Investors who spent the weekend biting their nails down to the quick got a reprieve this morning as President Trump said he would postpone an attack on Iranian power plants.
As a result, stocks soared on Monday, with major indexes up around 1.5% as of noon, and oil prices fell on hopes that tensions over the war would cool rose.
However, it’s a mistake to assume the oil crisis resulting from the war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is fading, as the strait remains closed, and news from the region has been volatile since the war.
In other words, uncertainty is still elevated, and that’s likely to continue until the war ends. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), also known as the fear gauge, is up by two-thirds from the start of the year, suggesting investors expect a volatile market.
Stocks are still down since the war broke out, and higher-risk stocks, like the tech sector, have been hit hard. However, there are some tickers that can provide refuge at a time like this.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
An all-weather stock to beat the oil shock
One stock that has stood the test of time in both bull and bear markets and is well-suited to perform through the war in Iran is Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA 0.10%) (BRKB 0.15%).
While Warren Buffett is no longer running Berkshire on a day-to-day basis, having passed the reins to Greg Abel, his imprint will remain with the business, and he continues to oversee it as Chairman.
Buffett built a company designed to withstand economic shocks. It’s diversified through its subsidiaries and stock market holdings across multiple stock market sectors, and, although Berkshire is exposed to cyclical forces, it has substantial energy holdings, meaning it could be a net beneficiary of the spike in oil prices.
Two of Berkshire’s top ten holdings are oil companies. It closed the fourth quarter with Chevron (CVX +1.73%) as its fifth-biggest holding, at 130.1 million shares, now worth more than $26 billion after jumping 33.5% this year. Occidental Petroleum (OXY 0.66%), a Buffett favorite, was its seventh-biggest holding as of the end of 2025, with 265 million shares. Those shares are now worth roughly $16 billion, with Occidental up 46.1% this year.
Berkshire doesn’t have any major oil-producing subsidiaries, though it holds a controlling stake in the Cove Point liquid natural gas (LNG) facility, a valuable asset at a time when LNG prices are soaring worldwide due to the destruction of natural gas infrastructure in the Middle East.
Today’s Change
(-0.15%) $-0.74
Current Price
$480.19
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$1.0T
Day’s Range
$479.00 – $485.88
52wk Range
$455.19 – $542.07
Volume
213K
Avg Vol
4.8M
Gross Margin
23.63%
Berkshire’s business model can deliver
Berkshire is diversified across sectors in a way that few other companies are, but it’s more than diversification that makes the company special. The conglomerate is designed to generate cash in all kinds of environments as it counts on massive insurance businesses like GEICO to bring in cash, and it has large stakes in dividend stocks, including the two energy stocks above, to ensure that cash continues to flow into the company, enabling Berkshire to reinvest it as it sees fit.
Finally, Berkshire also has a massive cash hoard that it’s ready to deploy should stocks fall far enough to enter value territory. Berkshire finished 2025 with nearly $370 billion in cash and T-bills, meaning the company has plenty of firepower to make acquisitions or buy more stock.
Berkshire has had a middling year so far, down about 5%, and it’s fallen since the war started. However, the company has the kind of defensive model designed to thrive during challenging and unpredictable economic times. The longer the war in Iran drags on, the better Berkshire stock is likely to do.
