Stocks to buy for profiting after arrest of Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro by U.S. special forces to face major drug trafficking and weapons charges in the United States.
The stocks to buy are not just from one industry, but feature companies involved in defense, precious metals, energy and natural resources. The Dow industrials rose 1% to 49,462.82 on Tuesday, Jan. 6, closing above 49,000 for the first time and setting a record high for the second straight day.
Also on Jan. 6, the S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to finish trading at 6,944.82, its first record since Dec. 24. The two-day surge followed the capture of Maduro in the early hours of Saturday, Jan. 3, when U.S. special forces swooped into Caracas, Venezuela. Maduro and his wife both were taken into custody during a surprise raid.
The market responded positively on the next trading day, Monday, Jan. 5, with a big “risk-on” rally that pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average to an all-time record high, briefly crossing the 49,000 threshold for the first time in history, wrote Bryan Perry to subscribers of his Cash Machine investment newsletter and his new Breakout Blue Chip Trader service.
The narrative of lower energy costs, implied by the Venezuela developments, is viewed as a “win” for the Federal Reserve, potentially easing the path for the two interest rate cuts currently projected for 2026, Perry opined.
Safe-haven demand spiked alongside the geopolitical news, with gold jumping nearly 3% to $4,450 an ounce and silver soaring 7%, he added.
Bryan Perry heads Breakout Blue Chip Trader.
The Five Star Trader advisory service is recommending gold stocks successfully. The latest geopolitical upheaval is igniting another round of higher gold prices, the publication wrote on Jan. 6.
“For decades, the attitude of U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America was benign neglect,” Five Star Trader reported. As Henry Kissinger once said, ‘Nobody cares about Latin America.’ Well, we do now. This turn of events is bullish for stocks and especially commodities, which are moving up.”
Stocks to Buy for Profiting After Arrest of Venezuela’s Dictator: RTX
Defense stocks have risen each of the first three trading days of 2026. They have outperformed the Dow, which is off to its best start to a year since 2003, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
One of the stocks to buy for is profiting from the arrest of Venezuela’s dictator, who U.S. President Trump accused of supporting the shipment of cocaine to the United States and causing overdose deaths. Even though President Trump mentioned that the United States would try to help restore the floundering oil industry in natural resource-rich Venezuela, oil stocks only gained on Monday, Jan. 5, before pulling back Tuesday, Jan. 6, even as the major stock indexes gained.
A top defense stock to buy for profiting amid increased military activity in the world is Arlington, Virginia-based RTX (NYSE: RTX). RTX is a traditional aerospace and defense company that has supported satellite and launch services, as well as surveillance operations. On June 4, 2025, RTX was awarded an FAA contract to support the Radar System Replacement Program, said Michelle Connell, a charter financial analyst who heads Portia Capital Management in Dallas. The program also will have civilian uses since it is part of the Department of Transportation’s new air traffic control system, she added.
That program will replace 612 current radar systems with next-generation surveillance radar, and the focus will be high traffic airports. The target for replacement is June 2028. The FAA is expected to spend $6 billion on this program by the end of 2026, and a total of $12.5 billion by June 2028. RTX’s side of the contract is estimated to be around $438 million.
Michelle Connell heads Portia Capital Management.
Most recently, on December 22, 2025, Raytheon, a division of RTX, announced that Spain had placed an order for $1.7 billion of Patriot systems and missiles. This is the largest Patriot order ever contracted by Spain.
“Given the current escalated level of global geopolitical tensions, I would expect RTX to announce more defense contracts with the EU and possibly other regions,” Connell continued. “Over the past 12 months, RTX is up over 65%. While I anticipate RTX to generate over $8 billion of free cash flow in 2026 and believe there is more upside for the stock, I would average into the name. When RTX reports earnings on Jan. 27, this may present an opportunity.”
Dividend-paying RTX is among the defense stocks that has risen each of the first three days of 2026. It gained 1.15% on Tuesday, Jan. 6.
Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com.
Stocks to Buy for Profiting After Arrest of Venezuela’s Dictator: HWM
Jim Woods, who heads the Investing Edge newsletter, recommends Howmet Aerospace Inc. (NYSE: HWM) in the Top 10 Growth Accelerators portfolio in the publication. Howmet Aerospace is a Pittsburgh-based, advanced engineering company that is a traditional defense giant. It may be best known for providing key components in the F-35 joint strike fighter that hits Mach 1.6 under the thrust of potentially the most advanced engine on earth.
Paul Dykewicz meets with Jim Woods, who heads Investing Edge.
The joint strike fighter is built with cutting-edge materials, integrated airframe design and next-generation avionics to enable the fifth-generation fighter jet to operate with potentially unprecedented stealth, speed and agility in air-to-air and air-to-ground combat, company officials said. In developing the complex fighter jet, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) turned to Howmet to provide key parts that include single-piece, forged aluminum bulkheads that form the backbone of the aircraft structure and save 300 to 400 pounds per jet, while cutting costs by 20%.
The fighter jet also has titanium bulkheads and uses titanium to manufacture other airframe structures for all three F-35 JSF variants. Howmet further supplies single-crystal, nickel-based super alloy blades and vanes that operate in environments hotter than the melting point of the metal to propel the engine.
Howmet has soared 90.89% during the past year and nearly as much since Woods recommended it on January 15, 2025. The dividend-paying stock surged 3.26% on Jan. 2, reaching $211.71 per share. Like RTX, the stock also has advanced each of the first three trading days of 2026.
