BTIG strategist Julian Emanuel has an idea: previous high-quality IPOs that have been beaten down.

Many investors moved from equities into cash beginning in early March, parking billions of dollars in money-market funds amid the COVID-19 shock, Barron's explained.

So instead of whether to buy, the more-relevant question seems to be what to buy, especially as stock-valuation metrics become less informative given elevated uncertainties right now. A good place to start is to look at what private-equity firms might be eyeing, Emanuel wrote in a note this week, Barron's reported.

Emanuel listed the companies that have gone public since 2009 with a current market cap above $2 billion and a history of support from private equity or venture capital. He then screened for companies whose current share price is either below the IPO price or more than 50% down from an all-time high, have relatively low leverage and—this is important—are being run by the same CEO as when they went public.

Amid uncertainties, private-equity firms are likely to buy up shares in these companies because they are more familiar with them, Emanuel said, which could give these stocks an upward ride.

Emanual offered a list of 22 such picks; below are five:

1. Twitter (TWTR)
2. Beyond Meat (BYND) 
3. Lyft (LYFT)
4. Snap (SNAP)
5. Uber Technologies (UBER)

Meanwhile, Warner Music Group said on Thursday it received an approval to list its shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange in what could be a rare initial public offering after the COVID-19 pandemic forced a number of companies to put their plans on hold, Reuters reported.

The recording label, home to artistes including Cardi B, Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars, said on Thursday it had been approved to list its Class A common stock under the symbol "WMG."

Warner, which filed for an initial public offering in February, was bought by billionaire Len Blavatnik's investment group, Access Industries, for about $3.3 billion in 2011.

The world's third-largest music recording label had in March delayed it plans to kick off the debut - set to be one of the year's larger IPOs, raising in excess of $1 billion, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The health crisis has rocked global capital markets in the past two months and slammed the brakes on IPOs. In January, buyout firm Carlyle Group Inc. delayed the U.S. IPO of its German specialty chemicals group Atotech.

Other companies that have put their IPO plans on ice include Cole Haan Inc. and 58 Home.

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