11 Best Stocks to Ride Out the Coronavirus Outbreak

Health scares can really spook the market, as February’s coronavirus-sparked market drubbing illustrates. But we still have portfolios to manage, even if it seems like the world is ending, and that includes hunting down the best stocks for whatever the market might throw at us.

It’s never reassuring when you see news footage of quarantined tourists stuck on a cruise ship, or when the Homeland Security agent gives your passport an extra-hard look for recent visits to China. But now that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have admitted that a U.S. outbreak has gone from a question of “if” to one of “when,” it has become much more real.

We’re not health experts, so we won’t pretend to know what’s next. What we do know is: This isn’t the first global flu scare, and it’s not likely to be the last. We also know that while the data on coronavirus is still patchy, it doesn’t appear to be exceptionally lethal. The death rate is about 2.3%, and the real rate could be lower. We have no way of counting early carriers of the virus who might have been misdiagnosed with flu or the common cold. For perspective, the “regular” flu kills only about 0.13% of those that catch it, but the SARS and MERS viruses had death rates of 9.6% and 34.4%, respectively.

But while the coronavirus is far less deadly, its effects on the economy will likely be much worse. When SARS hit the Chinese economy in 2003, China accounted for just 4.2% of the world economy, according to IHS Markit. Today, it makes up 16.3%. Thus, any pronounced Chinese slowdown will be felt around the world.

We’ll get through this. But in the meantime, we have to deal with a stock market that could suffer considerably at the hands of this worldwide health scare.

Here are 11 of the best stocks to buy if the coronavirus scare continues to escalate. Some are buy-and-hold plays that looked appealing under normal circumstances but also possess strengths that make them an even better fit for this situation. A few others have fundamental long-term issues and are best viewed as shorter-term (read: a few months) swing trades. And while all of them are bound to take a few lumps on broad-market selloffs, they also have certain qualities that give them higher upside potential in this environment.

Few companies have done more to reduce paper waste and clutter, better organize the offices of the world, save untold millions of dollars in postage and parcel services, and even save entire forests of trees than DocuSign (DOCU, $86.37).

DocuSign is the most widely used e-signature system in the world. Whether you’re buying a house, opening a brokerage account or signing an employment contract, DocuSign has made the process at least slightly less of a headache. Rather than sign documents by hand, scan them, then file them away, the company allows parties to sign documents via email. It’s more secure and tamperproof than paper contracts and, according to DocuSign, is on average $36 cheaper and nine days faster per document.

And, at a time when people might be reluctant to shake hands to close a deal, DocuSign provides a way to close deals remotely without having to wait for FedEx (FDX) to deliver an envelope full of paper.

DocuSign is growing like a weed. Its revenues were up 40% last quarter, and its customer base grew by 24%. DOCU claims to have 562,000 customers. Given the service’s convenience, it’s difficult to understand why every company in America isn’t already a customer. Though frankly, we’ll likely get there soon enough.

Like many young tech companies, DocuSign doesn’t currently turn a profit. So, it has to be considered a speculative stock. But it’s also one of the market’s best stocks over the past six months, nearly doubling in value since August. A realization that DocuSign’s services looks increasingly appealing in this environment might help it press even higher.