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2 Dividend Stocks Insulated From Middle East Conflict
Written by Dan Schmidt. First Published: 3/13/2026.
Key Points
- Conflict in the Middle East has shaken markets over the last few weeks, driving up oil prices and market uncertainty.
- When uncertainty reigns, investors look for safe havens with steady revenue and strong dividends.
- Verizon Communications and American Electric Power offer the best of both worlds: steady returns and income, plus insulation from the Iran war.
- Special Report: Elon Musk's $1 Quadrillion AI IPO
The war in Iran has already sent multiple shockwaves through the markets. Gas prices have surged, tankers have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, and crude oil futures are trading with the kind of volatility seen in 2021 meme stocks. With normal shipping patterns unlikely to resume for at least several weeks, the disruption will continue to ripple through market indices, even in energy-independent markets like the United States. When geopolitical pressure rises, investors often take risk off the table and search for stable stocks that offer yield and limited volatility.
Because the Middle East has a significant influence on global markets, it's important not only to seek steady dividends but also to favor companies that are resilient to disruption from this specific conflict. The two stocks discussed below were chosen because they offer solid dividends and operate primarily within the United States, minimizing exposure to Middle East-related risks. These qualities make them suitable for risk-averse portfolios if the conflict persists.
2 Stocks With Strong Dividends and Minimal Middle East Exposure
Iran Strikes Spark Gold Dip Shadow Miner Play (Ad)
Gold didn't dip from $5,423 to $5,000—it was forced down. After the Iran strikes, something inside the gold market broke.
While retail investors hesitate, the smart money is quietly loading up on a little-known Shadow Miner positioned for what happens next. On March 31st, a 90-year-old law could expose what's really inside the vaults, and when that happens, this Iran discount disappears overnight.
See the ticker before the resetWhen seeking safe havens amid geopolitical headwinds, investors typically focus on sectors with predictable income and limited international exposure. In the current climate, that often means selecting companies whose revenue sources are largely independent of the Middle East. Telecom and utilities stand out, offering steady revenue, healthy dividends, and operations that minimize the risk of disruptions tied to the conflict.
Verizon Communications: Growth Finally Returns to the Telecom Dividend Fortress
A growth story from Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ)? Believe it or not, the telecom giant appears to be in the middle of a turnaround that's surprising even some optimistic analysts.
In Q4 2025, the company reported 616,000 quarterly postpaid phone net adds (its best result since 2019) and more than 370,000 broadband subscribers. The Frontier acquisition added another 16 million wireless and broadband connections to the Verizon network.
Verizon also reported $20.13 billion in free cash flow for full-year 2025, up from $19.82 billion in 2024. That cash-flow engine helps support dividend growth: the stock currently yields 5.45% annually, with a 68% dividend payout ratio based on earnings. On a free-cash-flow basis, only about 30% of free cash flow is required to cover the dividend, and Verizon has raised payouts for 20 consecutive years. Telecommunications is a sector where low growth and predictable profits add to its appeal during turbulent times.
Verizon's revenue is entirely U.S.-based and is not expected to be directly affected by shipping disruptions in the Middle East. The main concern would be rising energy prices, but energy is a relatively small operating-cost line item for the company. Despite muted consumer sentiment, U.S. households remain positioned to keep paying for phone and internet service—these are often among the last expenses to be cut.
Can you spot where the earnings news dropped on the chart? VZ shares jumped 11% after their Q4 report, then gained another 12% over the following three weeks. That surge created a Golden Cross on the 50- and 200-day moving averages and pushed the Relative Strength Index (RSI) into overbought territory. With the parabolic momentum cooling, shares are consolidating around the $50 level while the RSI returns to a healthier range. Verizon's Q4 results changed the stock's outlook, and there remains opportunity for upside alongside steady dividend income.
American Electric Power: Strong Earnings Growth Provides Upside Potential With Steady Income
The utility sector is a common destination for investors during geopolitical turmoil, largely because of its steady dividend payments and lower volatility.
The American Electric Power Company (NASDAQ: AEP) is a regionally operated utility based in Ohio that serves customers across 11 states. While Middle East disruptions can influence natural gas prices, AEP's diverse generation mix—natural gas, coal, nuclear, and renewables—helps mitigate the impact of price shocks in any single commodity.
Additionally, regulated utilities often have mechanisms to pass fuel-cost increases through to ratepayers, and AEP has limited exposure to shipping or commodity trading that could squeeze short-term margins.
The company reported strong Q4 2025 results on Feb. 12, with operating EPS of $5.97 that beat expectations and revenue that exceeded forecasts. Management's 2026 EPS guidance implies roughly 7%–9% earnings growth. Investors also benefit from a 2.9% yield and a 57% payout ratio. AEP has raised dividends for 15 straight years, growing payments at about a 5.7% annual rate over the past five years.
Beyond the fundamentals, AEP also presents an appealing technical picture for dividend investors. The stock is in a long-term uptrend, up more than 28% over the past 12 months, and it currently finds strong support at the 50-day moving average. With the RSI back below the overbought threshold of 70, AEP could be consolidating ahead of the next leg higher in the trend.
