Post-COVID-19 Investment Opportunities

[greggles]

There is no doubt that COVID-19 has had, and will continue to have, a long lasting impact on the global economy. I have heard the term "paradigm shift" thrown around quite a bit recently and I suppose it's as good a term as any to describe what had occurred in the last six months.

The tourism and hospitality industries have been amongst the hardest hit as a result of the pandemic. It will be a very long, slow road to recovery for both of them. Entertainment such as concerts, festivals, cinemas, theatre and other similar events that necessarily involve lots of people gathering together in the one place also appear to be dead in the water for the foreseeable future.

At the same time online retail and technology that enables and facilitates working remotely have both boomed.

It seems like now is the time to start pinpointing industries, companies, products, services and ideas whose time have finally arrived. There will be many of them, some have become obvious in the last few months and some we aren't even aware of yet. I imagine there will be many opportunities to get in on the ground floor.

I wanted to separate this thread from other COVID-19 threads as this one is very specific and focused on one idea: identifying investment opportunities in a post-COVID-19 world.

So let's all put our heads together in this thread and see what we can come up with. There are many people from a great variety of industries, fields of knowledge and areas of practical experience here. If you have some inside knowledge about, or insight into, products, companies or ideas that are about to take off in a post-COVID-19 world then please share your thoughts in this thread.

 

[Sdajii]

The pet industry is absolutely booming. People are scared of human interaction, often stuck at home, anything to do with pets, particularly those which can be kept in small houses (fish, reptiles, etc) is going bananas. It's something I have some involvement with which has been handy for me after a big blow earlier this year.

I've been trying to think of more but struggling to come up with much which doesn't involve huge startup funds or working for crap money for someone who has put up huge startup funds.

A few obvious ones are home gym equipment, computer systems, various forms of home entertainment, online teaching/courses (a very crowded market), home vegetable kits etc, ridiculous survival kits (barely more than a gimmick)... interested to hear if anyone has some novel ideas.

 

[Chronos-Plutus]

Long term investment horizon; perhaps hydrogen vehicles : "Japanese publication Best Car Web understands the car will be officially unveiled in production guise in October or November before hitting the local market in early 2021. While it remains unclear which international markets the new Mirai will be available in, it is claimed it will start at roughly 8 million yen (~$74,500)."

(https://www.carscoops.com/2020/07/2021-toyota-mirai-to-be-unveiled-in-october-or-november-in-japan/)

Fast to refill, petrol stations can be easily converted, and can easily travel further than EVs between refills.

 

[Sdajii]

Oh, in terms of companies to invest in rather than business ventures, plenty of obvious ones again which will no doubt get talked about in this thread (I'm not thinking hydrogen vehicles, if anything this situation will probably hold EVs back due to low oil prices), cybersecurity is likely to be an increasing issue due to the increased cold war or however you want to describe the situation. I recently bought into TNT, the largest cybersecurity player on the ASX.

Anything likely to jump at the hint of a hot war might be worth looking at (I'll be the first to say 'gold', redundant as that is).

 

[Chronos-Plutus]

Oh, in terms of companies to invest in rather than business ventures, plenty of obvious ones again which will no doubt get talked about in this thread (I'm not thinking hydrogen vehicles, if anything this situation will probably hold EVs back due to low oil prices), cybersecurity is likely to be an increasing issue due to the increased cold war or however you want to describe the situation. I recently bought into TNT, the largest cybersecurity player on the ASX.

Anything likely to jump at the hint of a hot war might be worth looking at (I'll be the first to say 'gold', redundant as that is).

I am thinking hydrogen vehicles over a long-term horizon, like a decade or two. Looks like it makes much more sense for the UK to go to hydrogen vehicles over electric vehicles. We can produce the hydrogen in Australia, from a variety of energy sources, and send it over to them. That way the UK won't have to clutter up their island and seas with windmills.

I might have a good look at Toyota as they are releasing their Mirai soon.

 

[Smurf1976]

It seems like now is the time to start pinpointing industries, companies, products, services and ideas whose time have finally arrived.

As a broad concept, any method of transport which doesn't involve crowding large numbers of people into a box (trains, buses etc). So long as there's concern about getting the virus, public transport is a very obvious thing to avoid.

So I'm thinking of things like commercially operated car parks in cities, operators of unconventional transport methods (eg electric scooters), selling bicycles and indeed anything that's an alternative to public transport.

That of course does presume that people are still traveling as such and that the question is only how to do it.

 

[Chronos-Plutus]

As a broad concept, any method of transport which doesn't involve crowding large numbers of people into a box (trains, buses etc). So long as there's concern about getting the virus, public transport is a very obvious thing to avoid.

So I'm thinking of things like commercially operated car parks in cities, operators of unconventional transport methods (eg electric scooters), selling bicycles and indeed anything that's an alternative to public transport.

