10 Healthcare Stocks That Benefit During a Recession: Bank of America

• According to Bank of America, post-acute care providers are “largely immune” to recessions.
• Physician groups and hospitals are also more resilient than other healthcare subsectors.
• The bank identified 10 stocks to buy with a net-positive recession impact.

From the COVID-19 pandemic to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the past two years have been especially volatile for the stock market, including the

healthcare sector

.

In the long run, there are a number of robust tailwinds propelling the sector forward, like medical technology advancements, an aging population, and an emerging global middle class, said Charles Schwab Senior Investment Strategist David Kastner in a sector views commentary. Besides these positive secular trends, attractive valuations and strong balance sheets are two additional catalysts for the sector in the shorter term, he added.

But as rising geopolitical tensions stoke fears of an economic downturn, how will healthcare fare in the face of these unexpected market challenges?

That’s the question a team at Bank of America, led by Senior Equity Research Analyst Kevin Fischbeck, aimed to answer in a note from March 28. While Fischbeck emphasized that he does not expect a

recession

, he analyzed a recession’s potential implications on the sector by tracking how certain cohorts of healthcare stocks performed during the 2008 financial crisis.

“We believe physician groups and post-acute care providers are best positioned during a recession as we expect those companies to benefit the most from the improved labor availability and will see negligible impacts to payer mix or utilization….