Wall Street is seeing some green shoots on Tuesday, as the market wrestles with the likely new reality created by the coronavirus pandemic, which has brought many businesses across the globe to a screeching halt.
With that in mind, Bespoke Investment Group has assembled a list of equity investments that may be worth tracking as the era of COVID-19, the infectious disease that has claimed more than 17,000 lives and infected nearly 400,000 people globally, plays out in the coming weeks, months and possible years.
A number of sectors, including consumer discretionary XLY, +7.21%, energy XLE, +9.95%, industrials XLI, +8.80% and financials XLF, +9.00% have been decimated, falling by at least 40%.
But the Bespoke crew says discerning investors may be able to identify opportunities that might emerge and, perhaps, even thrive in the aftermath of an economic recession that is expected to result from lockdown efforts put in place to mitigate the spread of the deadly pathogen.
“Yes, the virus will be here for many more months, but with testing, testing, testing and very successful treatments that are already saving lives,” wrote the Bespoke research team. The crew added “we can envision getting on with our daily lives again once we’re all confident that we know exactly what it is and how to deal with and defeat it.”
“All of this said, we’re not going back to the world we lived in prior to mid-February for a long time,” Bespoke writes.
Against the changing backdrop, the research firms says that open-air golf may prosper because the sport may be best suited to return to some semblance of normalcy after the outbreak subsides, making golf-equipment maker Callaway Golf Co. ELY, +21.23% a possibly good bet.
Stay-at-home outfits like internet-infrastructure company Akamai Technologies Inc. AKAM, +0.98% as well as home-improvement giant Home Depot HD, +11.88% also were spotlighted by the company.
Here’s the complete list, which has been amended since Bespoke first published it back on March 11:
| Company | Industry |
| Clorox Co. CLX, -1.30% | Disinfecting products |
| Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD, +0.37% | COVID-19 treatments |
| Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. REGN, -2.40% | COVID-19 treatments |
| Teladoc Health Inc. TDOC, -2.00% | Telehealth |
| Slack Technologies Inc. WORK, +3.68% | Work-from-home technology |
| Zoom Video Communications Inc. ZM, -10.94% | Videoconferencing |
| Peloton Interactive Inc. PTON, +4.63% | Exercise |
| Chegg Inc. CHGG, -0.94% | Online education |
| Twitter Inc. TWTR, +3.20% | Social media |
| PetMed Express Inc. PETS, +6.72% | Pet health |
| Chewy Inc. CHWY, +1.59% | Online pet products |
| Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +0.59% | Online shopping and cloud storage |
| Facebook Inc. FB, +4.75% | Social media/News |
| Campbell Soup Co. CPB, -0.40% | Food staple |
| Hormel Foods Corp. HRL, +3.88% | Food staple |
| Johnson & Johnson JNJ, +2.72% | Health care |
| Procter & Gamble Co. PG, +3.12% | Health staples |
| Netflix Inc. NFLX, -1.07% | Video streaming |
| Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI, -3.52% | Videogames |
| Electronic Arts Inc. EA, -3.93% | Videogames |
| Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. TTWO, +0.06% | Videogames |
| Akamai Technologies Inc. US:AKAM | Internet infrastructure* |
| Callaway Golf Co. US:ELY | Golf and sports equipment, apparel* |
| Home Depot US:HD | Home improvement* |
| Source: Bespoke Investment Group new entrants* |
Here’s Bespoke’s version of the list:
Meanwhile, the market is still awaiting clarity on a fiscal stimulus package from Congress, intended to help fund efforts to help those afflicted by the virus as well as to provide assistance for workers, industries and businesses that are the hardest hit by shutdowns.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +7.75% was up by about 8%, the S&P 500 SPX, +6.35% was surging 6.7% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +5.40% was gaining more than 5%. The Dow is off 32% from its Feb. 12 all-time closing high, while the S&P 500 is down 30% from its record peak, and the Nasdaq is off 26.4% from their Feb. 19 record peaks, with all three meeting the commonly accepted criteria for a bear market.
Check out: Opinion: Three stocks that are ‘part of the solution’ to the coronavirus crisis
See: Five ways investors can cash in on coronavirus stock slump, UBS says
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