3 Companies That Could Emerge Stronger From the COVID-19 Pandemic

Most of the investor attention has focused on how companies are set to deal with the coronavirus and/or how they might grow their revenue in a recovery. That makes perfect sense, but there's also an opportunity for businesses with good balance sheets to make growth-enhancing acquisitions during the slowdown. In this context, let's take a look at why Honeywell International (NYSE: HON), Watsco (NYSE: WSO), and Roper Technologies (NYSE: ROP) are stocks that can emerge stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Honeywell, Watsco, and Roper could all be doing deals in 2020. Image source: Getty Images.

The following chart shows each company's net long-term debt at the end of its most recent quarter and its trailing twelve-month earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). From these numbers, you can calculate the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio -- a figure that indicates how many years it would take a company to generate the EBITDA in order to totally pay off its net debt.