It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again: when markets are selling off, as they have been recently, it’s the best opportunity to buy stocks. Whether you’re looking for Canadian growth stocks or more established dividend stocks, major market pullbacks don’t happen all the time, so it’s crucial to take advantage of the opportunity.
With that being said, though, to optimize your long-term performance, you need to focus only on buying the highest-quality businesses. This is important both for long-term growth and also in case the economic environment gets worse before it gets better.
These environments are certainly great opportunities. However, the reason the opportunity presents itself is that there is more risk in the market today.
The best way to mitigate that risk, though, is to invest for the long run. If you focus on buying the highest-quality stocks, not only should you be comfortable owning them, but they should also continue to perform well through unfavourable economic environments.
With that in mind, here are two of the best Canadian dividend stocks to buy now and two of my top portfolio holdings that I just added more exposure to.
A top Canadian stock that’s perfect for this environment
One of the very best Canadian dividend stocks that you can buy for the highly uncertain environment we’re in is Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (TSX:BIP.UN)(NYSE:BIP).
Brookfield is one of the best dividend stocks that Canadian investors can buy today because it’s well diversified, owns highly resilient and essential assets, and can even benefit from rising inflation. While it’s always been a great stock to buy and hold for the long haul, it’s one of the best to buy today.
Of course, because Brookfield is so reliable, the stock is not the cheapest especially compared to the rest of the market. However, that goes to show how well it’s already protecting investors’ capital in this environment. Plus, as I mentioned above, it has the potential to continue growing its operations.
Therefore, while it’s not that cheap, when the stock recently pulled back by 10%, I saw the opportunity and decided to add more exposure.
Now, more of my capital is protected by a high-quality company that I have tonnes of confidence in. Furthermore, because Brookfield is an attractive dividend stock, I also increased my passive-income stream.
Right now, Brookfield offers a yield of roughly 3.5%, but it also aims to increase its distribution between 5% and 9% each year, an attractive annual raise for passive income investors.
Therefore, if you’re looking for highly reliable Canadian dividend stocks that can help you shore up your portfolio, Brookfield Infrastructure is one of the best.
One of the best long-term dividend-growth stocks for Canadian investors to buy
While Brookfield isn’t that cheap, despite the market selloff, one stock that offers a massive discount that I couldn’t ignore was goeasy (TSX:GSY), the specialty finance stock. If you’re looking to go bargain hunting and buy the best stocks you can find at the cheapest prices possible, goeasy is one I’d put at the top of your buy list.
goeasy is one of the most impressive Canadian growth stocks you can buy. Its business has grown rapidly in recent years thanks in large part to the economy but also to all the locations goeasy has opened in recent years and its incredibly effective marketing.
In addition to all this impressive growth potential, though, and now the unbelievable value that the stock offers, goeasy is also quickly becoming one of the most attractive Canadian dividend stocks. In just the last three years, it’s increased its dividend by 194%, from $1.24 per share annually in 2019 to $3.34 per share today.
Now, after its massive selloff, the stock offers an impressive yield of roughly 3.5%, making it one of the best dividend-growth stocks that Canadian investors can buy.
In addition, the stock is trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of just 8.6 times. That’s well below its three-year average of 11.7 times and even its five-year average of 10.8 times.
If you’re looking for high-quality Canadian growth stocks to buy now, goeasy is one of the most attractive stocks on the market today.
