If you work at a non-essential business, your house or apartment has had to step up its game. It's become your office, school, gym, and much more for your entire family. Some households may have even added friends or relatives under their roofs as unemployment skyrockets. With coronavirus numbers getting worse in the U.S. and a vaccine still a long way off, many people may be looking for ways to make the best of the space they have.
Three stocks that will benefit from the stay-at-home trend are Home Depot (HD -1.77%), Etsy (ETSY -2.17%), and Apple (AAPL 1.27%). Let's look at why this trio is a great way to upgrade your portfolio for 2020 and beyond.
Online or in-store, Home Depot is there
Home Depot is synonymous with home improvement. With almost 2,300 stores in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, it's well known to homeowners, do-it-yourselfers, and the professionals who make a living maintaining houses and commercial property. As an essential retailer, it's been open throughout the pandemic and achieved a solid 6.5% growth in same-store sales for its first quarter ending May 3, 2020.
What's even more impressive is that this growth was on a 4% decrease in transactions year over year, but an 11.1% increase in the average checkout receipt. This shows that people were making fewer trips to the store, but spending more each time.
Image source: Getty Images.
The company is making it easier to buy items during the pandemic, with additional fulfillment options for online orders and free curbside pickup. Customers love these changes. Last quarter, there was an 80% increase in online orders over the previous year, and 60% of those orders were picked up at a local store.
Founded in 1978, Home Depot has been through tough times before. This year it will help millions finish that long-delayed renovation or tackle that new project to free up much-needed space and be a solid investment even after the pandemic is finally in our rearview mirror.
Etsy's the place for face masks and more
Many have discovered Etsy's unique marketplace of handcrafted goods when they went online to search for a place to buy a coronavirus mask. Since March, over 60,000 of Etsy's sellers stepped up to make homemade masks and sold over 12 million masks in April.
But the reason this stock is on the stay-at-home list is not because of masks. It's the 6.5 million new or inactive customers who bought a product during the most recent quarter and drove non-mask sales to an incredible 79% year-over-year increase. Management is predicting this growth will continue and is projecting sales on its platform to be up 80% to 100% for the second quarter.
This unique marketplace won't have this kind of growth from now on, but many will discover this niche online retailer for the first time and be hooked. New customers will realize that many of the things they buy for their homes can be purchased from an independent artisan who's happy to customize it to suit the taste of the buyer, whether it's furniture, decorations, everyday goods (like hand sanitizer), and more. What you won't find on its website are items with a bar code. That makes this unique marketplace stand out from the world of high-volume consumer e-stores of today, and makes it a solid investment for the future.
Apple is providing a coronavirus tech upgrade
With families connecting to school, work, church, and other occasions virtually, many are finding they need to upgrade or add to their tech arsenal. That's where Apple's ecosystem of products thrives. Even with some of its stores closed for the most recent quarter ending March 28th, the company was able to grow its revenue year over year on the back of its services and its wearables segments.
Need AirPods to keep that video call with work colleagues private? Its wearables, home, and accessories segment accounted for $6.3 billion in revenue last quarter, up 23% over the previous year. Bored? How about tuning into Apple TV or its arcade platform, which are part of the services segment that topped a record $13.3 billion in revenue for the quarter? Need a new laptop for school? Apple announced a trade-in program with an interest-free loan for 12 months through its financing arm to spur demand for its new Mac products.
Apple is the largest tech company on the planet, but its innovative culture and comprehensive ecosystem will allow it to thrive for years to come as families become more dependent on tech to connect to everyday events from home.
Stay-at–home will become business as usual
The world is adopting new ways to interact remotely and minimize the spread of this virus. Many businesses may choose to close physical offices and operate virtually from now on. These three solid operators are set to benefit from this trend and thrive in a post-coronavirus world. You would do well to add one or all of these stocks to your portfolio today.
