Building long-term wealth often starts with a balanced portfolio that combines growth potential, attractive valuations, and reliable dividend income. Rather than concentrating on one investment style, owning solid companies across all three categories can help investors navigate changing market conditions. For those looking to put new money to work today, Brookfield (TSX: BN), Gildan Activewear (TSX: GIL), and BCE (TSX: BCE) each stand out for different reasons.
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Brookfield: A growth stock built for the long term
Brookfield has earned its reputation as one of Canada’s premier investment companies. Over the past three decades, it has generated compound annualized returns of approximately 19% for investors, demonstrating its ability to create value across multiple market cycles.
The company still has significant room to grow. It continues expanding its alternative asset management, insurance wealth solutions, and essential infrastructure businesses, while benefiting from powerful long-term trends such as artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, the global energy transition, and the rapid growth of private credit. Management believes these opportunities can support annualized shareholder returns of more than 15% over the long run.
Brookfield also has the financial flexibility to capitalize on these trends. It ended the first quarter with US$188 billion of deployable capital, giving it ample capacity to pursue attractive investments as opportunities arise.
The stock also appears to trade at good valuations. Management has been repurchasing shares when they trade substantially below intrinsic value, buying back approximately US$470 million worth of stock earlier this year at an average price of US$41 per share. With the shares recently trading only modestly above that level, investors have an opportunity to buy alongside management at what appears to be an attractive valuation.
Gildan Activewear: A value opportunity with growth catalysts
Gildan Activewear offers an appealing combination of value and earnings growth. While the market remains focused on execution risks surrounding its HanesBrands acquisition, investors may be underestimating the long-term benefits.
The company expects the acquisition to increase annual revenue to between US$6.0 billion and US$6.2 billion while generating meaningful cost savings. Management projects approximately US$100 million in first-year synergies and a total run-rate of US$250 million by 2028, helping lift adjusted operating margins to roughly 20%.
Much of this improvement will come from consolidating manufacturing into Gildan’s efficient, vertically integrated nearshore production network while closing higher-cost facilities inherited through the acquisition. At the same time, the company is expanding successful brands such as Comfort Colors and licensed Champion products while broadening its presence in underwear and hosiery.
Despite targeting adjusted diluted earnings-per-share (EPS) growth in the low-20% range through 2028, Gildan trades at only about 13.2 times earnings. That combination of strong earnings growth and a modest valuation makes it an attractive value stock for patient investors.
BCE: An income stock with recovery potential
For investors seeking dependable income, BCE deserves consideration. After a significant share-price decline since 2022, the stock now offers a dividend yield of roughly 5.7%, well above the broader Canadian market’s roughly 2.1% yield.
Importantly, the dividend appears supported by the company’s earnings and free cash flow. Meanwhile, management is working to strengthen the business by reducing costs, investing in AI-enabled and cloud infrastructure opportunities, expanding its U.S. presence, and improving the balance sheet. If these initiatives continue gaining traction, investors could benefit from both dependable income and meaningful capital appreciation.
Investor takeaway
Each of these Canadian stocks fills a different role in a diversified portfolio. Brookfield offers long-term growth driven by global investment opportunities, Gildan combines an attractive valuation with powerful earnings catalysts, and BCE provides above-average dividend income alongside turnaround potential. Together, they represent three interesting ideas for investors looking to add to their portfolios today.
