Here we go again.
The delta variant has us on the run and Tuesday the market seemed to get it, get the hazards of what's going to occur. Whether it's the unvaccinated kids giving parents some breakthrough COVID, or the 22% of vaccinated people who are asymptomatic spreaders or the holier- -- or more-stupid- -- than-though anti-vaxxers, we have a truly revolting development. Yeah, the death rate is low, but the breakthroughs are getting plentiful and dangerous. How dangerous? It's convinced portfolio managers that moves must be made and made fast to profit from it.
I could describe whether this movement, this sea-change, is right or wrong, that we are headed toward herd immunity and the non-vaxxers somehow have immunity when immunity can't be had without a vaccine. There's lost of disputes about masks and student-to-student, who gets what? Do I have to ask people to show their Clear symbol at the door of Bar San Miguel? That's now up to me?
Or, I could just how what they are buying and why, because it's a pretty extensive list.
Without further ado, here's the key stocks you need to know that are on fire because of the new rules that make you feel like you're locking down, even if you aren't. Yeah, it is that bad and whether we are --or not -- headed to a bruising, this is the pseudo-lockdown portfolio you need for this moment in time.
Let's start with the retailers. We need to reactivate WATCH: Walmart (WMT) , Amazon (AMZN) , Target (TGT) , Costco (COST) and Home Depot (HD) . Wall Street thinks that, once again, whatever is left of the independents will be crushed by this wave and only the big ones can survive. Target's been the strongest and it has big back to school numbers. You cannot go wrong buying Target in August as it is the place to shop for everything from your school supplies to your cozies and sports team uniforms
Home Depot's all about that pesky home office that needs to be built, or gamed, now that we aren't going back any time soon. Costco's stock seems like it is up a lot, but it's only rallied 15%. Costco does fabulously on a lockdown. It will do well now. I like Walmart, because its stock is painfully flat for the year -- it's owned by my charitable trust, which you can follow along by joining here. I think that poor performance is caused by Walmart its inability to compete at the highest level with Amazon. But that could change and you want to own the underdog in this dogfight. And then there there's Amazon itself, which is only up 4% this year. I think you will be on tenterhooks the whole time you own Amazon until the next quarter. We find out about Walmart on Aug. 18, when it reports.
You want a recently made, real bargain? When Carole Tome, the CEO of United Parcel Service (UPS) talked recently on "Mad Money," she made it clear that about how it would be hard to duplicate a lockdown year. That crushed the stock. But now there are visions of lockdowns dancing in peoples' heads, at least self-appointed lockdowns and that means UPS has a chance to mount a comeback. Lets throw in FedEx (FDX) for good measure, as federal express is doing better than UPS.
There are some clothiers making a comeback. That means you can buy Nike (NKE) now because no one asked them about civil rights in China, you can own Lululemon Athletica (LULU) for workout at home and then check out all of the casual wear from Ralph Lauren (RL) that's selling out. That stock's just beginning to take off in response to the hybrid siren. I was very impressed at the quarter for RL and it looks like they have the fullest catalogue for those who want to order direct to the consumer thing.
Domino's (DPZ) became the dominant restaurant chain because it has its own delivery system that doesn't crush profitability .It's been soaring for a bit now, since the company came on "Mad Money," not that long ago, and explained how business has only accelerated during the pandemic.
Then there's Apple (AAPL) , which did incredibly well during the lockdown because given a chance to have an Apple over anything else at home, Apple wins a great deal, forcing central IT to learn how Apple works. No more shoulder shrugs and a brusque, "We don't support that, sorry."
So many enterprise members will have spoken. Get me an Apple!
And finally I have a new one: Robinhood (HOOD) . Last night I came out hard and told you, you had to buy it because it has the zeitgeist at the moment and because it could be a buy-now-pay-later company like Affirm (AFRM) and get its stock to really rally. Of course it didn't really need to do that, but the prospect is out there and ubiquitous short-sellers will be wearing this one, Wall Street colloquial for a trade gone wrong -- lets me believe there is more to it. I still like the stock here, but don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
I know, Robinhood isn't of the highest quality. But I endorse it as a stock for what it can become, not what it is now, and that's why I think it is roaring.
It's an eclectic list, I know. It doesn't make you feel like you're missing the boat if they cure COVID overnight, because two things are certain: One, they haven't, and, two, 50 million people wouldn't take it anyway.
(AAPL, AMZN, COST, WMT, UPS are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS member club. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells these stocks? Learn more now.)
