How RI’s public companies are faring in the stock market freefall

Aerospace and defense manufacturer Textron lost the most ground in the sell-off.
CVS may be the best positioned to weather a recession.
Companies across industries saw earnings prospects sink on downturn fears.

It’s been a tough week on Wall Street and Rhode Island’s biggest publicly traded companies have not been spared in one of the worst market sell-offs in years.

The 10 largest publicly traded companies all saw their stock price fall this week after President Donald Trump late Wednesday announced sweeping new tariffs on imported goods and sent global markets tumbling.

Friday: -5.38%
Last 5 days: -5.79%
Year to date: + 41.81%
1 Year: -13.86%

The Woonsocket-based pharmacy giant had a disappointing 2024 but has rebounded since the start of the year and its mix of low-cost retail items and non-discretionary health products could be well-positioned for a slowdown economy.

Barron’s on Friday picked CVS as one of three “Nearly Trump-proof stocks Defying Trump’s Tariff Shocks.”

Friday: -6.40%
Last 5 days: -6.11%
Year to date: -9.96%
1 Year: +134.41%

A distributor of organic, natural and specialty foods, United Natural Foods, is second on the list with $29 billion in revenue. The company moved to Providence, into the American Locomotive Works complex, in 2009, from Dayville, Connecticut. The company’s most recent purchase was grocery wholesaler SuperValu in 2018. It is Whole Foods’ largest supplier.

United Natural Foods has two beginnings. In 1976, Michael Funk started Mountain People’s Warehouse in Auburn, California, while a year later, Norman Cloutier opened Cornucopia Natural Foods in Coventry, first as a retail store and then as a food distributor. In 1996, the two companies merged, forming United Natural Foods, and went public on the Nasdaq. In 2018, the company moved to the New York Stock Exchange.

Friday: -9.20%
Last 5 days: -16.18%
Year to date: -20.62%
1 Year: -36.42%

The Providence-based defense and aerospace conglomerate’s earnings had already been in a year-long decline before the tariff announcement.

And like many other manufacturers, the prospect of tariffs has sent the stock of Textron, which owns Bell Aircraft Corp. and Cessna Aircraf t Company, falling further.

Friday: -5.38%
Last 5 days: -13.89%
Year to date: -21.69%
1 year: +0.5%

Although banks don’t import any foreign-made products, Trump’s tariff announcement Wednesday sent financial stocks falling on broader recession fears.

Hasbro (HAS: Nasdaq)

Friday: -1.87%
Last 5 days: -10.6%
Year to date: -3.49%
1 year: -3.38%

If not for tariff fears and the economic downturn, would the Pawtucket-based toymaker now be headquartered in Boston? Hasbro executives were expected to reveal the outcome of their office space review by the end of last month, but the first quarter of the year ended with no update.

Hasbro’s Asia-based supply chain appears to make it vulnerable to tariffs. As recently as 2012, 80% of its products were made in China, although the company has made an effort to diversify production to other countries over the last decade.

Hasbro stock plunged Thursday on the tariff news but stabilized Friday.

Friday: -9.41%
Last 5 days: -4.17%
Year to date: -39.04%
1 year: -49.98%

Is gambling vulnerable to tariffs? It is if Americans don’t feel confident enough about their personal finances to go to the casino.

Providence-based Bally’s, which owns two casinos in Rhode Island and more across the country, was already seeing its stock slide before this week’s selloff.

Friday: -4.65%
Last 5 days: -12.83%
Year to date: -15.69%
1 year: +5.05%

Westerly-based Washington Trust has seen its stock trend downward with other bank stocks.

Friday: -5.84%
Last 5 days: -14.45%
Year to date: -23.23%
1 year: -40.62%

This Newport company specializes in shipping through the Arctic.

And shipping companies, whether operating in polar or tropical climates, generally do not benefit from reductions in international trade caused by tariffs.