5 stocks I’m still buying in 2022
“We do it because cash is the oxygen of independence, and – more importantly – we never want to be forced to sell the stocks we own.” – Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money.
Keeping cash is great for times of market volatility (and taking advantage of lower prices).
On that note, here are 5 stocks I’m buying (or have bought) in 2022 since January.
1. Equitable Group (EQB)
Equitable Group (EQB) is a growing Canadian financial services business that operates through the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Equitable Bank. Equitable Bank provides a range of personal and commercial banking accounts and services, including a range of smart banking solutions for Canadians: fast international money transfers, easy U.S. dollar accounts and more. It operates several business lines, including single-family lending services, commercial lending services, commercial mortgage, and deposit services.
You can find more details about EQB in this post – why I wanted to buy it – so I purchased some EQB in my taxable account recently when the stock price corrected. I hope to buy more later this year when I have more money to do so!
2. Waste Connections (WCN)
I love recession-proof companies – WCN is one of those as well. As you well know, while past performance is never indicative of future results, it’s hard to imagine a world without appropriate waste management.
In my check a few months ago, the company manages some $14 billion in assets that include its vehicles, dump sites, and waste processing/recycling facilities.
In the last 10 years, the stock has grown well over 400% but unfortunately I didn’t own it 10 years ago!
The stock has however weathered the recent market correction well and I bought more of this one in March (as much as I could afford at the time) for current defensive diversification, a value play, but also long-term capital gains in my taxable account.
Waste Connections has raised its dividend by an average of 13% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 11 consecutive years.
You probably know already that Waste Connections provides non-hazardous waste collection, transfer, disposal, and recycling services in the U.S. and Canada. So, with its “moaty stock status” it would be very difficult for any company to match WCN scale in the coming years let alone decades to compete with them.
3. Algonquin Power (AQN)
Yes, AQN.
No doubt some investors may not like AQN as much as I do but I like a healthy proportion of utilities including AQN in my portfolio for bond-like income and growing dividend income.
I’ve been a shareholder of this company for over a decade now and I I see no reason why not to add more.
My thesis on AQN remains simple – I am happy to support a green utility company. AQN acquires and operates green and clean energy assets including hydroelectric, wind, thermal, and solar power facilities, as well as sustainable utility distribution businesses (water, electricity and natural gas).
After I maxed out our TFSAs in January (and bought more a few hundred more units of low-cost ETF XAW (probably not the best timing but ah well?)) I also purchased a small bit of AQN this spring also inside my taxable acocunt.
4. Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD)
ATD was on my buy list for the better part of 2021 but I actually scooped up some shares when their price dipped under $50 in March 2022 in my taxable account – it just seemed to too cheap not to add more in my taxable account.
I’ve now owned Couche-Tard in my taxable account for the better part of three years since spring 2019. I own ATD for a more growth-oriented value in my taxable account because that’s a tax-efficient way to invest.
Couche-Tard is a multinational convenience store owner-operator with tens of thousands of stores across Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and more international countries. I believe they will continue to grow this company more via acquisitions over time.
5. Manulife Financial (MFC)
I’ve owned MFC for well over a decade and will continue to do so. The market correction very recently encouraged me to add a very small bit of Manulife to my portfolio around $22, my smallest purchase this spring, smaller than WCN, ATD and EQB in that order.
I think higher rates bodes well for financial stocks in general.
Other stocks on my watchlist:
In no particular order, for those paying close attention to my portfolio and posts, here are other stocks I would like to own more of:
BlackRock (BLK)
BlackRock remains a U.S. financial behemoth, and a big reason why we continue to own it. BLK has certainly been beaten up in recent months and if I had thousands of U.S. dollars to invest (which I don’t), I would be happy to acquire more.
Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ)
With rising oil prices becoming a crisis, there might still be time to invest in oil and gas for big returns in 2022 and for 2023. I’ve owned some CNQ for many years (along with Suncor (SU)) as oil and gas proxies in my portfolio. Beyond CNQ and SU, I tend to invest in Canadian pipelines for energy exposure.
I haven’t bought any CNQ for my portfolio yet this year but might very soon!
TD Bank (TD)
TD is one of our biggest banks and one of the best brands around. As interest rates rise in 2022, slowly, banks like TD (and EQ Bank) above should benefit a bit. Given where TD Bank price has fallen in recent months, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a mix of share buybacks AND another dividend increase likely in the 5-8% range by the end of 2022. Those are just two ways (share buybacks and via dividend increases) whereby shareholder value can be generated.
I haven’t bought any TD for my portfolio yet this year and we’ll see if I can afford some!
5 stocks I’m still buying in 2022 summary
These stocks above have caught my eye over the last few years to further diversify my portfolio AND be a bit strategic when it comes to market forces.
