By Paul R. La Monica
The Nasdaq is in a correction, down more than 10% from its recent highs. And there are growing worries that the tech-heavy index could soon find itself in a bear market -- a drop of 20%. But you know what they say on Wall Street: There's always a bull market somewhere.
Even though the broader market has pulled back in the past few days, extending their weekly losing streak to five, there were pockets of strength this past week -- and for the whole month of March, for that matter.
Dividend-paying stocks in particular have held up well during this recent bout of volatility. The State Street SPDR S&P Dividend ETF, which owns Verizon, Realty Income, and Chevron as top holdings, was up slightly last week. Meanwhile, the iShares Core High Dividend ETF, gained more than 2%. Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and Johnson & Johnson are big weightings in this fund.
It goes without saying that the recent spike in oil prices due to the war in Iran is another reason why many dividend-paying stocks have held up. Exxon and Chevron are considered defensive income plays, with dividends yielding 2.5% and 3.4%, respectively.
But they also benefit from higher crude prices. So it should come as no surprise that APA Corp., Marathon Petroleum, Valero, Occidental Petroleum, EOG, Phillips 66, and Devon Energy are among the top ten performers in the S&P 500 so far in March. These stocks pay healthy dividends too.
But there are winners beyond the oil patch. Jack Daniel's maker Brown-Forman surged 20% last week on takeover speculation. And with merger activity expected to pick up this year, don't be surprised if more companies start to attract interest and earn takeover premiums from investors.
Some old-school tech stocks have caught a bid as well, even as the Magnificent Seven have pulled back sharply. Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dell were both up about 10% in the past week. The two companies now seem to be viewed as AI beneficiaries as well, with demand expected to grow for some of their security, server, and storage products. The two also may be catching a bid due to the legal problems faced by competitor Super Micro Computer.
Dell and HPE are also dividend payers, yielding 1.4% and 2.3%, respectively. They are also still reasonably valued, particularly compared to other AI and tech stocks. HPE trades for just 9 times earnings estimates for the next 12 months, while Dell, a 2025 Barron's stock pick , has a forward price-to-earnings ratio of only 13.
Another legacy tech firm, albeit once trading at a much higher multiple than Dell and HPE, is also getting an AI boost. Shares of glass and optical networking leader Corning were up nearly 10% on the back of a bullish analyst report from BofA Securities. At more than 40 times earnings estimates, Corning isn't cheap. But like Dell and HPE, it's viewed as a winner in a world where tech spending isn't about to collapse anytime soon.
Traders also appeared to be making bets that the recent sell-off in both precious and industrial metals could be soon nearing an end. Shares of gold miner Newmont, which was a Barron's stock pick last year, and copper giant Freeport-McMoRan, a more recent Barron's stock pick , rose nearly 7% and 8% in the past week.
Investors are also flocking to stocks that tend to be more steady performers. "Less volatile stocks are working the best," said Arup Datta, head of global quantitative equity at Mackenzie Investments.
To that end, the Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF, which owns a fair amount of utilities and consumer staples stocks like Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and Procter & Gamble, was flat this past week. The State Street Utilities Select Sector SPDR and State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETFs posted gains. Utilities and staples stocks are known for their relatively high dividend yields.
So investors looking for winners in this tough stock market don't have to limit themselves to the oil patch. There are opportunities in consumer stocks, tech, utilities and metals as well, just to name a few sectors.
Write to Paul R. La Monica at paul.lamonica@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 30, 2026 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
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