Here's how to play the top tech trends accelerating from the pandemic, according to Morgan Stanley

Published Thu, Jun 18 20209:55 AM EDTUpdated Thu, Jun 18 202010:41 AM EDT

(This story is only for CNBC Pro subscribers ) The coronavirus has changed how many Americans lead their daily lives either at home or at work, and accelerated trends toward digitization and e-commerce, according to a team of Morgan Stanley analysts. But these dramatic shifts, including working from home, more online food purchases and a rise in contactless payment, mean big upside for investors willing to make big bets on what's expected to be some of the most important technology in the years ahead. "We are in the early innings of a technology-driven, decade-long investment cycle centered on data and digitalization that allows businesses to gain insights and improve business outcomes," the team, led by head researcher Katy Huberty, wrote in a note. "COVID-19 is a wake-up call to accelerate this digital transformation, as companies with a greater digital presence are showing more resiliency in the wake of the pandemic," they added. Morgan Stanley listed a number of public companies it believes will benefit the most from this transformation and the brokerage's current thinking on how to play the space based on a handful of key trends. 1. E-commerce E-commerce is the No. 1 shelter-in-place hobby, the Morgan Stanley team wrote, as a combination of stay-at-home orders, reduced spending on dining and government stimulus has sent Americans in search of other ways to spend their money. But the brokerage says that even though Covid-19 restrictions are now being eased, the e-commerce industry should still see about 25% growth across all of 2020. "The estimated ~$60bn spent by consumers from their stimulus checks has also been a tailwind. While the world is now re-opening, we expect these buckets of available dollars to remain e-commerce tailwinds as we expect adjusted retail and travel spend to decline an aggregate of 18% in [the second half of 2020] and for 3,000+ retail stores to potentially close this year," the analysts wrote. Names to play the space according to the firm: Amazon (AMZN), Chewy (CHWY) and eBay (EBAY). 2. Digital Entertainment The Covid-19 pandemic has also left more Americans in search of digital, at-home entertainment, a trend that's proven to be a huge tailwind for companies like Activision Blizzard that develop online games. New users, time spent gaming and in-game purchases are only accelerating, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote, and spell even more lasting benefit for game developers. "While we fully acknowledge that not everyone who started playing games in 1H:20 will continue to do so, video games have likely built significant consumer affinity based on their relatively low cost-per-hour and strong replayability," the brokerage wrote. The team also highlighted other content names like video-streaming site Netflix, as well as bandwidth and connectivity companies including Comcast and T-Mobile. "This increased use of high bandwidth applications is likely to continue post COVID-19, and has the impact of similarly increasing the demand for bandwidth and connectivity. This increases the value of upstream assets in the infrastructure sectors like fiber based wireline broadband networks and nascent 5G build outs," Morgan Stanley wrote. Names to play the space: Netflix (NFLX), Spotify (SPOT), T-Mobile (TMUS), Activision Blizzard (ATVI). 3. Contactless payments Another trend the stock market still underappreciates is a generational surge in contactless payments, which has recently seen a jump higher amid Covid-19 fears and efforts to minimize physical contact, the Morgan Stanley team wrote. Companies like Visa, Mastercard and PayPal, already integral to the payments world, should be major beneficiaries in the years ahead. "The market assumes that COVID-19 related adoption of digital payments is a near-term benefit for Payments providers, offsetting some of the consumer spend headwinds. However, digitization of Payments is part of a multi-year secular growth driver in Payments, with COVID-19 as just the latest accelerator," the analysts wrote. Names to play the space: Visa (V), PayPal (PYPL), Apple (AAPL) and Mastercard (MA). — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed reporting. Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, in turn the parent company of CNBC.

The Spotify app on an iPhone.

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(This story is only for CNBC Pro subscribers)

The coronavirus has changed how many Americans lead their daily lives either at home or at work, and accelerated trends toward digitization and e-commerce, according to a team of Morgan Stanley analysts.

But these dramatic shifts, including working from home, more online food purchases and a rise in contactless payment, mean big upside for investors willing to make big bets on what's expected to be some of the most important technology in the years ahead.