5 Low-Beta Stocks To Tackle Coronavirus-Led Market Volatility

The coronavirus pandemic has now spread across 176 countries, infecting approximately 221,568 people worldwide. With no cure or vaccine found yet, countries are going under lockdowns and governments are requesting people to practice social distancing. This is also impacting businesses as they are constantly facing supply chain disruption. and many had to shut doors for undisclosed period to stop the infection from spreading.

Equity markets are in a turmoil as the coronavirus-driven panic resulted in rapid sell-off, in turn, pushing benchmarks to record low levels. In fact, the Federal Reserve’s monetary easing did little to improve investors’ sentiments. In such a turbulent state, low-beta stocks have recorded strong gain since these are less volatile than the broader market and investors can bank on them to keep their money safe.

Why Low-beta Stocks?

In times like these, when there is high global risk and uncertainty, investors looking for growth stocks can consider buying "low beta" stocks. What is beta? Beta is a measure of volatility of a particular stock that compares its historic price swings to those in the market as a whole.

When the stock has beta of less than 1.0, it indicates that the stock tends to go up and down less than the market, here the S&P 500 Index. Likewise, if the stock’s beta is greater than 1.0, then it is more volatile compared to the market.

5 Stocks to Buy Now!

Given the volatility in equity market we have shortlisted five stocks that have beta in the range of 0 to 1. What’s more? These stocks have seen a positiveprice movement over the past month and carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy).

The first one on our list is biopharmaceutical company, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) . This Zacks Rank #1 company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current quarter is 41.4% against the Zacks Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry’s projected earnings decline of 90%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s current-year earnings has been revised 8.4% upward over the past 60 days.The stock has a beta of 0.77. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The late-stage biotechnology company, Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) is also on our buy-list. The stock has a beta of 0.41. This Zacks Rank #2 company’s expected earnings growth rate for the next quarter is 67.4% against the Zacks Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry’s projected earnings decline of 90%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Novavax’s current-year earnings has been revised 20.4% upward over the past 60 days.

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) provides high-speed Internet access, private network, and data center colocation space services. This Zacks Rank #2 company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 35.5% compared with the Zacks Wireless National industry’s projected earnings growth of 27.2%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s current-year earnings has been revised 7.3% upward over the past 60 days. The stock has a beta of 0.55.

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) , amanufacturer and marketer of consumer and professional products, specially, cleaning, household and lifestyle goods, has a beta of 0.36. The Clorox’s that belongs to the Zacks Soap and Cleaning Materials industry has an expected earnings growth rate for the next year of 4.2%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s current-year earnings has been revised nearly 2% upward over the past 60 days. The Clorox Company carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Last one on our low-beta list is Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) . The stock of this manufacturer and marketer of food and beverage products has a beta of 0.51. This Zacks Rank #2 company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 13.5% compared with Zacks Food - Miscellaneous industry’s projected earnings growth of 4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s current-year earnings has been revised 2.8% upward over the past 60 days.

Shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Novavax, Cogent Communications, The Clorox Company and Campbell Soup Company have risen 21%, 34%, 12.4%, 15.8% and 5.6%, respectively in the past 30 days.

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