2<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n__________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are a few examples. The hardware store chain, True\nValue Co., turned one of its cleaning products and paint factories in Illinois into\na production facility for jugs of FDA-approved hand sanitizer. Over a 2 \u00bd week\nperiod in early April, Ford Motor Company produced 2.4 million protective face\nshields for medical personnel, and it only took the company\u2019s engineers and\nsuppliers three days to figure out how to source and use the raw material to do\nso. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
General Motors linked up with a company called Ventec Life\nSystems to make ventilators. Apple Inc. and Google are working simultaneously\nto develop software that will help users trace contact with people infected\nwith the virus. A few developers in the Midwest developed an online form \u2013\npowered by an algorithm \u2013 that allows hospitals and other medical facilities to\n\u201cmatch\u201d with factories that can produce needed materials. More than 200\nexperimental drug treatments are being tested and developed around the world.\nThe list goes on. 3<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\nCompanies that cannot alter their businesses to support the\nfight against Covid are not necessarily sitting idle, either. Many executives\nare actively using the pandemic to rethink and retool their businesses to make\nthem stronger, leaner, more digital, more prepared, or some combination of all\nof these things. During the 2007-2009 recession, for example, General Motors\nused the crisis as an opportunity to shut down brands that had been\nunderperforming and probably needed to be shelved anyway: Pontiac, Saab,\nSaturn, and Hummer. The company also closed about a quarter of its plants and around\n40% of its dealerships4<\/sup>\u2013 a painful correction that ultimately made\nthe company leaner and better suited to compete in the rapidly-evolving auto\nindustry. <\/p>\n\n\n\nSimilarly, many US companies today can use this opportunity\nto reassess \u2018nonessential initiatives,\u2019 target strategic acquisitions of\nstruggling companies that can add value to the revenue profile, and take bigger\nsteps to digitize business operations (move more quickly to cloud, increase remote\nwork capabilities, etc.). From an earnings standpoint, corporations are also in\na situation where \u201cuncertainty\u201d reigns supreme, meaning that analyst\nexpectations are generally as low as they can go (if they exist at all). This\nenvironment gives companies the ability to maneuver within the crisis \u2013 in some\ncases making significant changes \u2013 without excessive scrutiny from investors.\nThe end result often ends up being a corporation under-promising or hedging\ngreatly in their guidance, which generally tends to increase the possibility that\nthe company can surprise to the upside sooner than later \u2013 the desired outcome.\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bottom Line for Investors\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nEconomic, geopolitical, and health crises throughout human\nhistory have often spurred a flurry of innovation, production, and growth. The\nSpanish flu pandemic in 1918 and 1919 \u2013 which killed some 50 million people\nworldwide \u2013 eventually gave way to the \u201cRoaring Twenties,\u201d one of the most\nproductive economic periods the country has ever experienced.5<\/sup> World\nWar II brought women into the workforce and turned factories in the US into wartime\nproduction facilities, assembling all of the materials needed to win the war. There\nare countless other examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThese crises are never welcomed ones, and they often lead to\ndevastating, tragic losses. But we must also remember that crises are inevitable\n\u2013 they are part of the human story and always will be. Believing that\ninnovation, ingenuity, adaptation, and growth is a bigger<\/em> part of the human story, however, is what I see as the ideal\nmindset \u2013 especially for long-term investors. <\/p>\n\n\n\nTo help you focus on the innovation being made and the long-term outlook instead of the fearsome headlines, I am offering all readers our\u00a0Just-Released May 2020 Stock Market Outlook Report.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>
\u00a0
This Special Report is packed with newly revised predictions that can help you base your next investment move on hard data. For example, you’ll discover Zacks\u2019 view on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n- 10 trends we are seeing in a COVID\n economy<\/em><\/li>
- How will coronavirus continue to\n impact the markets?<\/em><\/li>
- Inside unemployment rates<\/em><\/li>
- Is it time to buy U.S.\n stocks? <\/em><\/li>
- What of US GDP growth?<\/em><\/li>
- U.S. returns expectations for\n 2020 <\/em><\/li>
- What produces 2020 optimism? <\/em><\/li>
- And much more. <\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to learn more about these forecasts, click on the link below to get your free report today!6<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Companies step up to combat the pandemic, and use this time to re-evaluate for the long term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mitch-on-the-markets","category-private-client-group"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10611,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8621\/revisions\/10611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}