non-prime lender off its highs. But the business keeps growing, the dividend keeps rising, and the selloff may be creating a rare long-term opportunity.

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Key Points
  • Goeasy's stock is down 44% from its highs despite record revenue growth of 15% year-over-year
  • The company has delivered an average return on equity of 23.9% over five years.
  • A quarterly dividend of $1.46 per share was just approved, signaling management confidence.  

Valued at a market cap of $1.95 billion, goeasy (TSX:GSY) has created significant wealth for long-term shareholders. In the last decade, GSY stock has returned 800% to shareholders after adjusting for dividend reinvestments.

Despite these outsized gains, the TSX dividend stock is down 44% from all-time highs, allowing you to buy the dip and benefit from a 5% yield.

goeasy is a Mississauga-based lender that has quietly built one of the strongest track records in Canadian finance. Revenue hit a record in the most recent quarter, the loan portfolio topped $5.4 billion, and management also raised the quarterly dividend.

For long-term investors who can stomach some volatility, this kind of disconnect between stock price and business fundamentals is exactly what creates generational buying opportunities.

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What goeasy does and why it matters

goeasy serves what the financial industry calls “non-prime” borrowers. Its customers include Canadians who don’t qualify for loans from traditional banks because of limited credit history, past financial hardship, or other circumstances.

Through its three brands, easyfinancial, easyhome, and LendCare, goeasy offers everything from unsecured personal loans to home equity loans, auto financing, and lease-to-own products on furniture and appliances. Since its founding, the company has originated $18.5 billion in loans to over 1.6 million Canadians, according to company statements.

The business model is built on risk-based pricing. Borrowers start with higher interest rates that reflect their credit risk. As they build a track record of repayments, goeasy helps them graduate to lower rates over time. It’s a model that aligns the company’s incentives with its customers’ success.

Roughly one-third of goeasy’s borrowers successfully graduate back to prime lending within a year of starting a relationship with the company.

Is the GSY stock sell-off overdone?

The stock’s 44% decline stems from a short-seller report published in September 2025, just days after GSY approached all-time highs. Management used the third-quarter (Q3) earnings call to provide additional transparency on two specific areas that had raised eyebrows: interest receivable on the balance sheet and the company’s borrower assistance programs.

Here’s the short version on interest receivable:

  • The $142 million balance reflects interest accrued on all loans under international accounting standards.
  • Roughly two-thirds of it is normal accrual tied to performing loans.
  • The rest relates to delinquent accounts and borrowers using assistance tools, a standard feature of non-prime lending.

When a customer faces financial hardship, goeasy offers tools to help them stay current rather than default immediately. In any given month, about one in 10 borrowers uses one of these tools. For context, that rate reached 12-13% at the peak of the COVID pandemic and typically runs around 7-8% in normal economic times.

The broader Canadian economy is creating real headwinds right now. Unemployment hit 7.1% in Q3 2025, the highest level since 2016 outside of the COVID years, according to management commentary.

That pressure is showing up in early-stage delinquencies. But goeasy’s net charge-off rate actually improved 30 basis points year over year to 8.9%, landing at the low end of its own guidance range.

Is GSY stock undervalued?

In Q3 of 2025, Goeasy reported revenue of $440 million, an increase of 15% year over year. Its loan originations rose 13% to $940 million while the gross consumer loan portfolio grew 24% to $5.4 billion. Its operating income rose 4% to $170 million, while earnings per share were $4.12.

The goeasy board approved a quarterly dividend of $1.46 per share, representing an annual payout of $5.84. The consumer lending platform offered an annual dividend of “just” $0.48 per share in 2016.

GSY stock is priced at 6.4 times forward earnings, below its 10-year average of 10 times. If the earnings multiple returns to its historical mean, the TSX stock could surge by nearly 100% over the next 12 months. Analysts remain bullish, with consensus price targets indicating a 60% gain.

Fool contributor Aditya Raghunath has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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