Earnings season may look ugly, but Crossmark’s Global Investments’ Victoria Fernandez isn’t getting discouraged.
She believes there are opportunities in the coronavirus battered market.
“We’ve seen some already. If you look at some of the health care names — UnitedHealth gave a good report,” the firm’s chief market strategist told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Wednesday.
Fernandez, who has $4.1 billion in assets under management, is targeting groups that could eventually emerge stronger than before the crisis.
“Look at companies that are benefiting from e-commerce,” she added. “It’s not sectors in general, but specific names: Wal-Marts or Amazons. Those are going to be better companies that you see better numbers come out of just because of where they’re positioned in the shutdown.”
Despite her optimism, she urges patience. According to Fernandez, investors should focus on individual names instead of picking S&P 500 groups and have a longer-term horizon.
“I don’t think we can look at earnings season in the traditional manner,” she said “You have to take a lens to earnings and really look at it deep down into those balance sheets instead of just taking topline numbers.”
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell more than 2% on disappointing first quarter earnings, poor economic data and oil prices at 18-year lows. The Dow was off just shy of 2%.
Fernandez doesn’t expects to see relief emerge on Wall Street until U.S. coronavirus cases reach peak levels and the economy begins to re-open.
“What we really want to see is a the low on economic numbers coming out,” Fernandez said. “The numbers are going to be even worse next month. We need to get through the lows on those numbers before we really see a sustainable rally.”
Disclosure: Crossmark and/or Victoria Fernandez owns UnitedHealth, Amazon, Wal-Mart and Procter and Gamble.