NEW YORK — Roughly six months after COVID-19 hit US shores, financial experts are expressing concerns over new virus waves, more shutdowns, and the pandemic triggering a longer-term recession.

That’s according to a new survey released by the financial consulting firm Deloitte today.

As stock markets continue to climb, 84 percent of chief financial officers (CFO) now say equities are overvalued — the second-highest level in survey history. Just 2 percent say markets are undervalued.

Meanwhile, with ongoing low-interest rates, debt attractiveness rose from 63 percent to 87 percent. After dipping to 27 percent last quarter, the proportion of CFOs saying it is a good time for risk taking rebounded to the pre-pandemic norm of 41 percent — still low relative to the levels from 2017 and 2018.

Source: Deloitte

Overall, just 37 percent of CFOs say they expect to achieve 95 percent or more of their originally-budgeted 2020 revenue, and another 36 percent say between 75 percent and 94 percent.

Health care/pharma, energy/resources, and financial services are the most optimistic, expecting an average of 95 percent, 83 percent and 79 percent of their targeted 2020 revenue, respectively.

Retail/wholesale and manufacturing were the least likely to expect 95 percent or more of their target, with just 21 percent of their CFOs expecting to achieve this level.

“CFOs are recognizing that remote work, virtual sales and customer interactions will continue to be the primary operating state for some time,” said Steve Gallucci, Deloitte’s national managing partner of the US chief financial officer program.

Source: Deloitte

“The strategic shifts they’re making as a result—including accelerated investments in digitization and heightened focus on achieving better flexibility in capacity and cost structure can help put their organizations in a better position to navigate the uncertain trajectory of the pandemic.”

Each quarter, Deloitte tracks the thinking and actions of CFOs representing many of North America’s largest and most influential organizations.

This survey was conducted in early August and included responses from 155 CFOs. The vast majority are from companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Participation is open to all industries except for public sector entities.