These Two Investors Beat the Market in the Last Trade War. What Are They Buying Now?

Markets are weird. Trump is back, tariffs are back, and your portfolio’s acting like it’s hungover.

So here’s the play:

Let’s go back to 2018 — the last time political chaos went full Godzilla on global trade. Most investors panicked. Two didn’t. They crushed it.

What did they buy then? What are they buying now? Let’s find out.

Context: What happened in 2018?

Quick flashback:

• U.S.–China trade war escalates

• Tariffs, tweets, and tremors

• S&P 500: –4.4%

But while the average investor got wrecked, two funds printed alpha:

No crypto. No moonshots. Just solid, boring, intelligent investing. If you’d mirrored their top 5 picks back then, you’d have outperformed the market — and slept better at night. So naturally, we asked…

🔍 What are they buying now?

We pulled their latest 13F filings (Q1 2025) to see where their conviction lies today. Below are their Top 10 holdings with portfolio weights and recent changes.

Abrams Bison Investments

Yacktman Asset Management

How are things going YTD?

Still red — but both are ahead of the index. And it’s not random.

Examples:

• Yacktman’s Charles Schwab (SCHW) is up +4.3% YTD

• Bison’s HCA Healthcare (HCA) gained +11.3% YTD

Conviction pays.

💡 Where are they doubling down?

Let’s talk bold bets.

Abrams Bison:

• 🚀 Increased position in Applied Materials (AMAT) by +16% last quarter

• Held steady in TD Synnex (SNX) and SharkNinja (SN) — high conviction plays

• Reduced almost everything else

Yacktman:

• 📉 Trimmed nearly all top 10 holdings

• Small cuts in CNQ, PG (~1%)

• Larger cuts in GOOG, SCHW, FOX (~10–20%)

In short: Bison is buying with confidence. Yacktman is playing defense.

These positions remain heavy in their portfolios — and worth watching:

📈 AMAT (Applied Materials) - Bison

Bison boosted this position by +16% last quarter — a big vote of confidence. AMAT makes the gear that makes the chips. With AI demand exploding and supply chains tightening again, this pick screams “strategic edge.”

💼 SNX (TD Synnex) – Bison

This stock makes up 27% of Bison’s entire portfolio. That’s not a bet — that’s a declaration of war. SNX is a global IT distributor that thrives on complexity, and Bison clearly sees stability (or upside) where others see risk.

🦈 SN (SharkNinja) – Bison

Still flying under the radar, but not in Bison’s books. SN sits unchanged in the portfolio — a sign of strong conviction. With household spending shifting, SharkNinja’s blend of premium positioning and mass appeal could be a sleeper hit.

🛢️CNQ (Canadian Natural Resources) – Yacktman

Energy never goes out of style — especially when inflation bites. CNQ is Yacktman’s #1 holding and barely touched (-0.25%). This tells you they like the cash flow, the oil exposure, or maybe just the geopolitical leverage. Or all three.

🧼 PG (Procter & Gamble) - Yacktman

Safe, boring, beautiful. Yacktman made a tiny trim here (~1%), but PG remains one of their top plays. Why? Because when markets wobble, people still buy toothpaste. This one’s about defense, not fireworks.

💳 SCHW (Charles Schwab) – Yacktman

Despite trimming by nearly 10%, SCHW is still high on the list. And it’s been one of the few bright spots in 2025 with a +4.3% YTD.

🎯 The takeaway

Sometimes, it pays to ignore the noise and follow the quiet winners. Yacktman and Abrams Bison didn’t just survive the last trade war — they outperformed. And they’re making moves again.

You don’t need 50 TikTok stock tips. You need one good strategy — or someone to copy.

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