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5 Shelter-in-Place Stocks to Buy as Coronavirus Cases Rise

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Governments across the world are gradually opening their economies and relaxing shelter-in-place measures but fears of coronavirus haven’t subsided. The fears might not be unwarranted, as there is still no sign of a vaccine to defeat the deadly virus.

In fact, some countries are reporting a rise in cases, with the United States already having crossed more than 6 million. On the other side of the world, India has been reporting more than 85,000 cases daily over the past few days.

Coronavirus Fears Persist

When coronavirus started spreading in the United States, predictions were bleak, which ended the bull market for tech stocks that drove the markets for the past few years. However, almost six months since the WHO declared the coronavirus a worldwide pandemic, tech stocks have bounced back.

Among the 11 sectors of the S&P 500, information technology has been the biggest winners during the pandemic. The Technology Select Sector SPDR’s (XLK) 25.9% return in the past six months bears testimony to the fact the tech rally has legs. The work and learn-from-home culture and social distancing measures have been giving a boost to the technology sector. Needless to say, shares of cloud-based software and cybersecurity companies that support shelter-in-place/work-from-home infrastructure have been outperforming the broader market.

Social distancing measures have seen the concept of buying and selling change completely, with more people shopping online. The stay-at-home trend is a blessing in disguise for video streaming services, videoconferencing platforms and dominant cloud players, to say the least. In fact, shelter-in-place stocks have been rallying since the coronavirus outbreak, with the majority outperforming the broader market. Given the bullish trend, investing in some of them will be a good proposition. Here’s a look at four such stocks.

Our Choices

Apple, Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) designs, manufactures and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories worldwide. Its signature products include iPhone, Mac and iPad.

The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 8.8%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 4.9% over the past 60 days.  Apple has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (ZM - Free Report) has been benefiting from the work-from-home and online learning wave. Zoom uses AI to schedule video meetings and for a host of other things such as organizing attendee details and transcripting details. In recent times, the company’s paid subscriber growth for the video conferencing service has improved, and CEO Eric Yuan said that the Zoom platform has been able to provide “an incredibly valuable service” in the coronavirus-induced stay-at-home scenario. 

The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is more than 100%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 78% over the past 60 days. The company carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Salesforce.com, Inc. (CRM - Free Report)  is the leading provider of on-demand Customer Relationship Management software, which enables organizations to better manage critical operations, such as sales force automation, customer service and support, marketing automation, document management, analytics and custom application development.

The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 25.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 25.9% over the past 30 days. The company sports a Zacks Rank #1.

Dropbox, Inc. (DBX - Free Report) is a service company. It offers a platform which enables users to store and share files, photos, videos, songs and spreadsheets. 

The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 54%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 4.1% over the past 60 days. The company carries a Zacks Rank #2.

SAP SE (SAP - Free Report) provides IoT and advanced analytics technologies which help customers in deriving meaningful insights and having decision-making capabilities. The company also provides an end-to-end suite of applications and services.

The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 3.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 5.7% over the past 60 days. The company carries a Zacks Rank #2.

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