The coronavirus pandemic led to a severe restriction in travel and mobility. As the majority of people stay at home, demand for streaming services and online shopping grew. As a result, Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Costco (NASDAQ:COST) are the best-performing retailers. Their business will only get better as other firms remain closed or fail to compete.
To stay ahead of the curve on customer and staff safety, Amazon plans to test all of its employees by building its testing lab. This would put the online retailer ahead because consumers will have less fear of products and packages contaminated with the virus. More importantly, staff will feel more secure about the work environment.
On the streaming front, Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) shares soared 37% last week because of increased viewership during the pandemic. Roku attracted increased traffic by offering free TV streaming services. For example, the U.K. has free TV shows available, which are ad-supported.
Disney’s Plus (NYSE:DIS) channel already gained strong traction before the lockdown. But by March, the site accounted for 18% of Internet video traffic in some European countries.
Your Takeaway
Investors should hold pure-play streaming firms like Netflix. Disney’s bottom line will struggle due to the closure of theme parks and movie productions grinding to a halt.