Is the Stock Market Headed for an AI-Bubble Burst? Here Are 2 Industrial Stocks That Can Offset Tech Stock Volatility.

At the end of 2025, one of the biggest questions being asked by the financial media was whether or not we were in an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble.

That question has since fallen out of the media's headlines, but it remains unanswered. It likely won't have an answer until either the bubble pops (if there is one) or AI continues its current growth trajectory unabated as an industry for a few more years.

Either way, it never hurts to hedge your bets. It's undeniable that the AI boom in the past few years bears a striking resemblance to the dot-com bubble that burst in the early 2000s.

So, if you're looking for a way to protect your portfolio from any potential bubbles popping, take a look at these two industrial stocks.

Image source: Getty Images.

The king of boring but important

Some of the best stocks on the market are the ones you don't think about at all. I like to call them "boring but important."

Their products or services might not be the most exciting thing in the world, but they are absolutely critical to the modern world, and our lives would look very different without them.

And 3M (NYSE: MMM) is the king of the boring but important companies.

It produces everything from household products like Command Strips and duct tape to construction products and safety equipment. You've probably used 3M products over the course of your life without even thinking twice about it. Like I said, nothing 3M makes is as exciting as the latest AI stock Wall Street is hyped up about, but its products are always in demand and essential to modern life.

Now, you don't hold a company like 3M for explosive growth. It's a stock you hold for stability and regular returns. 3M hit the nadir of its recent fortunes in February 2024 and it's up 96% since then, back into the $120-$200 range it has fluctuated between since 2016.

For the whole of 2025 it broke its streak of revenue declines from 2022 to 2024 and grew its revenue 1.5% to $24.9 billion for the year. The company also grew its adjusted operating margin 200 basis points over 2024 to hit 23.4%. Both of those figures are promising signs.

This is still a company recovering from a bad few years, though, and 3M's earnings per share (EPS) for the year fell 10%. Though Q4 of 2025 signaled a potential end to the decline with a 9% increase in adjusted EPS for the quarter.

In all, 3M looks like a company nearing the end of its restructuring and recovery and primed for a strong 2026.

It's also about as far from an AI company as it's possible to be and should make a nice hedge against volatility in that industry.

Digging up spicy rocks

The other industrial stock to hedge against a potential bubble is Cameco (NYSE: CCJ). Cameco is the second-largest uranium miner in the world by production.

On its own, Cameco produced 15% of all the world's uranium supply in 2025, behind only Kazakhstan's uranium miner, Kazatomprom.

The key to Cameco's success is the quality of its mines. McArthur River/Key Lake is the world's largest high-grade uranium mine with enough uranium in it to keep producing until 2044. There's also the Cigar Lake mine, which is one of the highest-grade mines in the world with large enough reserves to continue producing until 2036.

At both of those mines, it costs Cameco about 20 Canadian dollars to pull a pound of uranium out of the earth. That's about $15 U.S. And with uranium going for about $85 a pound right now that's a pretty solid margin on Cameco's main product.

It's also worth noting that before the current war between the U.S., Israel, and Iran, uranium was the only energy product to increase in value over the past year. That's because interest in nuclear power is growing around the world with the U.S. Department of Energy aiming to triple America's nuclear power output by 2050, France extending the life of its existing nuclear plants, South Korea slated to build two new reactors over the next decade and change, and Japan resuscitating its nuclear program.

China and India are also both investing heavily in their nuclear power infrastructure, and in fact, Cameco signed a $1.9 billion agreement with the Indian government earlier this month to supply the country with 22 million pounds of uranium ore concentrate between 2027 and 2035.

And while 3M is recovering, Cameco is surging ahead with revenue for 2025 totaling $3.48 billion, up 11% over 2024 and its adjusted EPS for the year climbed 114% over 2024.

It's also worth noting that, even in an industry as capital intensive as mining, Cameco maintains a net profit margin of 16.9% and a very healthy balance sheet with a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Electricity is something people always need more of, regardless of what happens with AI. And increasingly governments around the world want that power to come from a spicy yellow rock as opposed to oil and gas.

James Hires has positions in Cameco. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends 3M and Cameco. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.