Bank of America named a slew of stocks to buy as market fears remain high. The firm says it likes companies that are defensive and resilient. They include buy-rated stocks like: DoorDash, Netflix , Spotify, Flutter and Live Nation. DoorDash Buy the dip in the delivery company, the firm said earlier this week. “DASH as defensive,” wrote analyst Michael McGovern. The firm says fears about menu inflation from tariffs is overdone. “…In inflationary periods for food/menu prices, DASH management has seen relatively steady order volumes, with most inflation offset by lower items per order rather than lower order frequency,” he wrote. In fact, lower items per order has actually led to some “delivery efficiency benefit,” according to McGovern. Still, the firm lowered its price target to $235 per share from $245, but says that that “convenience factor makes Delivery somewhat inelastic.” DoorDash shares are up 7.5% this year. Live Nation “Live music [is] relatively recession resilient,” analyst Peter Henderson and team wrote recently of the concert and events company. The firm says it sees a slew of secular tailwinds for the stock including robust international growth, new artist exposure through social media and improving sponsorships. In addition, Henderson noted Live Nation’s “unique value” of offering in-person events as opposed to consumers attending virtual or digital experiences. Henderson also says the secondary ticket market provides value in the event of a downturn though he admitted Live Nation works to prevent ticket scalping and leakage. Meanwhile, shares of the company are up 26% over the last 12 months. “We view LYV as an attractive opportunity to own a growth-oriented, and relatively recession resilient live entertainment company benefiting from favorable supply and strong current demand trends, global growth and an attractive venue expansion strategy,” he went on to say. Spotify The streaming company has “defensive” fundamentals, according to the firm. Analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich is standing by the stock ahead of earnings later this month. “We are confident that SPOT’s 1Q25 results will be at least in line with guidance on key metrics including revenue, premium subscribers and MAU [monthly active users],” she wrote. The firm says the company’s subscription model should hold up well in a recessionary environment or a downturn. Still, the firm says it will be watching for any signs of advertising growth hemorrhaging if the volatility continues. “We continue to view SPOT as well positioned in the music streaming marketplace with several levers for future growth such as future pricing increases, new product launches and programmatic advertising,” she said. Spotify shares are up 21% this year. Flutter “We rate Flutter Buy, as we think it is well placed to capture a large share of the fast-growing US market, coming with a higher-than-expected drop-through. Its strong cash generation and large scale makes it one of the few companies able to to consolidate the market globally, with an strong track-record. The recent US listing should also drive more interest from retail investors, which should support a rerating.” Netflix “In general, we view NFLX as one of the more defensive names in our coverage universe given its subscription model and status as the leading global streaming platform. We find it unlikely that NFLX would see a wave of churn in an economic downturn, although there would likely be some impact to gross adds and modest downward pressure on ARM given some potential tier trade down and weaker advertising.” DoorDash “DASH as defensive. … .Convenience factor makes Delivery somewhat inelastic. … .However, in inflationary periods for food/menu prices, DASH mgmt has seen relatively steady order volumes, with most inflation offset by lower items per order rather than lower order frequency. … .DASH even sees some delivery efficiency benefit due to lower items per order.” Live Nation “Live music relatively recession resilient. … .the unique value of live events, which digital/virtual experiences cannot match, precluding disintermediation; and rising sponsorship. … .We view LYV as an attractive opportunity to own growth-oriented, and relatively recession resilient live entertainment company benefiting from favorable supply & strong current demand trends, global growth & an attractive venue expansion strategy.” Spotify “Fundamentals should be more defensive. … .We are confident that SPOT’s 1Q25 results will be at least in line with guidance on key metrics including revenue, premium subscribers and MAU. … .We continue to view SPOT as well positioned in the music streaming marketplace with several levers for future growth such as future pricing increases, new product launches and programmatic advertising.”