On my Dividends page, I highlight some other stocks I own. I’ve held many of these companies for over 10 years:
- Canadian banks (examples: Royal Bank (RY), TD Bank (TD)).
- Canadian insurance companies (example: SunLife (SLF)).
- Canadian telecommunications companies (examples: BCE, Telus).
- Canadian utilities (examples: Fortis (FTS), Emera (EMA)).
As I buy more individual stocks in my portfolio over time, I intend to offset any individual stock risks by owning low-cost diversified ETFs such as XAW in my portfolio.
When and where I see value, I’ll keep you posted as I buy more, add more, and build my income stream higher for any financial independence dreams.
Mark
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Mark
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A very informative post Mark. A lot of what you recommend I have but I find stocks like WCN, CNR, CPR, etc. too expensive to buy even in today’s market conditions. I bought most of my Enbridge around $27.00/ share and it has split at least three times. also I bought Brookfield when it was called Brascan and it has split 3/2 five times. I only have one ETF, one mutual fund and one money market fund. My DB pension plan does not come to much as after 22 years I was laid off thirty one years ago so it goes into a high interest savings account along with my CPP pension. I pay tax on the OAS but I don’t receive it as they claw it all back.
Having OAS clawbacks is a great problem to have, Ronald.
Yeah, WCN, CNR and CP all seem a bit expensive now and likely to be stable or run higher with the rest of the markets in the tank.
Seems very smart to me you were investing in those companies beyond any workplace pension. I have a pension as well but I absolutely invest on my own. I don’t 100% trust any pension 🙂
Mark
Hi Mark, great choices but where we differ is AQN and MFC.
I discarded both companies as I got tired of waiting for for capital appreciation.
I replaced AQN with EMA
And MFC with SLF.
I also agree with energy being a good place to park money for 2022-2023
I like EMA Davi, a lot, and happen to own more EMA than AQN for your reasons. I own AQN for bond-like steady income and I can also appreciate the capital gains have not been good for AQN over the last few years. I’ve owned AQN I recall since 2010.
https://www.myownadvisor.ca/algonquin-power-buy-sell-pass/
I own more SLF than MFC. I would also agree SLF and GWO might be better long-term but MFC was too cheap for me to ignore!
Any energy stocks you have your eye on?
Mark
Very informative post Mark. Thank you
I had not been noticing Blackrock’s price (probably the last time I looked was a few months ago and said its pricey) but it may be one I could be considering now that the price has taken a big hair cut and interesting to hear about the analysts price targets and they will be paying a dividend next month. I currently hold a US based Dividend ETF that I may sell and buy some shares of Blackrock- is a very small LIRA so no matter what I do with I am confident it will do something for me over the longer term.
What are your thoughts on Canadian Tire?
Have a wonderful weekend – I hope the weather in Ottawa is a good one this weekend 🙂
Great stuff Sue. I don’t own CTC but probably should have at some point. I guess I see nothing proprietary to CTC. Folks can consider other stories for their related supplies. That said, CTC up 66% over the last 5-years which is very good.
I like BLK personally and it seems cheap. I wish I had more USD $$ to invest, otherwise, I would buy some even 10 shares.
I have a very small LIRA and keep some QQQ in there for a tech-kicker. Long-term hold there for me.
Ottawa weather has been wild. Parts of the city without power for >20 hours now. Bad storms. More to come sadly with our planet burning hotter. We are fortunate to have power.
Take good care 🙂
Mark
Unfortunately, MFC has been dead money for the past 5 years. I think there are better insurance companies to choose.
That’s fair as well Dave – certainly not very much capital appreciation. I hope that changes a bit with higher rates? Do you like GWO, SLF? Others?
I owned MFC for approximately 2.5 years and probably broke even factoring in dividends. Switched to SLF a few years ago and happy I did.
I owned Manulife for approximately 2.5 years and probably broke even factoring in dividends. Switched to Sunlife a few years ago and happy I did.
Ya, SLF has been better lately for sure. Own a few hundred shares of that one.
Nice lists and good job Mark.
I directly own 2 of your 5, and 2 of 3 on your watchlist. Actually own all of them considering my etfs.
Have done a little stock and etf buying earlier this year, which should serve us well over the longer term.
I will likely buy some more of those in the coming weeks. I figure why not. I wish I had $10k+ USD to invest in more $BLK but not that much cash on hand!
As always hard to say what’s going to happen, so rather than guess keep to your plan.
I have cash but I think heavy enough in equities right now, and might be some gic’s going to happen here. Just hate tying up money.
