How One Firm Sees Millennials and Gen Z Disrupting Markets
Millennials and the Generation Z will provide an above-average boost to the economy over a 20- to 30-year horizon.
(Bloomberg) -- Banks need to defend their turf as young consumers start to shape the U.S. economy, while Apple Inc. and Google Inc. are well-positioned to benefit, according to Morgan Stanley.
Millennials and Generation Z -- children born post-2000s -- will provide an above-average boost to the economy over a 20- to 30-year horizon, economists including Ellen Zentner wrote in a research paper dated June 9. They asked the firm’s analysts for ideas about which stocks might gain.
Big banks may suffer as younger customers, who are digital-banking or even mobile-banking natives, shift to financial-technology and Big Tech firms like PayPal Holdings Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc., according to analysts led by Betsy Graseck. They see Bank of America Corp. as a winner in mobile, Capital One Financial Corp. leading the way in products tailored to those under 18, and First Republic Bank ahead on products tailored to millennials. Discover Financial Services is succeeding with its strong customer service, they said.
Young Americans tend to spend a disproportionate share of money on things like cellphones, apparel and food away from home, analysts led by Kimberly Greenberger wrote. Overlaying youth trends with demographic data, they see the likes of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., Starbucks Corp. and Nike Inc. as among consumer-discretionary names likely to benefit.
Apple is well-positioned to benefit given its tech-enabled health-care offerings, along with employee-mobility and workforce-efficiency service providers like Salesforce.com Inc. and Adobe Inc., according to analysts led by Katy Huberty.
The changing preferences of generations won’t be good for every company, though. Analysts led by Ravi Shanker see legacy parcel companies United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. being hurt by trends toward retailer incentives for picking up items at stores and delivering online orders out of stores.
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