‪11 Recovery Stocks That Could Get a Vaccine Spark‬

The FDA's full approval of a COVID-19 vaccine was just the catalyst downtrodden recovery stocks needed, analysts say.

Airplane flying above tropical trees
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Recovery stocks were all the rage heading into 2021, and indeed, many of them outperformed the broader market by staggering margins – at least for a while.

But as the pace of vaccination against COVID-19 slowed and the Delta variant emerged, many recovery stocks that were soaring on reopening and economic expansion came tumbling back down.

Happily, the recovery trade is coming back, analysts say. Indeed, the Food and Drug Administration's full approval in August of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) was just the catalyst downtrodden recovery stocks needed.

It's not just that full approval is spurring some vaccine-hesitant individuals to finally get their shots, experts note. It's also inducing more organizations to require their employees to get vaccinated.

Stocks in some of the most cyclical or pandemic-sensitive sectors – such as travel, leisure, hospitality and gaming – are just a few candidates for outperformance as a "recovery trade 2.0" take holds.

With that in mind, we searched the Russell 1000 for analysts' favorite names in key, economically sensitive sectors. After digging through the fundamentals, analysts' recommendations and research, we settled on these 11 names as the best recovery stocks to buy now.

Disclaimer

Data is as of Aug. 23. Dividend yields are calculated by annualizing the most recent payout and dividing by the share price. Stocks listed in reverse order of analysts' consensus ratings.

Dan Burrows
Senior Investing Writer, Kiplinger.com

Dan Burrows is Kiplinger's senior investing writer, having joined the august publication full time in 2016.

A long-time financial journalist, Dan is a veteran of SmartMoney, MarketWatch, CBS MoneyWatch, InvestorPlace and DailyFinance. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Consumer Reports, Senior Executive and Boston magazine, and his stories have appeared in the New York Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and Investor's Business Daily, among other publications. As a senior writer at AOL's DailyFinance, Dan reported market news from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and hosted a weekly video segment on equities.

Once upon a time – before his days as a financial reporter and assistant financial editor at legendary fashion trade paper Women's Wear Daily – Dan worked for Spy magazine, scribbled away at Time Inc. and contributed to Maxim magazine back when lad mags were a thing. He's also written for Esquire magazine's Dubious Achievements Awards.

In his current role at Kiplinger, Dan writes about equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities, funds, macroeconomics, demographics, real estate, cost of living indexes and more.

Dan holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and a master's degree from Columbia University.

Disclosure: Dan does not trade stocks or other securities. Rather, he dollar-cost averages into cheap funds and index funds and holds them forever in tax-advantaged accounts.