The Best Canadian Blue Chip Stocks For 2023

Can blue chip stocks be part of your winning investment strategy? A successful long-term approach to investing is to pick winning dividend stocks to hold forever and as you probably know, it’s a lot harder to do for a consistent period of time than you can imagine.

Many investors and stock analysts will share their opinion on many different stocks but the reality is that there are proven businesses with a long history of growth and success through good and bad times.

Those blue chip companies often have a leg up on the competition and lead the way with consumers for recognition.

Here is what you will learn:

• What a blue chip stock is
• The complete list of blue chip stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange
• The top 10 blue chip stocks

What Are Blue Chip Stocks?

A blue chip stock has the following characteristics:

• The company is a leader in both market capitalization within its sector, its country and in its business segment.
• The company will often have products that are well-known to everyone and established within the household.
• The company will often pay a dividend and have paid a dividend consistently for many years. While it’s not required to pay a dividend, or have increased the dividend, they usually have established the pattern.

Blue chip stocks are considered to be more defensive with the ability to weather stock market storms. It doesn’t mean the stock price will not go down, it means they are expected to recover due to their established business and strong foothold.

The blue chip reference comes from understanding that a blue chip is the most valuable poker chip if you are curious about the reference. Watch this video for a great explanation.

Stay on top of your next investment decision with the Dividend Snapshot Screeners. Review the Chowder Rule along with the 3, 5, and 10 year ratios for dividend growth, EPS growth and the payout ratio to pick a solid investment for your portfolio.

Canadian Blue Chip Stocks

Here is what I consider to be the complete list of blue chip stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange. I identified around 50 blue chip stocks from the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Top 10 Canadian Blue Chip Stocks

Below is the list of the best ranked blue chip stocks from the Dividend Snapshot Screener. I own a number of the stocks listed, see my stock holdings for more details. All data points are accurate as of the time of writing.

What you may find interesting is that many of the Canadian Dividend Blue Chip Stocks also trade on the NYSE as cross-listed stocks. Please note that from a market capitalization perspective, none of the Canadian REITs have made it on the list below.

The following list represents Canadian dividend stocks to hold forever – if you were to evaluate the holdings of many ETFs or mutual funds, you would find those companies.

1. Royal Bank

Royal Bank is a diversified financial services company offering personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor services, and capital markets products and services. It is one of Canada's largest banks. Royal Bank also ranks amongst the largest banks in the world based on market capitalization. It serves 16 million clients in Canada, the U.S., and 34 other countries.

By geography, Canada is its largest market accounting for 61% of revenues, followed by the US (23%) and other countries (16%). Royal Bank has a large set of diversified customers ranging from corporate and institutional to high net worth clients.

The bank has five business segments - personal & commercial banking (49% of earnings), capital markets (21%), wealth management (18%), insurance (7%) and investor & treasury services (5%). It maintains a good balance of assets having nearly 50% retail and 50% institutional assets.

Key Investment Data

2. Alimentation Couche-Tard

Alimentation Couche-Tard is one of the largest Canadian companies and the owner of several Canadian convenience stores. The company also supplies road transportation fuel to approximately 1,300 locations in the U.S. and offers stationary energy and aviation fuel.

As a leading independent convenience store operator, Couche-Tard owns a network of nearly 10,000 convenience stores in 48 states in the U.S., ten provinces in Canada, as well as other countries.

It operates more than 16,000 stores worldwide. By geography, the US is its largest market accounting for 67% of 2018 revenues, followed by Europe (20%) and Canada (13%). The company operates through Couche-Tard and Mac’s brands in Canada and Circle K globally.

Key Investment Data

3. Telus

TELUS Corporation is the second-largest telecom company in Canada, providing a wide range of communications products and services such as data, IP, voice, television, entertainment, and video. 

The company has ~16 million customer connections, including 10.6 million wireless subscribers, 2.2 million Internet subscribers, 1.2 million residential network access lines, and 1.2 million TELUS TV customers. It is also Canada’s largest digital healthcare provider and has been a major telehealth player for over a decade. 

The telecom has a strong presence in the wireless segment which accounts for 55% of total revenue while the wireline segment constitutes the remaining 45%. Nearly 70% of the total earnings is derived from the wireless segment. The wireline segment comprises data, voice, and other services and equipment. 

Key Investment Data

4. TD Bank

Toronto Dominion Bank is a leading Canadian bank providing banking products and services in Canada and the US. It is the fifth largest bank in North America by total assets. The bank was formed as a result of amalgamation of The Bank of Toronto and The Dominion Bank in 1955. Retail earnings accounts for more than 90% of TD Bank’s total earnings.