That of course does presume that people are still traveling as such and that the question is only how to do it.

I thought the topic was POST Covid-19; not during Covid-19

 

[Smurf1976]

I thought the topic was POST Covid-19; not during Covid-19

True - I should have added that I'm assuming that given the scale of impact, there'll be a degree of voluntary caution going forward long after the issue is resolved as such. That is, that the whole thing is a big enough disruption that nobody's going to forget it in a hurry.

Much like there was a lingering "when's the next one?" thinking for quite some time after the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US. It took years for that thinking to diminish. Or those who lived through the 1930's depression and remained financially cautious for the rest of their lives. Etc.

So I'm thinking that a portion of the population will be less keen on being on crowded trains, trams etc at least in the medium term. If so, then that pushes them to some other form of transport either conventional or unconventional.

I'm seeing it as a possibility not a certainty.

 

[over9k]

I wouldn't say you've missed the boat with what I call stay-at-home tech, but I can't see their absurd run over the past few months continuing at such a pace. It looks like I might be in for my 2nd red day in the last month today.

Post coronavirus, the target market is baby boomers. 60-80 years after a baby boom you get a healthcare/pharmaceuticals and leisure (basically just caravan sales) boom, assuming they still have retirement nest eggs to splash obviously.

 

[qldfrog]

I thought the topic was POST Covid-19; not during Covid-19

Covid19 has killed in the bud a lot of sharing ideas.do you want to share you next door room or car after covid
So return to individualism
Own house, suburbs or semi rural not inner cities, own car, avoid shops with basic self sufficiency, uht milk not daily run to shop etc
Welcome to a nightmare for the liberal minded(us term) vs individualists...so the great Reset thread
The push we have been under for 40y at least will be fundamentally resisted.
Expect an increase in home security system as well attached to the notion of home as a bubble
Anything on the asx for that service?

 

[Rsthree]

My business is in freight and Covid has been very kind to me. Atleast in the short term this could be an area to look at.

 

[qldfrog]

Indeed

My business is in freight and Covid has been very kind to me. Atleast in the short term this could be an area to look at.

Internet buy then home delivery
Definitively a plus

 

[qldfrog]

I wouldn't say you've missed the boat with what I call stay-at-home tech, but I can't see their absurd run over the past few months continuing at such a pace. It looks like I might be in for my 2nd red day in the last month today.

Post coronavirus, the target market is baby boomers. 60-80 years after a baby boom you get a healthcare/pharmaceuticals and leisure (basically just caravan sales) boom, assuming they still have retirement nest eggs to splash obviously.

And used to be cruise too...
That one is gone,
bikes, Mustangs convertibles, not green nor are big 4wd for caravans and mobile homes...still true especially if we are locked in our golden prison

 

[moXJO]

A few obvious ones are home gym equipment, computer systems, various forms of home entertainment, online teaching/courses (a very crowded market), home vegetable kits etc, ridiculous survival kits (barely more than a gimmick)... interested to hear if anyone has some novel ideas.

Guys pulled $70k from drop shipping puzzles from China during Covid. Any reno related stuff is doing well. Shed/garage flat packs have been moving solidly. People are decking out the nest.

 

[Purple XS2]

We may hope the swords gets turned into ploughshares after a while, but in the meantime: swords.
or to put it less poetically, Aussie defence stocks.
Things may or not go bang in the next dozen or so years, but having the capacity to make a big stick (well OK, just any stick) will look pretty attractive if the temperature keeps rising.
Sooner or later the PRC government will need to give China's restless masses something to rally around, and One Belt, One Road is in tatters. Who the hell would prefer to deal with China anymore?

 

[bk1]

Indeed

Internet buy then home delivery
Definitively a plus

Thats what makes me consider CKF, Collins Foods

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Thats what makes me consider CKF, Collins Foods

CKF peddles what I term "The beautiful girls" (KFC e.g.) of the food market. A bit like Amber Heard, you chase her and then you feel bloated afterwards as poor old Johnny Depp found out to his cost.

Still it turned a profit in these difficult times.

gg

 

[SirRumpole]

We still don't know what a "post CoVid" world will look like, if we ever get there.

Post Covid sort of implies an effective vaccine with things going back to what they were before, in which case it will be business as usual, except that there will be high unemployment as those business owners who didn't financially survive covid go on the dole and take their staff with them.

What investment opportunities are usually available in a recession ? I think it's virtually undeniable that there will be one, we were heading that way anyway pre covid.

Consumer spending has been supported by Jobkeeper, when that ends spending will collapse and then it's dangerous waters in my view.

 

[over9k]

Consumer staples. Everyone panic buy/stock up on necessities every time something like this happens.

Classic superior vs inferior goods econ 101 stuff.

 

[over9k]

Also look at what businesses have pivoted into what - office furniture mobs are now making home office stuff for example. That kind of thing.