7 Stocks That Outperform in a Recession

These seven blue-chip stocks hold their ground when the economy stumbles.

During the global financial crisis of 2007-2009, Walmart Inc. (ticker: WMT) was the one company out of all 30 constituents in the Dow Jones Industrials Average to post a positive return between the beginning and end of the 2008 bear market. During the COVID-19 sell-off of March 2020, Walmart also regained all its losses within a couple of weeks and hit a new all-time high in April 2020, during the height of the pandemic. Walmart is hardly the only blue-chip company that can hold up during a downturn, though. These seven current and former Dow Jones component stocks all performed better than the broader market during both the 2008 meltdown and the 2020 COVID-19 crash. The distinct features of these seven companies should make them resilient in the next recession as well.