With a global recession around the corner, it’s clear that investors need to be pretty careful when it comes to selecting shares. But it’s not all bad news. There are a number of stocks that could thrive in a post-Covid-19 landscape. And many of them look quite appealing from a price standpoint following the recent stock market crash.
Homeward bound
The coronavirus crisis has thrown a light on the correlation between high pollution rates and the spread of potentially-fatal diseases. It’s a trend that Killik & Co expects to have big ramifications for lawmakers across the globe.
The financial services giant believes that “a lasting impact of the coronavirus outbreak might be an increased focus on air quality, speeding up the decarbonisation of energy supply.” It adds that it expects more stringent emissions-related legislation “both at an industrial level and at a local level, with potentially more cities banning polluting vehicles and driving a shift to electric vehicles.”
Sales of electric vehicles are of course already taking off. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders sales of battery-powered electric vehicles rocketed more than 220% in 2019. Car manufacturers are investing more and more into greener technologies, in turn bolstering consumer demand. And the likelihood of more legislation should see them ramp up expenditure still further.
Rising electric vehicle sales mean good news for power grid operator National Grid, of course. By extension energy suppliers like SSE can also look forward to increasing demand for their services. The latter’s large exposure to renewable energy sources also sets it up nicely to ride increasingly-green legislation.
More shares to buy after the stock market crash
It’s clear that the Covid-19 outbreak could prove a game-changer with regards to our traditional working practices. The popularity of flexible working has grown in recent years thanks to the relentless progress of technology. It seems that companies will be eager to embrace the idea of their workers operating from home too, as a hedge against future pandemics and in a bid to cut office costs in what promises to be a tough next few years for the global economy.
A report by Deloitte illustrates how workers’ expectations have changed following the Covid-19 lockdown. Out of a survey of 500 financial industry employees, some three quarters said that they expect to work from home one day a week or more once quarantine measures are rolled back.
This is a theme that investors can ride by buying shares in companies like Softcat and Iomart. Their expertise in building safe and reliable IT services and cloud computing platforms for use by home workers puts them in great shape to ride the phenomenon. It’s likely that telecoms providers like Vodafone and Telecom Plus will also benefit from a rising home-working culture. These are all shares I’d happily buy following the stock market crash.
