Tariff Woes? Play Safe With 4 Low-Beta Stocks: ANIP, EXE, AVA & CTGO

Group 1: Market Context - President Donald Trump's recently imposed tariff is causing volatility in the equity market, impacting the slowing domestic economy by increasing prices of both domestic and imported goods, which fuels uncertainty [1] - A curated portfolio of low-beta stocks is recommended as a strategy to safeguard against market uncertainty, allowing investors to navigate volatility with greater resilience [1] Group 2: Stock Recommendations - Stocks such as ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ANIP), Expand Energy Corporation (EXE), Avista Corp (AVA), and Contango ORE, Inc. (CTGO) are highlighted as potential investment opportunities [2] Group 3: Stock Characteristics - Beta measures the volatility of a stock compared to the market, with a beta of 1 indicating movement with the market, greater than 1 indicating higher volatility, and less than 1 indicating lower volatility [3][4] - A screening criterion for low-beta stocks includes a beta between 0 and 0.6, ensuring less volatility than the market [5] - Additional criteria for stock selection include positive price movement over the last month, average 20-day volume greater than 50,000, a minimum price of $5, and a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy) [6] Group 4: Company Insights - ANI Pharmaceuticals is a diversified biopharmaceutical company focused on affordable quality medicines, recently launching Nitazoxanide Tablets, with upward revisions to earnings estimates for 2025 [7] - Expand Energy, a natural gas producer, is benefiting from increasing demand for clean energy and is on track to meet a $500 million synergy target, with upward earnings estimate revisions for 2025 and 2026 [8] - Avista Corp is a leading utility with low carbon emissions, planning to increase its capital investment from an estimated $525 million in 2025 to $650 million in 2029, with a projected rate base growth of 5% to 6% and upward earnings estimate revisions for 2025 [9] - Contango ORE, a gold explorer, is seeing increased net operating cash flows due to production commencement at Manh Choh, with a significant portion of net gold production linked to spot gold prices for fiscal years 2025 and 2026 [10]