The bank operates through three business segments: Canadian retail banking (53% of latest income), U.S. retail banking (47%) and wholesale banking. TD Bank offers a wide range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services to more than 25 million customers worldwide and almost 13 million digital customers.

Toronto Dominion bank operates through more than 1,250 locations along the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro DC, the Carolinas and Florida. It enjoys #1 or #2 market share positions for most of its retail products in Canada. The bank operates in four of the top ten metropolitan areas and seven of the ten wealthiest states in the U.S.

Key Investment Data

5. Brookfield Asset Management

Brookfield Asset Management is a leading global alternative asset management company focusing on real estate, infrastructure, renewable energy as well as private equity. The firm serves institutional and retail clients through its four partnerships. It operates through Brookfield Property Partners, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, Brookfield Renewable Partners, and Brookfield Business Partners.

Infrastructure investments account for the largest portion of investments at 45%, followed by real estate (20%), private equity (20%) and renewable power (~15%). Over 85% of its revenues are long term.

Brookfield Asset Management has a large global presence in over 30 countries which grants it a competitive edge for proprietary deal flow. Brookfield Asset Management invests in North America (86% of funds deployed), Europe (8%), South America (5%) and Asia (1%).

Key Investment Data

6. BCE

Bell Canada Enterprises is Canada’s largest telecommunications company. It provides an extensive range of products and solutions for its customers’ communication needs. The company owns Canada’s largest network of data centers, retail outlets, as well as Bell LTE, Canada’s national network.

BCE is a leading residential communications provider offering fiber-based Fibe TV and Fibe Internet, Connected Home services and home phones in seven provinces. It also provides national wireless services, and a wide range of business communications services including data hosting and cloud computing across the country.

Bell Canada caters to a diversified customer base which includes retail consumers, businesses and government customers. Moreover, its multimedia company, Bell Media is Canada's premier media company hosting the No.1 sports channel TSN.

Key Investment Data

7. Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services company in Canada. The company provides financial advice, insurance, as well as wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups, and institutions.

Manulife offers unique product offerings for different markets it serves. The company provides a suite of financial protection and wealth management solutions to meet the current and future needs of individual and group customers. The company also owns reputed brands like Manulife and John Hancock in the USA.

Manulife serves 26 million customers in the USA, Canada, and Asia. With more than 125 years of experience, the company has developed strong customer relations and a deep understanding of their financial needs. Clients look to Manulife for reliable and intelligent financial solutions.

Key Investment Data

8. Intact Financial

Intact Financial Corporation is the largest provider of property and casualty insurance in Canada and a leading provider of specialty insurance in North America. The company’s popularity can be gauged from the fact that about one in every five Canadians is a customer of Intact Financial products and services.

The company enjoys a 17% share in the P&C insurance market in Canada. In terms of business segments, personal and auto accounts for nearly 40% of DPW (direct premium written), followed by personal property (20%), commercial lines Canada (25%) and commercial lines USA (15%).

About 85% of the company’s revenue is derived from Canada and the remaining 15% is from the U.S. The company operates through Intact insurance, BrokerLink, OneBeacon and Belairdirect banners.

Key Investment Data

9. Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway is a leading transportation and logistics company in North America. The company owns the only transcontinental railway line in North America and provides intermodal, trucking, freight forwarding, warehousing and distribution services.

As North America’s leading supply chain player, Canadian National Railway carries more than 300 million tons of cargo annually. It is a fully integrated rail and transportation services company and is the top mover of aluminum, iron ore and base metal ore in North America.

Canadian National handles over 50% of all Canadian chemicals production and services the three major petrochemical centers in North America. Its product portfolio is well diversified with intermodal accounting for 25% of revenues, followed by petroleum & chemicals, and grains & fertilizers each at 17%. Forest products, metal, minerals, automotives, etc. constitute the remainder.

Key Investment Data

10. Canadian Natural Resources

Canadian Natural Resources is a diversified and independent energy producer in the world. It is the largest independent natural gas and heavy crude oil producer in Canada.  It operates a balanced mix of natural gas, light crude oil, heavy crude oil, and oil sands. The company holds some of the best oil sand assets in North America, particularly thermal in situ properties, having tremendous growth potential.

The company’s business can be broadly classified into Exploration and Production (North America, North Sea, offshore Africa), Oil Sands Mining and Upgrading, and Midstream and Refining segments. The Exploration and Production segment is Canadian Natural’s core business, while the other two businesses provide a nice diversification.

Canadian Natural Resources has a balanced mix of natural gas, light crude oil, heavy crude oil, bitumen, and SCO. The company also owns midstream assets consisting of two crude oil pipeline systems and cogeneration plants, which enables the transportation of heavy crude oil in international markets.

Key Investment Data