Pushed lower by 30% in 22 trading days, which is about 10 times faster than it typically takes bear markets to lose 30%.
Recorded its largest single-session percentage loss since 1987, and its biggest single-day percentage gain since 2008.
In other words, volatility has been the name of the game, with the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) squarely to blame.
Image source: Getty Images.
Investing during bear markets is always a smart move
As of Saturday, March 28, there were almost 658,000 cases confirmed worldwide, with over 30,400 deaths attributed to COVID-19, per Johns Hopkins University. The number of worldwide cases has doubled in a week. With stringent mitigation measures firmly in place in many developed countries, economic activity has ground to a crawl, with equity markets around the world paying the price.
However, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel in even the most dismal situations when it comes to investing. That’s because each and every stock market correction and bear market, no matter how steep or prolonged, has eventually been completely erased by a bull-market rally. This means that if you invest in high-quality businesses and hang on for the long run, thereby allowing your investment thesis to play out, you should come out a winner.
While we can’t predict when the coronavirus crash will end or if we’ve already hit the bottom, we can say with a fairly highly degree of confidence that the stock market will be higher in the future. This means now is the time to take advantage of depressed stock valuations.
The question, of course, is which top stocks to buy?
Image source: Getty Images.
My single best investment idea for April
Although I’ve personally bought 12 new stocks during the coronavirus crash, as well as added to a handful of existing positions, one stock stands out head and shoulders above the rest. If you have $1,000 in disposable income to invest right now (i.e., not money you need to pay bills or for emergencies), then you should consider buying into what I view as my single best investment idea for April: Intuitive Surgical(NASDAQ:ISRG).
Intuitive Surgical is a manufacturer of surgical-assisted robotic systems. These systems help trained surgeons perform various types of soft tissue surgeries with finite precision, leading to potentially faster recovery times for patients.
As recently as last Monday, March 23, Intuitive Surgical’s share price had lost over 40% of its value from its very recent all-time high. Like many companies wading through the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, Intuitive Surgical warned Wall Street that this outbreak would have an adverse impact on its financial results. With many elective procedures being cancelled and pushed further down the road, this will, undoubtedly, hurt the company’s very near-term growth potential.
However, COVID-19 is not going to be a long-term concrete weight on the global economy. Eventually, treatment options will be found and/or an antiviral discovered, and the corporate world will return to normal. When this happens, Intuitive Surgical’s numerous competitive advantages will shine through.
Image source: Getty Images.
Three no-brainer reasons you need to own Intuitive Surgical’s stock
The first clear-cut advantage can be seen in the company’s sheer number of installed systems. Intuitive Surgical ended 2019 with 5,582 systems installed worldwide, up nearly 600 from the end of 2018. None of its competitors are anywhere close to having this many precision surgical systems installed around the world. When coupled with a lofty price tag of $0.5 million to $2.5 million for the da Vinci surgical system, and the training provided to surgeons, there’s virtually no chance of client churn or lost business to a competitor.
Secondly, this is the perfect example of a razor-and-blades business model. In this instance, the razor is the pricey da Vinci surgical system. Even though these systems generated $1.35 billion in sales for the company last year, they don’t generate beefy margins given how complicated they are to manufacture.
The bulk of the company’s margins and growth are derived from its blades, which include the instruments and accessories sold with each procedure, as well as the servicing needed to keep these systems in perfect working order. Last year, $3.13 billion was derived from the combination of high-margin instrument, accessories, and service sales. As the number of da Vinci systems installed grows worldwide, the percentage of total sales being generated from these higher-margin revenue sources will climb. Or, put in another context, Intuitive Surgical’s profit growth should continually outpace its double-digit sales growth.
Third and finally, Intuitive Surgical is still only scratching the surface on what its da Vinci system is capable of. The company is already a leader in gynecology and urology surgeries, but still offers a long runway to acquire market share in thoracic, colorectal, and general soft tissue surgeries. Since we’ve established that no surgical system developer has the geographic reach or rapport with the medical community as Intuitive Surgical, it’s only a matter of time before its systems are more widely used in place of traditional laparoscopic procedures.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was higher in late-morning trading, helped by strength in energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also moved up.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 34.91 points at 23,736.98.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 178.05 points at 41,800.13. The S&P 500 index was up 28.38 points at 5,661.47, while the Nasdaq composite was up 133.17 points at 17,725.30.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.56 cents US compared with 73.57 cents US on Monday.
The November crude oil contract was up 68 cents at US$69.70 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up three cents at US$2.40 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$7.80 at US$2,601.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.28 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets climbed to their best week of the year.
“It’s been almost a complete opposite or retracement of what we saw last week,” said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
While last week saw a “healthy” pullback on weaker economic data, this week investors appeared to be buying the dip and hoping the central bank “comes to the rescue,” said Petursson.
Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its key interest rate for the first time in several years after it significantly hiked it to fight inflation.
But the magnitude of that first cut has been the subject of debate, and the market appears split on whether the cut will be a quarter of a percentage point or a larger half-point reduction.
Petursson thinks it’s clear the smaller cut is coming. Economic data recently hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been that bad either, he said — and inflation may have come down significantly, but it’s not defeated just yet.
“I think they’re going to be very steady,” he said, with one small cut at each of their three decisions scheduled for the rest of 2024, and more into 2025.
“I don’t think there’s a sense of urgency on the part of the Fed that they have to do something immediately.
A larger cut could also send the wrong message to the markets, added Petursson: that the Fed made a mistake in waiting this long to cut, or that it’s seeing concerning signs in the economy.
It would also be “counter to what they’ve signaled,” he said.
More important than the cut — other than the new tone it sets — will be what Fed chair Jerome Powell has to say, according to Petursson.
“That’s going to be more important than the size of the cut itself,” he said.
In Canada, where the central bank has already cut three times, Petursson expects two more before the year is through.
“Here, the labour situation is worse than what we see in the United States,” he said.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the technology, base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets also fell.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 239.24 points at 22,749.04.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 312.36 points at 40,443.39. The S&P 500 index was down 80.94 points at 5,422.47, while the Nasdaq composite was down 380.17 points at 16,747.49.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.80 cents US compared with 74.00 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down US$1.07 at US$68.08 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.26 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$2.10 at US$2,541.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down four cents at US$4.10 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
