March 18, 2025
3 Tariff-Proof Stocks
Dear Subscriber,
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| By Gavin Magor |
You need to take immediate steps to protect your investments from an ever-expanding global trade war.
This is no easy task. The good news is, we have a solution!
The pool of potential “tariff-proof” stocks continues to shrink as the Trump administration and America’s largest trading partners escalate import duties.
But we found three stocks that can withstand blowback from Trump’s tariffs in addition to retaliatory strikes.
First, let me explain why diversifying your portfolio is more urgent than ever.
Trade War Emergency
The recent market correction underscores how vulnerable markets can be to disturbances in the flow of international trade.
The trade wars are especially concerning this time around because of the broad brushes the participants are wielding, leaving virtually no product categories untouched.
The U.S. imposed tariffs against nearly all goods from Mexico, Canada and China. Those three countries accounted for 40% of the $3.3 trillion worth of products the U.S. imported last year.
Trump is also targeting the EU, which accounted for 18% of imports in 2024.
The fear of tariffs is just as damaging to stocks as their actual implementation. The rounds of tariffs and threats unveiled since January have pushed trade uncertainty to an all-time high.
This underscores the need to find investments completely divorced from the international flow of trade!
The Weiss Ratings’ Top Tariff-Proof Stocks
Stocks that can survive a trade war will have five key traits:
- Domestically oriented revenue: Companies that generate nearly all their revenue within the U.S.
- Minimal exposure to foreign markets: No reliance on exports that could be hit by retaliatory tariffs.
- Limited reliance on imported inputs: Companies that source raw materials and components domestically.
- Self-contained supply chains: Shipments and supply lines do not spill over U.S. borders.
- No international subsidiaries: Avoiding potential taxation or regulatory risk in other countries.
Using this checklist as a guide, we compiled a database of tariff-resistant stocks. Then, we took one more important step.
That is, to ensure they passed the Weiss Ratings investment test.
This narrowed the prospects substantially, to just three “Buy”-rated stocks with high potential to survive Trump’s trade wars.
Here’s the first …
Atmos Energy (ATO), headquartered in Dallas, is the largest “pure play” local natural gas distribution and storage company in the United States.
ATO distributes natural gas to approximately 3.3 million residential and commercial customers in eight U.S. states. It manages five underground storage facilities in Texas.
ATO has a “B+” reward grade and a “B” in risk, driven by excellent growth and solvency scores and good marks in efficiency and volatility.
ATO is up 30% in the past year vs. -1% for the energy sector.
The company has delivered solid top- and bottom-line growth vs. peers. It has an operating profit margin of 33% and a strong balance sheet.
ATO has a beta of 0.45, which means the stock is significantly less volatile compared to the market. This makes for a very positive risk/reward equation.
Here’s today’s second pick tariff-proof pick …
Cal-Maine Foods (CALM) is based in Mississippi and has zero international sales. CALM also offers an excellent dividend yield of 5.29% and is up 40% in the last 12 months.
The company is still trading at a great value — a mere 6x earnings, a 70% discount to the staples sector.
It has a pristine balance sheet with zero debt and $797 million in cash on hand.
CALM has posted solid profitability figures with an operating margin of 25%, levered free cash flow of 12% and net income margin of 20%.
Earnings are projected to grow by nearly 180% in FY25 and revenue by 45%.
Now, meet our third tariff-resistant buy …
McKesson (MCK) is a Texas-based drug distribution giant that derived less than 5% of revenue from its international business segment in its most recent quarter. MCK has had a Weiss “Buy” rating for almost two consecutive years.
Over 90% of revenue came from the distribution of branded, generic, specialty, biosimilar and OTC drugs and other healthcare products in the United States.
MCK is up about 25% in the past 12 months vs. -1% for the S&P 500 healthcare sector.
Top-line growth has been strong and steady, and earnings are projected to rise 20% in FY25 and another 12% in FY26.
Bottom line
We presented this list in alphabetical order rather than in order of any favorites.
If you want to add any or all of these names to your portfolio to weather the escalating global trade war, be sure to supplement our research with your own due diligence.
That said, we believe these domestically oriented stocks could do very well thanks to their strong pricing power and low reliance on imports.
And here, before the results of the tariffs start showing up on quarterly balance sheets, there is no better time than now to act!
Cheers!
Gavin
P.S. As my colleague, Nilus Mattive, said recently, the best time to diversify your portfolio was ages ago. The second-best time is right now.
Along with these tariff-resistant stocks, there’s another way to build a fortress around some of your investment dollars. Your startup expert, Chris Graebe, explains exactly how to do that here.
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