Abhishek Raghunath

Gold is often considered a safe-haven asset, meaning investors tend to flock to gold during economic uncertainty or market turbulence

With markets at record highs, it might seem that there are no cheap stocks left to buy. A lot of stocks under $10 might not be the best ones around, and investors would do well to avoid them. However, for those willing to put in hard hours, there are several stocks under $10 with significant upside. Here are 10 of them.

US-based Airbnb is one of the most well-known companies for millennials and Generation Z renowned in the travel and hospitality segment. The company uses its own website-enabled and mobile-application-based online platform to help travelers across the globe find homestays for an array of purposes including lodging, primary homestays, vacation rentals, and tourism.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to the normalization of the work-from-home culture and many organizations have found it as a good cost controlling mechanism that doesn’t hamper employee productivity levels. Due to this condition, the gig economy got a major boost. Gig websites give people the opportunity to make additional income while they were working from their homes and some also started finding it more appealing as they could set their own schedules and follow their respective passions.

Based in California, Robinhood Markets Inc. is a financial services company that provides an online investment platform to its users (31 million as of 2021) for trading in various types of listed securities and exchange-traded funds without charging any commission. The platform also lists down several other facilities like high-yield cash management offerings, margin trading, and access to initial public offering (IPO) investments. The company is a FINRA-regulated broker-dealer and is registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, it is also a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.

Based in Ontario, Kirkland Lake Gold is one of the oldest gold mining companies engaged in the acquisition, production, and operation of gold properties. The company carries out its mining operations from three high-quality mines namely the Macassa Mine, Detour Lake Mine, and Fosterville Mine that are located in Canada and Australia respectively.

In the past five years, Kirkland Lake Gold stock has gained more than 500%. However, the stock has taken a beating over the past year and is down by 23.62% since last year and by almost 8% so far this year. That said, it looks like a decent entry at this price point, and the stock looks like it is in recovery mode.

Blackberry is a completely different company now than it was almost a decade ago. From being a mobile phone company in the past decade, the Canada-based giant is now a specialized cybersecurity company that provides services like enterprise-critical event management solutions, endpoint protection, and promotes internet security by employing artificial intelligence and machine learning mechanisms against any cyber threats.

Kroger is an American retail company operating the largest supermarket (in terms of revenue) in the country. Though the stock has lost much of its market share to rivals like Walmart post-2018, it made it through the pandemic relatively unscathed as demand for groceries and home cleaning supplies were on a rise.

The fourth wave of COVID-19 is here. The number of cases in Canada is on the rise and while the situation isn’t as dire as it was in March 2020, there is still cause for concern. If the country does go into another lockdown, investors should be looking at stocks that will be able to survive and even grow during the lockdown.

Lightspeed POS, presently known as Lightspeed Commerce Inc, is a Canadian retail POS company that offers a Software as a Service (Saas) based e-commerce platform primarily to small and medium-sized businesses located in Canada, United States, Germany, and Australia, among others. During the pandemic when online shopping was at its peak, the company’s omnichannel commerce software aiding online payment solutions got a massive boost and as a result the company’s share also blew up. Within the past year, Lightspeed has gained around 200%, and even now, the stock is continuing to outperform the market and has gained about 40% year to date.

According to the government of Canada, “The Canadian space sector has established a world-class reputation in many areas, including in Earth observation, space robotics, space science and exploration, and satellite communications; and continues to innovate into emerging capabilities.” This industry also has a huge role in the country’s nation-building process and as per a 2018 report, it has been generating $5.7 billion in revenues along with contributing $2.5 billion to the Canadian economy.

Facebook is a company that has faced its fair share of challenges through the years but it is moving on like ‘The Little Engine that Could’. Except, Facebook is no longer little and the engine is a monster that can’t be stopped.

With vaccinations and a recovery in corporate earnings, it is a very good time to invest in stocks that will benefit from the economy’s reopening. This list doesn’t contain names like Air Canada or Cineplex because we believe that while these stocks can zoom up, even a little bad news or a jolt can cause these stocks to erode investor value. The stocks on this list are ones that will do well in shaky times as well.