I hear ya. I think 1-2 years’ in cash for semi-retirees and maybe beyond that, some GICs for 1-2 years is plenty (for full retirees). Stay in equities and buy more if you can 🙂
Mark
I do have $10K+ USD cash and hesitating which one to buy: COST or BLK. Both looks good. BLK is more undervalued now. Maybe half half. Or another thought is sell some Canadian DGI stocks I have and buy some undervalued US stocks. I have over weighted with Canadian stocks. Some of them now become overvalued. With high inflation, lots of people go to buy utility stocks and I have quite a lot of them. Also, I still can use my Group RRSP to buy more DGI stocks when I retire.
Too heavy in financial already, so maybe no EQB. Already own quite a bit of ATD, MFC, AQN, TD. WCN has been on my watch list for a long time, always feel it’s too expensive. Maybe I should just buy some.
By the way, just report that MX is closed under 64 today. I have rolled my 64 MX put today. If I didn’t roll it I will get 200 MX assigned to me. So I would like, still hold 200 MX, but get $1500 extra income from it.
Recently too busy with work. Feel lucky didn’t retire due to the high inflation and bear market, also surely more motivated with work, LOL.
I would say go half and half. I own BLK. I don’t own COST. I will likely need to wait until 2023 to buy more US $$ stocks. I don’t have the money sadly, fully invested.
I have a good % in utility stocks since I like them for income. I own all big-6 banks and EQB. I will buy more EQB this year likely.
ATD and WCN, I will likely buy more. I already added with MFC so done there I think 🙂
Nice on MX!!
Thanks Mark. As usual, I appreciate your sage advice. Just feels like the whole principle of diversification is thrown out the window without holding any bonds. I always believed bonds served as the ballast for a portfolio, and one would go up as the other went down. I know historically it is rare for BOTH stocks and bonds to sink together, so I think it would be wise to add some stocks that act as bond proxies to any portfolio. Besides FTS, any other bond-like stocks to consider?
I think bonds are very helpful Sil for 3 key reasons:
1. Short-term savings vs. equities (although GICs might be better for guarantees).
2. For portfoio rebalancing work.
3. To curb investor behaviour since bonds tend not to drop as much vs. equities in a correction. Therefore, good for stock market volatility hedge.
Maybe a fourth? Bonds can be helpful in deflation but I don’t see that now.
I’ve always liked a mix of utilities for income and growth. Check out ETF XUT. You can find the top utilities in Canada for bond-like income and growth over many years (10+). FTS is one of those for sure.
Let me know your thoughts!
Mark
Any thoughts on replacing fixed income (bond) component of portfolio with George Weston (WN), HydroOne (H), Canadian Pacific (CP) and Emera (EMA) ? I am also holding a balanced mutual fund but thinking that its 35% bond component will be a drag going forward if there is a prolonged period of rising IR’s.
I don’t own any bonds Sil = 100% equities here. I do that largely because of this reason:
https://www.myownadvisor.ca/got-a-defined-benefit-pension-plan-consider-yourself-lucky-then-consider-it-a-big-bond/
That said, instead of bonds, I keep cash and add to my holdings where I feel it makes sense. I just keep buying.
I own a few of those stocks and while I don’t see stocks as any replacement for bonds, I do like the income (via dividends) and growth that can come from many stocks.
I also see bonds not doing very well near-term (in the coming years) with a. higher inflation and b. higher interest rates.
https://www.myownadvisor.ca/why-would-anyone-own-bonds-now/
Just be very mindful if H, CP, EMA, etc. can go down in price and you need to expect and accept that – sometimes down 20% or more in price.
Thoughts?
Mark
Any concerns about WCN’s P/E ratio?
Meh, not really but it does suggest the price is high, right? I’d be more concerned with tech stocks with P/Es into the 100s. Like Tesla.
P/E is not a great metric IMO. It’s a misleading metric because it is either based on past data (what was – out of date) or projected future data (which is nearly impossible to predict). I like following EPS. WCN has rising EPS. That’s good.
Thoughts on metrics and other?
Mark
I have wanted to purchase WCN or the US waste co WM since late 2021. Unfortunately, both have held up well in the recent market pullback which is what one would want from this type of stock. As to metrics I have been paying more attention to D/E and share dilution in this rising rate environment.
That’s fair London. I also like WM in the U.S. but haven’t had enough saved up to pull the trigger. Maybe eventually!
Mark
Mark,
Thanks for the great post. Wondering what’s your target price for BLK and why?
Thanks
Gosh, I have no idea what BLK might be? 🙂 I own a bit, I won’t be selling, but certainly anything under $600 per share seems like a good deal. Some of the analyst rating I see on this one are a low $750 within the next 12 months to a high closer to $950 per share. Hard to say but it should go up!