Best Depression Stocks to Weather 2023 • Benzinga (2024)

VAALCO Energy (NYSE:EGY)

Synopsys (NASDAQ:SNPS)

Synopsys is a provider of electronic design automation (EDA) software, intellectual property (IP), and software integrity (SI) products. EDA software automates the chip design process, enhancing design accuracy, productivity, and complexity in a full-flow end-to-end solution. The firm’s growing SI business allows customers to continuously manage and test the code base for security and quality. Synopsys’ comprehensive portfolio is benefiting from a mutual convergence of semiconductor companies moving up-stack toward systems-like companies, and systems companies moving down-stack toward in-house chip design. The resulting expansion in EDA customers alongside secular digitalization of various end markets benefits EDA vendors like Synopsys.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)

Netflix’s primary business is a streaming video on demand service now available in almost every country worldwide except China. Netflix delivers original and third-party digital video content to PCs, Internet-connected TVs, and consumer electronic devices, including tablets, video game consoles, Apple TV, Roku, and Chromecast. In 2011, Netflix introduced DVD-only plans and separated the combined streaming and DVD plans, making it necessary for subscribers who want both to have separate plans.

Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB)

With a history that dates back around 150 years, Campbell Soup is now a leading manufacturer and marketer of branded convenience food products, most notably soup. The firm’s product assortment includes well-known brands like Campbell’s, Pace, Prego, Swanson, V8, and Pepperidge Farm. Following the sale of its international snacking operations, the firm derives nearly all of its sales from its home turf. Campbell has made a handful of acquisitions to reshape its product mix the past few years, including the tie-up with Snyder’s-Lance (completed in March 2018), which stands to enhance its exposure to the faster-growing on-trend snack food aisle, complementing its Pepperidge Farm lineup.

IBM (NYSE:IBM)

IBM looks to be a part of every aspect of an enterprise’s IT needs. The company primarily sells software, IT services, consulting, and hardware. IBM operates in 175 countries and employs approximately 350,000 people. The company has a robust roster of 80,000 business partners to service 5,200 clients–which includes 95% of all Fortune 500. While IBM is a B2B company, IBM’s outward impact is substantial. For example, IBM manages 90% of all credit card transactions globally and is responsible for 50% of all wireless connections in the world.

• VAALCO Energy, Inc.
• Synopsys
• Netflix
• Campbell Soup
• IBM

• A long history that spans multiple markets: You won’t find many stocks under $20 on our list of the best stocks to survive a recession. Companies with long histories that have withstood both bull and bear markets are more adequately equipped to handle a new period of depression when compared with new companies and those with a negative earnings per share value.
• Innovation and quality: During the depression that began in 1929, companies like Electric Boat and Bulova Watch were able to stay afloat in part due to their reputation for creating quality products and devoting a large percentage of their budgets to cutting-edge innovations. Search for companies with large research and development budgets and that make efforts to keep up with the changing tastes of the modern consumer. These companies are more likely to have the tenacity needed to make it through a depression.
• Wholesale and discount retailers: Another sector that tends to do well during recessions and depressions is the discount and wholesale industry. During an economic downturn, unemployment rates and consumer confidence both have a tendency to plummet. This means that discount retailers are at a unique advantage as families cut back and save as much money as possible.