- A growing number of economists are predicting the US will slip into a recession by the end of 2021 amid signs of slowing growth around the world and trade uncertainty.
- Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch put together a list of internet stocks they believe are best positioned to weather any oncoming recession.
- The firm ranked the companies based on market capitalization, debt, revenue growth, and future margins, among other factors.
- Here are 12 internet stocks that are best positioned to withstand a recession, according to BAML.
- Visit the Markets Insider homepage for more stories.
Recessions signals are blaring: central banks are preparing stimulus packages, a majority of economists are predicting a US downturn by the end of 2021, and large economies are slowing down.
To that end, analysts from Bank of America Merrill Lynch put together a list of internet stocks they believe are best positioned to outperform the market if a recession hits.
The firm's analysts ranked the companies by assigning a score between one and five, with one being the best. The calculation weighs a variety of attributes, including market capitalization, cash as a percentage of market cap, debt, revenue growth, and expected margins in 2020.
The scores for all of the attributes were then averaged together, and the company's with the lowest averages were ranked the highest.
The analysts also took into consideration how each company's stock fared during the 2008 financial crisis - if they were public at the time. For other stocks that weren't public companies in 2008, the analysts applied recession multiples from comparable companies on the list.
According to BAML's analysis, internet companies rebounded fairly quickly from the last downturn, which is a good sign for any future recession.
"The internet sector was not immune to the impacts of the recession and saw a material impact on year-over-year growth rates in 2008, the group had a rapid recovery coming out of the recession," a team of analysts led by Justin Post said in the report.
Companies with large amounts of cash and minimal debt, healthy margins, and high projections for capital expenditures - which can be reined in during a recession - performed the best in BAML's analysis. From a sub-sector perspective, e-commerce and subscription-based businesses showed the most downside risk, while media companies showed the least.
With all of that established, here are 12 internet stocks that could beat the market during a recession, according to BAML: