MW These 20 stocks have risen during Trump's trade tirade. Analysts see up to 30% additional upside.

By Philip van Doorn

As the S&P 500 dropped 19% from its February high, dozens of stocks have risen as investors have fled to traditionally defensive industries

The stock market doesn't react well to uncertainty. And the daily headlines about new tariffs being placed on U.S. imports and possible negotiations with trading partners to do away with tariffs have led to seesaw intraday action. But some stocks stand out for having bucked the market's sharp downturn.

From its closing high on Feb. 19, the S&P 500 SPX fell 18.9% through Tuesday, excluding dividends. Now let's take a look at how the U.S. large-cap benchmark's forward price-to-earnings ratio has moved over the past 10 years:

The index's forward P/E ratios are prices divided by rolling 12-month consensus earnings-per-share estimates, weighted by market capitalization. The index's forward P/E was 18 as of Tuesday's close, which was down from 22.5 on Feb. 19 and below its 10-year average of 18.6.

A stock-market correction is typically defined as a decline of at least 10% from a recent high, and it is an apt term, considering how the S&P 500's forward P/E has come down from what many analysts considered an overinflated level above 22 at the end of last year.

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Screening the S&P 500 for stocks that have risen since the index peaked

As the S&P 500 fell 18.9% from its high on Feb. 18 through Tuesday, 54 stocks in the index bucked the trend with rising prices. If we narrow that group of 54 to stocks with majority "buy" or equivalent ratings among analysts polled by FactSet, these 20 have the highest upside potential implied by the analysts' consensus price targets:

   Company                            Ticker    April 8 price  Cons. Price target  Implied 12-month upside potential  Price change from Feb. 19 through April 9  Share "buy" ratings 
   Edison International               EIX              $52.50              $68.30                                30%                                       0.2%                  68% 
   PG&E Corp.                         PCG              $15.94              $20.67                                30%                                       1.8%                  67% 
   Leidos Holdings Inc.               LDOS            $133.36             $170.79                                28%                                       1.4%                  56% 
   L3Harris Technologies Inc.         LHX             $200.75             $255.33                                27%                                       3.1%                  74% 
   Centene Corp.                      CNC              $62.40              $78.16                                25%                                       8.2%                  57% 
   SBA Communications Corp. Class A   SBAC            $208.57             $249.19                                19%                                       0.4%                  65% 
   Cigna Group                        CI              $313.84             $364.91                                16%                                       5.6%                  71% 
   Keurig Dr Pepper Inc.              KDP              $33.57              $38.81                                16%                                       2.4%                  60% 
   UnitedHealth Group Inc.            UNH             $553.08             $637.20                                15%                                       8.2%                  97% 
   American Tower Corp.               AMT             $204.66             $235.15                                15%                                       8.5%                  88% 
   American International Group Inc.  AIG              $77.67              $88.88                                14%                                       3.2%                  55% 
   Elevance Health Inc.               ELV             $430.90             $492.89                                14%                                      10.0%                  76% 
   HCA Healthcare Inc.                HCA             $332.18             $379.05                                14%                                       3.6%                  62% 
   Chubb Ltd.                         CB              $274.99             $306.20                                11%                                       3.2%                  52% 
   Northrop Grumman Corp.             NOC             $491.97             $546.81                                11%                                      13.5%                  57% 
   Colgate-Palmolive Co.              CL               $88.60              $98.38                                11%                                       1.3%                  54% 
   AutoZone Inc.                      AZO           $3,499.08           $3,862.36                                10%                                       3.0%                  74% 
   O'Reilly Automotive Inc.           ORLY          $1,315.20           $1,450.14                                10%                                       1.5%                  71% 
   CVS Health Corp.                   CVS              $67.63              $73.17                                 8%                                       1.9%                  66% 
   McKesson Corp.                     MCK             $652.83             $704.93                                 8%                                       8.3%                  74% 
                                                                                                                                                                     Source: FactSet 

Click on the tickers for more about each company, including corporate profiles, price ratios, charts, financials and news coverage.

Read: Tomi Kilgore's detailed guide to the information available on the MarketWatch quote page

The two companies topping the list are electric utilities. Seven of the companies are in the healthcare sector, which is also typically considered a defense area of the stock market during periods of economic uncertainty. Two companies - SBA Communications Corp. $(SBAC)$ and American Tower Corp. $(AMT)$ - own and lease out cellular towers and other communications infrastructure.

Related: Are AT&T and Verizon good stocks for a recession? This analyst makes the case.

Don't miss: This investing strategy has held up well during stock-market turmoil. It pays you to wait.

-Philip van Doorn

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April 09, 2025 09:59 ET (13:59 GMT)

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