Investing doesn’t have to be a roller coaster, but many times it turns out that way. Highly-volatile stocks can sometimes send investors on a wild ride. A good example is Shopify Inc (TSX:SHOP)(NYSE:SHOP), which has increased more than 60% over the past year, but it has seen some sharp declines during that time as well. Yesterday the stock was down 6% as the markets had a bad day.
You can measure a stock’s volatility by how much it moves in relation to the market as a whole. The TSX was down more than 1.6% yesterday, and so Shopify’s decline was well in excess of that. Growth stocks and speculative buys normally see a lot of volatility, and so it’s no surprise that Canopy Growth Corp (TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC) was also down more than 4.5% as it too had a much worse day than the markets did.
One stock that didn’t see a big decline was Waste Connections Inc (TSX:WCN)(NYSE:WCN), which declined just 0.80% and is what I would call a recession-proof stock. The stock’s consistency and stability make it a great buy for investors that just want to buy and forget about their purchase while watching their portfolio rise in value.
While Waste Connections may not be an exciting company to invest in, a boring stock makes for a safe investment. Some investors may prefer the high-risk high-reward stocks, but especially when valuations are as high as they are today, there’s much less risk investing in Waste Connections than there is in Shopify or Canopy Growth.
