Earnings for Q1 2025 are rolling out. Some companies in an unexpected industry posted strong results. In turn, Wall Street analysts are upgrading these stocks. While investors wouldn’t generally think manufacturing-heavy stocks would perform well during a period of tariff uncertainty, that is exactly what has happened in the aerospace and defense industry.
Demonstrating this is that the return of the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (BATS: ITA) is the inverse of the overall market in 2025. As of the April 25 close, ITA has provided a total return of approximately 6%. In contrast, the return of the S&P 500 Index is approximately -6%.
