Investing

The Top S&P 500 Stocks Surviving This Market Sell-Off

Chris Lange

Published: March 9, 2020 12:20 pm

Markets across the world were in free fall on Monday on fears of a COVID-19 pandemic were outpaced by a Russia/Saudi price war in oil. The futures market limited down 5% ahead of the open, and oil is having its single worst day since the first Gulf War. Needless to say, equities are really feeling the pressure, especially banks and oil companies.

It’s also worth noting that trading was halted just 10 minutes after the markets opened, as the S&P 500 had dropped 7%. However, it seems markets have stabilized and are still down sharply for the day.

The combined result of the coronavirus and the oil price drop was is an economy that is going to feel like it’s entering into a recession whether or not one is formally declared. Long-term U.S. Treasury yields just hit all-time lows, and the price drop of gasoline may be so rapid that deflation may be coming back into play. The stock market went from all-time highs as recently as February into correction mode (−10%) and is now flirting with the 20% drop that would constitute a bear market.

Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve issued an emergency interest rate cut and this hardly had an impact on the markets, although it does provide some more liquidity. One of the biggest concerns beyond actually catching the coronavirus is that there may be somewhat limited tools that the governments and central banks actually can take to keep their economies from falling back into a recession. Central banks already have cut rates so low that Europe and Japan now have negative interest rates, and there are fears that the major slowing or shut-in that was seen in China could occur in the United States and elsewhere.

Here, 24/7 has put together a list of companies in the S&P 500 that were not just weathering Monday’s storm but actually posting gains. Only a handful of S&P 500 companies were anywhere close to positive, and these were making the biggest impact.

Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE: SWN) stock was last seen up about 20% at $1.58, in a 52-week range of $1.06 to $4.90. The consensus price target is $2.00. Excluding Monday’s move, the stock was down 46% year to date.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (NYSE: COG) stock was trading up 14% at $18.67, in a 52-week range of $13.06 to $27.65. The consensus price target is $18.34. Excluding Monday’s move, the stock was down 6% year to date.

AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) shares were up about 4% at $1,102.00, in a 52-week range of $924.25 to $1,274.41. The consensus price target is $1,237.73. Excluding Monday’s move, the stock was down 11% year to date.

O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: ORLY) stock was up about 3% at $379.07, in a 52-week range of $349.71 to $454.31. The consensus price target is $447.92. Excluding Monday’s move, the stock was down 16% year to date.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) stock was up nearly 3% at $120.35, in a 52-week range of $95.00 to $125.38. The consensus price target is $129.07. Excluding Monday’s move, the stock was down 1% year to date.