The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Lyft, Pinterest, Domino's Pizza, Netflix And Tencent

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – February 28, 2020 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) , Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) , Domino's Pizza, Inc. (NYSE:DPZ) , Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Tencent Holdings Limited (OTC:TCEHY) .

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

5 Coronavirus-Proof Stocks to Counter Market Meltdown

Concerns over how the coronavirus outbreak will impact corporate profit margins and global economic growth continue to roil the U.S. stock market. The Dow and the S&P 500 have tanked for the fifth straight day, while blue-chip firms like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) warned that it may not meet its revenue guidance for its Windows and personal computing business.

A new case of coronavirus was confirmed in Northern California, while Germany’s health minister announced the “beginning of an epidemic” for the country. This follows the rapid spread of the virus in countries beyond China, including Italy and Iran.

But this isn’t the first flu scare and surely won’t be the last. And coronavirus doesn’t seem to be exceptionally lethal. The death rate is 2.3%, compared to other deadly SARS and MERS viruses that had death rates of 9.6% and 34.4%, respectively. However, even if coronavirus is less fatal, its impact on the economy will be much worse. For instance, when SARS affected China in 2003, its economy accounted for just 4.2% of the world economy. But now China accounts for 16.3% of the world economy, per IHS Markit. And China’s economic slowdown due to the spread of the virus will certainly have a rippling effect around the world.

Amid such a gloomy scenario, U.S. companies that particularly generate a bulk of their revenues in the United States or are at least not exposed to China will likely continue to do business as usual. Hence, investing in such comparatively safe stocks seems prudent. With that in mind, let’s us look at the best choices —

US-Focused or With Least Exposure to China

Companies involved in ride-sharing services have been hit hard owing to fears of coming in contact with an infected person. But the worries seem overstated. After all, the number of cases in the Unites States are far less compared to China. In the Unites States, other than washing hands more frequently, there isn’t any panic on the ground level. This makes ride-sharing behemoth, Lyft, Inc. a solid investment choice.

The company’s revenues are improving and losses are reducing as it continues to work toward controlling costs. Lyft reported solid fourth-quarter results, with revenues soaring 51.9% to $1 billion from the same period last year on a robust rise in Active Riders. What’s more, Lyft currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has jumped 32.5% over the past 60 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current quarter is a whopping 93.4%. You can see Zacks Investment Research

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Written By: Zacks Investment Research