Here are the retail winners in a post-Covid world, according to Evercore ISI

Published Thu, Jun 4 20207:24 AM EDTUpdated Thu, Jun 4 202010:03 AM EDT

(This story is for CNBC Pro subscribers only.) The retailers that will survive the coronavirus crisis are those that can adapt to changing consumer behaviors that emerged from the pandemic, according to Evercore ISI. The Wall Street firm said strength in the e-commerce space will persist in the post-Covid world. The global pandemic will also likely cause Americans to leave their city apartments and move to more suburban areas, setting up a handful of retailers for success. "Winning retailers can not only survive, but could thrive post the COVID-19 crisis," Evercore ISI analyst Greg Melich told clients. Retail has been one of the most beaten-down industries during the pandemic. With a government-mandated shutdown of the economy, brick-and-mortar retailers were forced to shut their doors with little or no way to make revenue and large rents to pay. But stay-at-home orders in all 50 states are expiring and retailers are opening up. Evercore's highest conviction remains in e-commerce stocks, which have seen a massive boom during the pandemic with millions of Americans stuck at home during the lockdown. Amazon is a top pick for the Wall Street firm, achieving an outperform rating. Shares of the e-commerce giant have gained more than 30% this year. In addition to a continued e-commerce boom, the post-coronavirus world will see many people leaving cities and moving to less densely populated suburbs for more space and less clustering. This includes buying homes and spending on home improvement. This positions "de-densification" and "nesting" stocks to rally. The firm's top names for these trends in are Costco , Home Depot , Sherwin Williams and Tractor Supply . Evercore has an outperform rating on all the listed stocks. "Home Furnishing retailers continue to see a big improvement in YoY web traffic since the middle of April. Stimulus checks likely at play," said Melich. "Retailers with a more rural footprint should benefit in a de-densification world as social distancing persists," Melich added. This trend sets up Lowe's , which only has 10% of its stores in urban areas, to outperform, said Melich. Evercore also likes Autozone , O'Reilly and Advance Auto Parts , saying many Americans will be buying cars as they move out of cities. Evercore noted that Best Buy , Carmax and Five Below are "quality laggards." They are outperform-rated stocks that are still down from their peaks in February. Plus, the are more discretionary in nature, said Melich. For pure e-commerce plays, Evercore said the surge in subscription sales at pet delivery service Chewy is more sustainable than furniture retailer Wayfair. — with reporting from CNBC's Michael Bloom.

A Home Depot employee is seen outside a store in Los Angeles, California.

Lucy Nicholson | Reuters

(This story is for CNBC Pro subscribers only.)

The retailers that will survive the coronavirus crisis are those that can adapt to changing consumer behaviors that emerged from the pandemic, according to Evercore ISI.

The Wall Street firm said strength in the e-commerce space will persist in the post-Covid world. The global pandemic will also likely cause Americans to leave their city apartments and move to more suburban areas, setting up a handful of retailers for success.