By some counts, medics are administering nearly 2.5 million shots of COVID-19 vaccine every day.

Nearly 110 million adults – that’s around 52% of the adults in this country – have had at least one shot already, while nearly 18% of adults are fully vaccinated. The administration’s goal is to have a shot available to every adult who wants one by six weeks from today.

That’s great news, and that’s what’s helping to drive a historic economic recovery in record time.

For investors, this means there’s monster profit potential in classic value stocks right now – stocks trading at a lower price relative to their fundamentals.

On the other hand, investors are snapping up these stocks by the truckload right now, which means real value is, let’s just say, a little harder to find than a lot of people think.

Here’s a company I think is the real deal…

Everyone’s Looking to “Own” the Recovery

Yeah, so, about that tough-to-find value… Basically, most of the really beaten-down stocks – the ones the coronavirus pandemic clobbered almost exactly a year ago – have already seen big moves up.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL), Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL), and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC) – some of those have been red-hot for the past four or six weeks. And here’s the thing: There’s probably more upside there, but at the moment – a moment when the recovery is starting, but hasn’t really kicked into gear yet – lots of these stocks will probably move lower before they move much higher.

Take airlines and hotels, for instance.

Hilton Hotels Corp. (NYSE: HLT) has seen a 28% move up since the beginning of February; Southwest Airlines is up around 38% in the same time frame. I’d put those in the “red-hot” column; they’re overbought left and right.

But here’s the problem. The pandemic is ending – it isn’t over. There are a lot of trading days between now and July 4, which is when both President Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci say life could very well be more normal. Cases are actually increasing in 15 states. It’s not crazy to think that another surge in infections is possible – though experts seem to think it wouldn’t be as bad as what we just went through over the winter.

Airlines and hotels are still operating under restrictions and guidelines that put a de facto cap on earnings, and you don’t want to be there when the market figures this out.

The good news, for the bargain hunters out there, is that the crowd has really fixated on a small handful of stocks – there are some gems out there that I think should be pretty much all-upside for 2021 and beyond.

There Will Be an Explosion in Demand (and Profits) Here

You don’t necessarily want to “own” the recovery so much as “own” the pent-up demand that’s coming and, in a lot of cases, already working its market magic.

I think Airbnb Inc. (NASDAQ: ABNB) puts you in the sweet spot, where demand is surging but there’s still little in the way to block revenue and profits.

As you may know, these folks facilitate short-term, vacation rentals through their website. The beauty here is that Airbnb can survive and thrive in a pandemic that’s still ongoing, so long as there’s travel permitted (and, to be clear, no, I don’t expect travel to be totally cut off; the pandemic is ending.)

A small vacation, where you can stay by yourself or in your “pod” sounds like a great idea right now because you can get away and avoid crowds when and where you have to. In other words, Airbnb is in a perfect spot.

The stock has almost doubled in two months, which means it’s not totally undiscovered, but as you can see on the chart, it’s far from overbought. Airbnb is one of just a few real value stocks out there right now, and I’d buy it here – and I’d buy more on every pullback I come across.

— Andrew Keene

Source: Money Morning