Canadian Sin Stocks (Hint: It’s Not Mostly Beer)
Canadians: Known for hockey, stronger beer, cold weather, and politeness.
But Canadians not without their vices.
If you ask any Canadian what their vice is, they’ll probably tell you it’s Tim Hortons — the iconic coffee chain (basically what you’d get if Dunkin Donuts was on every single street corner in America). Tim Hortons is currently owned by Restaurant Brands International (NYSE: QSR) but is being bought out by Burger King (NYSE: BKW) in a move that shocked and dismayed Canadians.
Although Canadians may have Tim Hortons “double-double coffee” floating through their veins, that is not truly one of the Canadian sin stocks.
Canada has a few sin stocks, including the following:
- Amaya Inc (TSX: AYA) creates and distributes gambling software all over the world.
- Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) is a NYSE-traded global brand but they own the iconic Canadian brewery Labatt.
- Big Rock Brewery (TSX: BR) brews some pretty good beer IMO.
- GameHost (TSX: GH) creates gambling software.
- Great Canadian Gaming Company (TSX: GC) owns casinos and horse-racing tracks.
- Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE: TAP) is a US-traded company but the “Molson” half of “Molson Coors” is an iconic Canadian beer.
- Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM), as the company that runs Philip Morris’ international (non-US) brands, this company owns several Canadian cigarette brands.
- Tweed Marijuana Inc. (TSX-V: TWD) produces medical marijuana.
No surprise, there is a notable lack of crime sin stocks (publicly-traded prisons) and conflict sin stocks (gun manufacturers or private security firms).
So what does this mean for you? Well, if you’re a Canadian investor looking for Canadian sin stocks, these are the ones available. (Well, there might be others but it’s too cold to look and I think there’s a hockey game on anyway, so you will have to do your own research legwork if you want any more).
And if you’re a non-Canadian investor then it might mean that you consider how these will impact your portfolio if you add them. For example, Canadian smoking laws are getting increasingly stricter (so it would be interesting to see the impact on companies like Philip Morris International) but marijuana laws are becoming broader (I won’t say “more lax” but I will say that I think we’ll see more medical marijuana companies starting in the future). I’d also watch those gaming software companies closely, too. And if you think that Canadians may consume more beer (highly likely) then you’ll want to take a look at the companies that own Canadian beer brands.
