Well, first of all, there are no stocks that are guaranteed to perform well in a recession. It depends on the causes of the recession itself, how deep and how lasting the slump is, then a whole range of other factors. However, there are some general guidelines where stocks tend to perform well. Panicking markets - As a rule, those companies that sell items at reduced prices are not bad off. Among them, of course, are large discounters. Wal-Mart, for example, actually grew by 18% in 2008, while the S&P 500 plummeted by 39%. Even better was the performance of Dollar Tree, which rose by more than 60 %. In addition, mature companies with strong competitive advantages such as size and brand strength tend to do better than most, especially if they make everyday products. Consider companies like Colgate-Palmolive or Johnson & Johnson. And finally, utilities are probably the most recession-proof business there is. They should perform well in difficult economic times. Finally, it should be noted that equities are generally not too badly off in recessions. Since the mid-1950s, the average stock market yield in recessions has been minus 1.5%. Not good, but certainly not catastrophic either. And the market then tended to perform very well in the years that followed. It is therefore important to note that you do not sell stocks from your portfolio in order to buy recession-proof stocks.