Buying stocks with a history of outperforming in previous sell-offs could be a good strategy to weather volatility, according to Bank of America. President Donald Trump’ s new trade policies have roiled markets in recent weeks, with investors abandoning riskier assets and scrambling to safe havens. Indeed, the S & P 500 is down about 7% over the past month, and the index briefly slipped into correction territory last week. Recent data has also suggested a softening in consumer sentiment , and the Federal Reserve this week said it sees higher inflation and slowing economic growth. Against this highly uncertain economic backdrop, analysts at Bank of America screened for the companies that have a history of performing well during pullbacks. “With increasing uncertainty over the macro, stocks with a history of weathering prior downturns with low crowding risk and low earnings volatility may make sense,” Savita Subramanian, equity and quant strategist, wrote in a Thursday report. To be included in the table below, stocks had to meet the following criteria: Be a member of the Russell 1000 Outperformed in at least 80% of prior market pullbacks of at least 10% since 1983 Have a high-quality rating (B+ or better S & P quality rank) Be underweight by long-only active fund managers (relative weight in holdings
