When the Dow Jones industrial average is down close to or over 1,000 points in a single trading day, it’s widely assumed that almost every stock out there is down on the day. When the reason for the sell-off is mostly attributed to a risk of the coronavirus (Covid-19) becoming a widespread global pandemic, then maybe even the most defensive names become cannon fodder in such a brutal day of trading. That’s just not quite the case on Monday.
24/7 Wall St. has tracked some of the stocks that are either defensive in general or that are defying the big drop because they have some aspect of their business that might be immune to daily scares or because they are potential beneficiaries of these moves. We screened out the companies with market caps under $2 billion to avoid most speculative stocks.
We did not cluster many companies that are in the same industry to avoid covering sectors.
Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) was last seen trading up 1.8% at $167.65, with close to a 2.6% dividend yield. That Clorox bleach will kill just about anything.
DexCom Inc. (NASDAQ: DXCM) was trading up 0.9% at $293.82, down from a recent high of $306.71. People are going to want to keep up with their continuous glucose monitoring for diabetes whether the coronavirus is out there or not.
Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) traded up 0.3% at $102.75 on Monday, after having hit a new all-time high of $103.79. Duke’s dividend yield is still close to 3.7%. Power and electricity will be used no matter what.
Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) was up even more but was last seen 3.3% higher, at $72.05, after hitting a 52-week of high of $74.51. All you need to know is that remdesivir is a potential treatment for coronavirus, with some serious caveats and questions.
Newmont Corp. (NYSE: NEM) was up 2.4% at $50.62, after hitting a new high of $51.34 on Monday. The largest gold miner by market capitalization is just that much more profitable with another surge higher in gold. This same thought has most other gold miners up as well.
Patterson Companies Inc. (NASDAQ: PDCO) was up 2.6% at $23.30, and still well under its 52-week high of $25.25. Are dentists going to stop buying replacing dental equipment? Probably not.
SJW Group (NYSE: SJW) was 0.5% higher to $71.79, with a 1.8% dividend yield, mainly because water will be used and needed no matter what.
Teladoc Health Inc. (NYSE: TDOC) traded up again, with a 1.6% gain to $115.40. it is still down from last week’s high of $119.26. After all, telemedicine and getting a preliminary doctor appointment without having to wait in a room full of sick people sounds attractive.
Virtu Financial Inc. (NASDAQ: VIRT) was up 3.6% at $18.95, but still down from a 52-week high of $25.82. The belief here is that these guys make major money in big market moves either way, but maybe not like they used to.
Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) traded up 4.5% at $106.45, but still under its post-IPO high of $110.75. Zoom Video is part of the “work from home” economy in a sense as it allows for constant communications.
Here is a list of how the speculative biotechs and vaccine players have done on a day when their own coronavirus efforts may have a pay-off.
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