The good news about the coronavirus is that countries initially hit like China, Japan, and South Korea have made progress in reducing its spread and treating patients. Another piece of good news is that it doesn't seem as contagious in warmer climates.
The biggest risk of the disease is less in terms of death but that it can be the tipping point for a failure of the healthcare system due to the supply of care being exceeded by its demand. Unfortunately, this is happening in Italy.
The prescription seems to be aggressive testing, quarantining of sick people, and social distancing in which people basically don't go out unless for important and necessary activities, all large gatherings are canceled, and these measures often need to be enforced by government decree which is anathema to more liberal democracies.
Of course, this will certainly curb economic activity and even lead to a recession. But, it's necessary in order to prevent even more pain down the road. Like any trend, there will be some winners.
Slack
Slack (Nasdaq: WORK) is the premier workplace communication tool and has replaced email in many organizations. More remote work means that more organizations will turn to tools like Slack that are more capable than email. The company offers a free product and has been remarkably successful in turning users into customers.
The stock IPO'd last year at $25 and quickly rose to $40 in July, where it peaked. Then, it dropped 50% till late-October. Since then, it's consolidated between $20 and $25 and looks ready to move higher. It is putting in a higher low compared to the market's lower low.
Zoom Video Communications
While many high-flying tech stocks have given back a significant chunk of gains in the last couple of weeks. Zoom Video Communications (Nasdaq: ZM) has held steady. From February 20 to March 9, the Nasdaq lost 19%. In that period, Zoom is up just under 3%.
As one of the major video conference stocks, it stands to benefit from the trend of more people working from home. And, it's possible that this could accelerate the shift to remote work especially if it can allow companies to cut costs. However, some drawbacks to Zoom is that it is very expensive and is also going to be competing with deep-pocketed competitors like Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and startups.