When it comes to finding the highest-quality stocks in Canada, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more impressive and consistent investment than Dollarama (TSX:DOL) stock has been over the last decade.

In addition to earning investors a total return of 627% over the last 10 years, which is a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.9%, Dollarama has also rapidly expanded its operations.

Between 2014 and 2024, it increased its annual sales from less than $2 billion to more than $5 billion, a CAGR of 10.5%. Furthermore, it's grown its normalized earnings per share (EPS) from just $0.50 a decade ago to $2.76 last year, a CAGR of more than 18.5%.

So it's clear what an impressive stock Dollarama is. Not only does it grow its earnings at an incredible pace year in and year out, but it consistently leads to massive gains for investors over time, especially with the power of compounding.

The one drawback of investing in Dollarama today is that because it's such a high-quality stock, may be the best stock in Canada, it trades at a significant growth premium.

Therefore, it makes sense that investors would wonder where Dollarama stock could be in a year and whether it's worth investing in today.

Is Dollarama stock worth buying today?

It's not unusual to see the best and most consistent stocks on the market trade at a premium valuation, especially for high-quality growth stocks.

However, Dollarama's performance has been so impressive lately that even it is setting new records when it comes to its own valuation.

For example, right now, Dollarama is trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 31.7 times. That's significantly higher than its 10-year average forward P/E ratio of 26.4 times.

However, in the last few weeks, the stock has sold off, which has slightly lowered its valuation. In fact, just two weeks ago, Dollarama's forward P/E ratio was above 35 times, the highest it's ever been.

So, although it's always important to understand a stock's valuation and buy it as cheaply as possible, with a high-quality stock like Dollarama, you also don't want to miss the opportunity.

Furthermore, while hoping the stock will be higher in a year makes sense, the best way to approach an investment in Dollarama is to buy and hold for the long haul.

When you buy Dollarama stock to hold for years, the benefits are twofold. First off, you don't have to worry nearly as much about buying the stock at a sky-high valuation today because you're giving it years to continue growing its operations. Therefore, because you buy the stock to hold for the long haul, you can mitigate the risk of short-term volatility.

In addition, though, holding Dollarama stock for the long haul will also allow you to take full advantage of the power of compounding.

So, if you're interested in buying Dollarama stock for its growth potential, defensiveness and consistency, it's essential to buy the stock to hold for years.

Where will the discount retailer be in a year from now?

Although Dollarama stock will benefit investors the most as a long-term investment, it continues to have a tonne of potential in the near term.

In fact, not only is Dollarama continuing to open new stores in Canada and aiming to continue to improve its same-store sales across its network of stores, but it also has a tonne of potential with its investment in the Latin American dollar store chain, Dollarcity.

So, it's no surprise that analysts expect another 9% increase in sales next year, and a more than 14% increase in normalized EPS. It's also no surprise why Dollarama is one of the best stocks to buy now.

Therefore, regardless of the market environment or how the discount retailer performs over the next year, its business still has a tonne of momentum and significant long-term growth potential, making it one of the best stocks in Canada to buy today and hold for the next decade.