Here's What I'd Buy With a $20,000 Portfolio This Year

Here’s What I’d Buy With a $20,000 Portfolio This Year

Understand the importance of reviewing stocks annually to navigate business cycles and optimize your investment strategy.

Puja Tayal

Author Bio

Puja Tayal grew up in a small-business family where dinner conversations often centred on working capital and savings. Her early experiences with investing, particularly during the 2008 financial crisis, shaped her approach to understanding markets and evaluating investment opportunities. She began her career at a mutual fund company before moving into investor education and financial writing for asset and wealth management firms. Before joining The Motley Fool, Puja wrote for Market Realist, where she extensively covered the semiconductor industry. Her published work has also appeared in The Indian Express. Puja believes every stock has a story that can help investors understand its potential returns. She combines business analysis with different investing approaches to help investors make informed decisions and align their portfolios with their long-term financial goals. Outside of finance, Puja enjoys long drives, catching up with friends, watching superhero and science-fiction movies, and managing her family portfolio. She also has a keen interest in artificial intelligence and its potential to reshape the world.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting and Finance, University of Mumbai (2007)
CFA Level I

Areas of Expertise

Qualitative company analysis, management strategy, risk assessment, long-term investing, portfolio diversification and rebalancing, dividend reinvestment, cyclical growth opportunities, compounding strategies, growth stocks, and dividend stocks.

Social Media Profiles

Favorite Investment Quote

"Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing." — Warren Buffett

Published August 21, 9:15 pm EDT

Building a strong portfolio of diversified assets that appreciate overtime requires constant rebalancing. Investing in the emerging trends helps you build wealth through capital appreciation. The current growth trends are artificial intelligence (AI) and infrastructure.

diversification is an important part of building a stable portfolio — Source: Getty Images

Three Canadian stocks to invest $20,000 this year

If you are looking for buy-and-forget stocks, there are none. Every stock gives returns in the form of capital appreciation and dividends, both of which need revenue and earnings growth. Companies go through business cycles of expansion, peak, recession, depression, and recovery. Hence, it is important to review your investments annually to ensure you rebalance investments when a company hits a peak and invest in another company in the expansion or recovery phase.

Celestica stock

Celestica (TSX: CLS) is currently in its growth phase, expanding from electronics manufacturing services to original design manufacturer (ODM). It has increased its capital spending almost fourfold in 2026 and raised US$3 billion in equity capital for further expansion. Celestica is working with various tech firms to offer customized hardware solutions. It already had three hyperscaler customers and onboarded one more, whose name it didn’t reveal.

Celestica is expanding its design capabilities with its first major Co-packaged Optics Ethernet switch program and rack deployments with OpenAI and AMD. Celestica stock has already surged 1,800% on the back of the artificial intelligence (AI) rally. Its next growth could come from ODM margins and an increasing share of the hyperscaler market.

I remain bullish on the stock over the next two years, as long as the AI hardware boom lasts. Once AI infrastructure investments normalize, you could consider rebalancing the profits to other growth stocks.

Constellation stock

Constellation Software (TSX: CSU) can give you exposure to the private equity asset class. Private equity generally demands 10–12 years of patient capital, as it follows a J-curve return. In the initial two to three years, returns are negative as private equity funds allocate capital to acquire companies. Then there is a sharp growth/recovery phase, wherein fund managers improve the operational efficiency of the portfolio companies to increase their organic growth and fair value. After seven to eight years, growth normalizes until the next cycle.

Constellation is constantly buying vertical-specific software companies and unlocking value. It gives small private companies and private equity funds an option to exit and large companies the opportunity to carve out a business segment that no longer aligns with their business. The condition is that the companies and segments should fetch regular maintenance fees.

Constellation stock took a hit in June 2025 as the founder stepped down and the chief operating officer took over. He introduced many changes, including the acquisition of bigger companies in the $100-million range, and shuffling the portfolio companies by vertical to ease AI adoption. You could see the share price appreciate, as Constellation’s recovery chapter unfolds in the AI environment with a new CEO.

Bird Construction

Bird Construction (TSX: BDT) is currently enjoying cyclical growth between 2026 and 2030 as it benefits from the Canadian government’s nation-building program. It already has a $12 billion order backlog, from which the company is prioritizing high-margin projects for faster completion. Bird Construction aims to grow its adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization margin from 6.5% in 2025 to 8% by 2027. It is a stock to hold till 2027 and then review growth.

Investor takeaway

The above three stocks present strong growth opportunities for the next two to four years. Timely review of your portfolio and rebalancing it in stocks that are emerging at that time can help build wealth.