Why Credo and Astera Soared After Oracle and Broadcom's Earnings
Written by Leo Miller. First Published: 3/17/2026.
Key Points
- Credo Technologies and Astera Labs are two niche players in the semiconductor and AI ecosystem, providing specialized connectivity solutions.
- Their shares have gone on huge runs, both up more than 70% in the past 52 weeks.
- Earnings from Oracle and Broadcom injected significant gains into both stocks recently, highlighting two dynamics that are key for investors to understand.
- Special Report: Elon Musk's $1 Quadrillion AI IPO
Credo Technology (NASDAQ: CRDO) and Astera Labs (NASDAQ: ALAB) are among the fastest-growing beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence (AI) data center buildout.
As key suppliers in the data center ecosystem, results and commentary from upstream players are important for evaluating Credo and Astera's outlook. Hyperscaler Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) and Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) — a leading custom AI semiconductor maker — are prime examples.
Iran Strikes Spark Gold Dip Shadow Miner Play (Ad)
Gold didn't dip from $5,423 to $5,000—it was forced down. After the Iran strikes, something inside the gold market broke.
While retail investors hesitate, the smart money is quietly loading up on a little-known Shadow Miner positioned for what happens next. On March 31st, a 90-year-old law could expose what's really inside the vaults, and when that happens, this Iran discount disappears overnight.
See the ticker before the resetBoth companies recently reported earnings. Their better-than-expected results and some notable commentary helped CRDO and ALAB rally. Below we break down why, since understanding where Credo and Astera fit in the data center ecosystem is key to assessing their paths forward.
How Credo and Astera Power AI Data Center Connectivity
Credo and Astera sit squarely in AI infrastructure networking. Their products connect processing chips, like NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) GPUs, enabling those chips to communicate and coordinate workloads.
Credo's primary product is its HiWire active electrical cable (AEC). These copper-based AECs can be much longer than traditional passive copper cables while preserving signal integrity. They also consume less power and are less expensive than optical alternatives.
Astera's smart retimers deliver similar benefits via chips rather than cables. Although Astera also offers AECs, smart retimers are its largest revenue source.
Put simply: more data centers mean more networking equipment, which expands the market for Credo and Astera. That dynamic helped the stocks rise 3.2% and 7.1%, respectively, after Oracle's latest earnings report.
Oracle's Data Center Capacity Ramp Signals Faster Infrastructure Demand
Oracle significantly beat growth estimates in its latest report, driven by strength in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. The results suggest infrastructure demand is outpacing expectations.
In the quarter, Oracle delivered 400 megawatts of data center capacity and said the pace of expansion will accelerate.
Oracle plans to bring 10 gigawatts (10,000 megawatts) of capacity online over the next three years.
That implies roughly 3.3 gigawatts per year — about double the ~1.6 gigawatt annual run rate represented by the recent quarter's 400 megawatts. Faster data center buildouts are a clear positive for Credo and Astera, which provide the connective hardware inside these facilities.
This doesn't mean Oracle is necessarily a customer of Credo or Astera; rather, the accelerating pace of deployments is a rising tide that should benefit both companies.
AVGO Supports CRDO and ALAB's Runway with Copper Forecast
More data centers are a tailwind, but the story is more nuanced because Credo and Astera's main revenue drivers are copper-based solutions. The alternative is optical networking, which transmits data using light. Optical can handle higher bandwidth, but it typically consumes more power and costs more. For those reasons, operators prefer to stick with copper where it meets requirements.
Credo and Astera also received a lift after Broadcom's earnings release, with the two stocks jumping 11.9% and 5.5%, respectively.
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan offered perspective on the copper-versus-optical debate. He said that in "scale-out" architectures — where operators place many servers side-by-side and interconnect them — optical networking tends to be used. By contrast, "scale-up" architectures pack more processing chips into single servers; scale-up is the domain where Credo and Astera primarily compete, though they also provide scale-out solutions.
Tan expects Broadcom's scale-up customers will likely still be using copper in 2028. He argued copper technology is sufficient for many needs today, so customers don't yet need to migrate to advanced optical solutions like co-packaged optics (CPO).
CPO integrates optical networking components directly with processing chips. Widespread CPO adoption would be a long-term threat to CRDO and ALAB, so the idea that CPO may take longer to arrive is a near-term positive for them. Given Broadcom's leadership in CPO, Tan's assessment carries credibility — he doesn't appear to have an incentive to downplay CPO timelines, which lends weight to his view.
More copper usage supports CRDO and ALAB's near-term growth prospects. Meanwhile, both companies can continue expanding their optical product offerings to prepare for any eventual shift away from copper.
CRDO & ALAB: Niche Players Benefiting From the Data Center Boom
Taken together, Oracle's capacity ramp and Broadcom's comments bolster the near-term outlooks for CRDO and ALAB. Investors should watch how the relative mix of copper and optical networking evolves, as it will directly affect these businesses.
That said, material risks remain. One important risk is customer concentration: in 2025, five customers accounted for 84% of ALAB's revenue. Credo is even more concentrated: two customers represented 87% of revenue last quarter. If spending at one or two major customers slows, CRDO and ALAB could be significantly affected.
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