Emily Flippen

The macro picture is looking tough, but that won't prevent us from looking for diamonds in the rough.

We're diving into three stocks we think can do well in a worst-case economic environment today on Motley Fool Money.

Emily Flippen Today is Tuesday, February 17th.

Welcome to Motley Fool Money.

I'm your host, Emily Flippen.

Today, I'm joined by Fool analyst, Dan Kaplinger and Sam Miteo for a fun chat where we're going to each be giving a theoretical stock pitch for a business that we think can do well in a tough economic environment.

We had a few macro reports out last week that showed while the sky is not falling on us, the picture is maybe getting a bit murkier.

I think it's that combination of labor numbers, jobless games, unemployment.

It led many to believe that we might be looking at

maybe slightly higher interest rates for longer into the year than many expected, and some maybe stickier inflation numbers to boot.

In my opinion, it begs the question of if there are really any businesses that we think can do well, if we're heading for an environment of, say, higher inflation, less rate cuts, and slower economic growth.

Traditionally, that combination isn't great for markets, but sometimes there are exceptions to the rule.

I want to ask you,

Is there a business that you think is breaking the mold today that's worth keeping an eye on if we're headed towards that type of environment?

One of the things I really like about PlanetFit is other than I actually was a customer for a while before I got my home gym here and I moved, but they kind of went through what you could imagine was the worst case scenario for any gym that was the pandemic.

And I can't imagine, even if we enter some sort of recessionary environment, a business trying to survive

a situation that is as bad for Planet Fitness the way that COVID was for that entire universe of businesses.

Planet Fitness actually came out of that environment much better than I think I expected.

Dan, I want to pass this off to you because Planet Fitness, I have a hard time believing that you're not familiar with this company given the number of chains they have across the country.

I'm curious, does this pique your interest as an investor?