Building and scaling an impactful business requires a drive beyond making money. Businesses and consumers may be hesitant to re-adopt their pre-social distancing patterns of work, shopping, and lifestyle, and some may find that they simply prefer new ways of doing these things. Keep that in mind when building your portfolio. Real-time quotes provided by This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). We required these stocks to have a positive price change over the two most recent economic downturns--Jan. 1, 2008, to Nov. 28, 2008, and March 1 through Nov. 1 of 2001.
All rights reserved. The above list isn't exhaustive, as investing during an economic downturn is an enormous topic. (Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)Rich Williams, CEO of Groupon in 2016. It makes sense, consumers with less money to spend will head out to the companies that sell products on a discount, such as Other industries include precious metals and utilities. Ford (NYSE:F) Just years ago, Ford was in deep financial trouble, along with the entire American car … "Quotes delayed at least 15 minutes. On the other hand companies that specialize in online and remote services, including many tech companies, or companies that produce at-home alternatives to traditional goods and services, like home gym and exercise equipment in the DIY category, have seen business boom during this time and may continue to benefit. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)In this photo illustration, the Venmo logo is seen displayed on an Android mobile phone. Consumers who want to go out to eat but cannot find the money for expensive dining at private restaurants go to chains that offer lower prices.O'Reilly also had major gains. The financial crisis of 2008 wreaked havoc on the stock market. Usually in recession, gold (and companies relating to gold such as storage and mining) has a short fall followed by a massive spike. Security analysts anticipate that overall, sales and earnings growth for the median Platinum 400 company will fall to a paltry 3.8% and 2.5%, respectively. The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation. That may be the reason for the strong 2008 performance from auto parts retailer AutoZone Inc. ( You need to be willing to sacrifice short term profit gains to protect your customer," he said.The founders of some of today's most major companies did exactly that between 2008 and 2010.Yahoo veterans Jan Koum and Brian Acton created encrypted messaging app WhatsApp in 2009 as a way for people around the world to message each other quickly.The app gained popularity in countries that do not have access to the same cell network capabilities as the U.S. because it can operate on Wi-Fi.Facebook purchased the app, which now has more than 2 billion global users, for a jaw-dropping $19 billion in 2014.College friends Iqram Magdon-Ismail and Andrew Kortina launched digital payment app Venmo in 2009 as a way for peers to exchange cash digitally and without lofty transfer fees.Payment processor Braintree bought Venmo for $26 milllion in 2012, and digital payment giant PayPal then acquired Braintree for $300 million in 2013.Entrepreneur Andrew Mason founded Groupon, a website that promotes companies by offering deals on their products and services to consumers, in the middle of the 2008 recession. "With discounts, incentives and product discovery, Groupon provided a way for companies to get exposure and consumers to ease back into discretionary spending. "The pandemic we are dealing with is sending ripples throughout the business world," Lin said. ... As a business owner, your customers and their trust are paramount. In a receding economy, people still need water and power despite their financial situation. And as employees are kept out of work, companies are ensuring their workers are taken care of, whether they are working or not. It's the right thing to do and that's a trend that is long overdue. The technical term for this isHealthcare, food, consumer staples, and basic transportation are examples of relatively inelastic industries that can perform well in recessions.
"When we start to rebuild, there are a few trends I hope will continue. While this sounds really depressing, and it is, it did provide an opportunity for the industry to grow, which is why some companies did well during the recession. One final reminder is that stocks and industries that do well during a recession may not always do well when the economy recovers.
(Please note that while a return of 0.03% is considered poor in today's market, in a receding market any positive or even return was considered great. Most experienced strong growth from then, and are doing very well now. Similar to health care, people need food and can only cut spending on it by so much.