2 months ago
37
David Jagielski, CPA, The Motley Fool
Wed, April 15, 2026 astatine 10:50 AM CDT 5 min read
A large interest for galore investors heading into this twelvemonth was the imaginable for a marketplace crash. With precocious valuations and economical uncertainty weighing connected the market, the conditions whitethorn person appeared to beryllium ripe for a important downturn, particularly fixed however blistery the S&P 500 has been successful caller years; it has generated above-average returns since 2023.
While the S&P 500 has been trending upward precocious and is up astir 2% this twelvemonth (as of Tuesday's close), there's inactive the hazard that a clang could hap aboriginal on, particularly if the warfare successful Iran doesn't extremity soon, arsenic that could interaction galore industries and effect successful elevated inflation.
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There are ways you can, however, trim hazard successful your portfolio, and that's by going with beardown businesses with fantabulous fundamentals. Three stocks that acceptable that criteria and that outperformed the marketplace during the past large clang are ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKB)(NYSE: BRKA).
Oil and state elephantine ExxonMobil tin beryllium a safe-haven concern amid marketplace turmoil. Not lone does it connection a precocious dividend that the institution has been expanding for decades, but it tin besides payment from a surge successful lipid prices, which is what has been happening this year. Oil prices person climbed to much than $100 per tube for the archetypal clip successful years, and unsurprisingly, ExxonMobil's banal has been 1 of the hottest buys of 2026 -- it's up astir 24%.
Oil prices person been falling recently, but there's inactive a accidental they could emergence owed to the ongoing warfare successful Iran. Even if determination is simply a interest astir inflation, the banal whitethorn beryllium successful precocious demand. That's what happened successful 2022, erstwhile the S&P 500 crashed by much than 19%, mostly owed to elevated inflation. Oil prices soared, and ExxonMobil banal surged implicit 80%. It was a monstrous show astatine a clip erstwhile galore stocks were struggling badly.
While that doesn't mean ExxonMobil is owed for specified a rally anytime there's a crash, it highlights the information the banal tin offer, arsenic it tin sometimes veer successful a vastly antithetic absorption than the wide market. Plus, with an above-average dividend that yields 2.8% (the S&P 500 mean is conscionable 1.2%), it tin besides supply you with immoderate fantabulous divided income. If you privation to hedge against a imaginable crash, ExxonMobil is simply a banal you whitethorn privation to see adding to your portfolio today.
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