If you don’t want to regret your Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) picks 10 years from now, you shouldn’t spend too much time worrying about which stocks happen to be popular this month. Instead, you should ask yourself a simpler question: is the business likely to be much bigger years from now than it is today?
If the answer to this simple question is yes, short-term volatility becomes much less important. In this article, let’s look at two top Canadian stocks I’d consider buying now and giving plenty of time to compound inside a TFSA.
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Couche-Tard stock
Let’s start with Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX: ATD), a proven Canadian business whose recent pullback could make it an appealing TFSA buy-and-hold stock. Couche-Tard mainly operates a global convenience and mobility network, including its well-known Circle K and Couche-Tard banners.
Although ATD stock has risen 7% over the last year, it remains nearly 18% below its 52-week high, making it look undervalued based on its long-term growth outlook. As a result, it now trades at $78.50 per share, giving the company a market cap of $72.1 billion. At the current market price, the stock also offers a 1.1% annualized dividend yield.
What makes this pullback worth paying attention to is that Couche-Tard’s recently released results showed encouraging business momentum. In the first quarter of its fiscal year 2027 (ended in July), the retailer’s revenue jumped more than 25% year over year (YoY) to US$21.7 billion. Higher average fuel selling prices, acquisitions, and organic growth in its convenience operations backed the growth, although softer fuel demand partly offset those gains.
More importantly, Couche-Tard’s adjusted net earnings for the quarter climbed 12.2% YoY with the help of stronger fuel margins and acquisitions.
Going forward, the retail giant plans to acquire Żabka Group in a deal valuing the Polish convenience retailer at about US$8.6 billion. Żabka operates more than 13,000 convenience stores across Poland and Romania. Along with new-store development and investments in food and customer traffic, the planned acquisition could further expand Couche-Tard’s long-term growth runway.
Waste Connections stock
Another stock worth considering for a long-term TFSA is Waste Connections (TSX: WCN), which offers a business backed by solid cash generation.
If you don’t know it already, this company provides waste collection, transfer, disposal, recycling, and related services across the United States and Canada. After sliding 8% over the last year, WCN stock now trades at $220.29 per share with a market cap of roughly $55.4 billion and a 0.9% annualized dividend yield.
Even with that share-price weakness, the ongoing trend in the waste management company’s financials looks solid. The firm’s second-quarter revenue climbed 6.4% YoY to US$2.56 billion, while its adjusted net profit rose to US$381.7 million from US$333.1 million. Adding to the optimism, Waste Connections posted adjusted free cash flow of US$457.5 million last quarter, much stronger than US$367 million a year ago. Those results encouraged Waste Connections to raise its 2026 outlook.
Interestingly, Waste Connections completed acquisitions representing more than US$100 million in annualized revenue and repurchased US$614.5 million worth of shares during the first half of 2026. Overall, its acquisition strategy, cash generation, and shareholder returns make WCN another compelling stock to buy and hold in a TFSA.
