Originally published on
www.stockmetrix.net
TOP 5 RECESSION-RESISTANT
INDUSTRIES.
With all the rumors about the upcoming market correction that
can be followed by a recession, I have started my own research
with the purpose of finding the industries that have been the most
immune to the past Recessions. In the process, I analyzed these
industries’ current states and realized that anyone, not only me,
would want to know where to locate stocks that will protect you
from huge losses and show good dynamics at the same time.
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So here I share my research results and try my best to get you
closer to finding such stocks.
There are some good articles about this on the Internet. All of
them, however, give only theoretical reasons for industries to be
Recession-proof and do not provide any information as to how
these industries are doing now.
This article discusses the industries with money flows that do not
correlate with the US stock market
movements in the period from 2000 to the present moment.
To approximate the industries’ money flow, I have applied the
principle I used before for the stock’s technical analysis indicator
– Money Flow Index (MFI). It uses both share price and trading
volume to measure money inflow and outflow of the industry over
a specific period (one quarter).
In addition to analyzing Net money flows of these industries, I
have further examined them in terms of the four following
aspects to understand how well they are currently performing:
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So here is my take on the Top 5 Recession proof industries:
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currently it is not in the best shape:
So currently, it is not in the best shape. A negative Net margin of
around 21% makes it very unattractive for me. It’s even among the
stock market’s Worst 10 industries in terms of Return of Assets. It’s
a definite “No” for me.
2. Uranium
Uranium Producers industry is the second most Recession
resistant industry on my list with 0.1% correlation of its money
flows with the stock market movements. It did have its downturn
during the 2008 Recession and experienced some money inflows
and outflows, but have stayed relatively stable over the years.
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money inflows of around 274 thousand US Dollars as of today.
This industry’s current state seems even worse, however. Its
average net margin of -161% is the lowest it has been since 1998.
This is the worst Net margin in the entire stock market!
Meanwhile, its Average Return on Assets is the third worst (-7.8%).
So that’s not attractive either.
3. Diversified Mining
Companies from the Diversified Mining industry supply raw
materials for the products and equipment of a wide variety of
sectors, such as construction, automotive, aerospace, and
telecommunications, etc. This industry’s broad reach is probably
the reason why it is among the ones that have the least
correlation with the Market meltdowns.
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There is nothing notable in this industry’s current state
analysis.Pretty poor Net margin and Operating cash flow ratio
make it not worthy of further research.
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the last quarter. Combined with its good ability to turn Revenue
into Cash (20% Operating cash flow ratio), this is a pretty
promising sign.
In spite of this, though, this industry incurs net money outflows,
amounting to about 5.2 million US Dollars as of today. There
might still be a temporary come back to the money inflows in
some time. I will keep an eye on this one, but be cautious with it
since it has a negative Net margin, which means its companies are
making losses.
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Phones & Handheld Devices has a reverse 0.86% correlation with
the stock market movement. This is almost the same as having no
correlation at all. It shows no reaction to the stock market swings
of 2000 and 2008.
Deeper research
Looking for a more impressive industry I have continued my
search and looked deeper into the industries next in the list of
the Recession immune industries, or the industries that have a
small correlation of investor’s net money flows with stock market
movements. The seventh lowest correlation industry on the list is
the Drug Retailers with 1.4% correlation.
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Assets for it are currently at the levels higher than ever before:
3% and 19%, respectively. Impressive isn’t it? The Operating cash
to Revenue ratio is a decent as well; the revenue is continuously
stable.
Conclusion
None of the Top 5 industries seem to satisfy the conditions of
being safe during a Recession and showing positive dynamics
simultaneously. Drug Retailers, the seventh lowest correlation
industry, however, seems to be quite promising to me.
I have used Thomson Reuters Business Classification when writing
this article. You can find a list of companies that belong to a
particular industry using the Screener function within the
StockMetrix app.