These Industrial Stocks Don't Come on Sale Often. Now Is the Time to Buy.

The stock market volatility that the war between the United States, Israel, and Iran has caused over the past month has shaken many of our portfolios to the core. The entire market is down one day and up the next, moving violently on news coming out of Washington and Tehran that's rendered obsolete within hours.

But with this chaos comes opportunity. Some stocks that have been on a legendary bull run have stalled out and dipped slightly. Other stocks that are normally very stable have been knocked down to discount prices.

The two stocks in this article are both examples of the former.

Image source: Getty Images.

Spicy rocks

Up first is Cameco (NYSE: CCJ), the Canadian uranium miner. It's the second-largest uranium miner in the world by production, behind only Kazakhstan's Kazatomprom. Last year, it was responsible for 164 million pounds of uranium, or 15% of all global production.

According to the World Nuclear Association, there are 75 new nuclear reactors under construction around the world, with another 120 planned. Some of those reactors are produced by Westinghouse, which Cameco owns 49% of in a joint venture.

Regardless, all those reactors will need uranium. And Cameco is more than capable of producing that uranium from its high-grade mines, which contain uranium in much higher concentrations than Kazakhstan, the world's largest uranium producer's, reserves.

McArthur River is the world's largest high-grade uranium mine and has an average grade of 6.48%. Cigar Lake is a smaller mine with a much higher average grade of 16.33%. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan's national uranium reserves have a grade of less than 1% on average.

For 2025, Cameco saw revenue growth of 11%. It also maintains a strong net profit margin of 16.93% and a very healthy balance sheet with a total debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. That's particularly impressive in an industry as capital-intensive as mining.

The stock is up 23% year to date and 182% over the past 12 months, but the market's volatility has caused its run to stall out long enough to create a buying opportunity.

And with countries around the world working to expand their use of nuclear power, Cameco represents a strong long-term buy and hold to profit from that trend. And it's a trend I expect will only accelerate as the Hormuz crisis lays bare the fragility of global energy markets.

Lockheed, stock, and barrel

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a stock you'd expect would be going on a moonshot, considering what's going on in the Middle East right now. After all, the company designs and produces loads of military equipment, including fighter jets like the F-35, helicopters like the Black Hawk, and numerous other pieces of equipment and ammunition.

The increase in chaos around the globe this year has been very good for Lockheed. The company is up 37% over the past 12 months, with almost all of that coming with its 31% year-to-date surge. Despite that, it's down 4.6% over the past month.

However, that's just the stock stalling out right now, I think. In the long term, Lockheed's bull run is likely to continue, even if the Iran ceasefire holds and peace is negotiated.

President Donald Trump has proposed a $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027, which is about one and a half times America's current defense spending. Whether he gets all $1.5 trillion will be up for debate in Congress. But given that wars have been breaking out with increasing frequency since the decade began, more defense spending is likely inevitable.

And the existing defense spending was already working out pretty well for Lockheed, which saw its sales climb 6% in 2025.

The company also has an operating profit margin of 10.3%, and while it does have rather high debt, Lockheed is so critical to the American military machine that I don't think that will be too much of a problem. Case in point, in February alone, Lockheed Martin was awarded $77 million in defense contracts.

So, while the world may be growing increasingly chaotic, Lockheed Martin can give your portfolio some good stability moving forward. And right now, it's down from its early March highs. Give it a look if you're so inclined.

James Hires has positions in Cameco. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Cameco. The Motley Fool recommends Lockheed Martin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.