“The present and future of armed conflict is drones, and Howmet Aerospace makes the engine and guidance components that make those drones fly,” said Woods, whose resume includes a stint in U.S. Army special operations.
Howmet is one of two defense stocks he recommended on January 15, 2025, just before they both took off and produced large gains.
Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com.
Stocks to Buy for Profiting After Arrest of Venezuela’s Dictator: LMT
Dividend-paying Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), of Bethesda, Maryland, is a defense and aerospace company formed in a 1995 combination of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. Lockheed Martin now focuses on defense, space, intelligence, homeland security and information technology. LMT is a Citi Research buy recommendation that offers a current dividend yield of 2.86%. It climbed 2.76% on Jan. 2, ending trading for the day at $497.01, before also rising the next two trading days.
The company’s key business segments are Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control (MFC), Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS) and Space. Lockheed Martin’s management recently laid out the case that margins are likely to trough in 2024 and drift toward 11%-plus over time, driven largely by product mix.
The loss-making classified contract at Lockheed Martin’s MFC business will be a tailwind, i.e., lower forward loss charges, while the rest of the margin accretive MFC portfolio is likely to grow faster than the rest of the company. Plus, new awards across the company better reflect the current cost environment and should produce margins higher than pre-pandemic backlog, according to a Citi Research note.
Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com.
Stocks to Buy for Profiting After Arrest of Venezuela’s Dictator: BAESY
London-based BAE Systems PLC (OTCMKTS: BAESY) is a multinational arms, security and aerospace company that jumped 3.69% on the first day of trading in 2026, closing at $96.31, before rising further the next two trading days of the new year. The company offers a current dividend yield of 1.94% and should benefit from NATO nations’ commitment to more than double spending in the next decade. Due to Europe’s rearmament cycle, Wall Street analysts lifted their average defense stock target prices by 25% earlier this year and remain bullish, Connell counseled.
Many European countries have publicly pledged to expand their defense spending. Those countries include Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland.
The investment firm JP Morgan wrote in a research note that it expects revenue estimates to increase by at least 10% for these EU defense companies. One of the EU sovereign funds is removing its prohibition of investments in defense companies, Connell commented. A European politician questioned how governments can increase defense spending, but their sovereign funds are not allowed to invest further in these companies.
“In February 2024, BAE acquired Ball Aerospace to add to its space mission product line,” Connell continued. “These synergies should assist BAE in reaching its 10% sales growth target.”
On July 1, BAE announced the second tranche of its 1.5-billion pound share buyback. The first tranche, initiated in 2023, totaled 500 million British pounds. The second tranche of 500 million pounds is slated for completion by June 2026. That will leave one additional tranche of 500 million pounds for the future.
“This repurchase program increases BAE’s opportunity for share appreciation,” Connell said.
Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com.
Stocks to Buy for Profiting After Arrest of Venezuela’s Dictator: Geopolitical Risk
If a ceasefire is achieved in Ukraine, Britain and France have signed a historic agreement put peacekeeping troops on the ground in the war-torn country that Russia invaded nearly four years ago. The peacekeeping pact, signed at a summit in Paris by French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, could bring what has been called the “coalition of the willing” into a role to keep peace if a ceasefire occurs.
President Trump and his administration are supporting that initiative, as he seeks to forge peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. But Russia’s role as the aggressor and demands to receive additional land beyond what it has seized on the battlefield is a continuing block on progress. Recent polls indicate roughly 75% of Ukrainians who responded oppose offering any land to Russia. The opinion poll reflects the sacrifices endured by Ukrainians to defend their freedom and protect against Russia’s sustained assaults.
Claims by Russia’s leaders that they seek peace so far belie the reality of attacking non-soldiers, including Ukraine’s mothers and children who continue to be killed and injured severely. Rather than killing, President Trump is advocating prosperity that usually occurs for countries that have the greatest freedom. Mark Skousen, PhD, the Doti-Spogli Chair of Free Enterprise at Chapman University in Orange County, California, is a free-market economist who travels the world to praise freedom as a conduit to open opportunities for economic growth across the globe.
Mark Skousen heads Forecasts & Strategies.
President Trump has asked other countries to boycott Russian oil to reduce funding of the attacker’s war machine. The idea has gained support, but not enough to stop the war thus far.
The war in Ukraine is threatening to worsen further if Putin and his comrades in the country’s leadership keep trying to deflect attention away from Russia’s worsening economy. Instead, Russia’s strategy seems to be to force its citizens to fight and die, despite limited territorial gains since the early phase of its invasion.
Russia’s military keeps innocent civilians in Ukraine with little apparent regard for human life, according to the United Nations. The attacker’s tactic of charging ahead to gain portions of Ukraine’s territory after Russia’s initial invasion gains nearly four years ago has drawn criticism from many military strategists. Russia’s leaders remain in a protracted war, rather than on a path of economic growth through trade agreements that President Trump is offering both sides to end the fighting.
Paul Dykewicz, www.pauldykewicz.com, is an accomplished, award-winning journalist who has written for Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, the Journal of Commerce, Seeking Alpha, GuruFocus and other publications and websites. Paul is the editor of StockInvestor.com and DividendInvestor.com, a writer for both websites and a columnist. He further is the editorial director of Eagle Financial Publications in Washington, D.C., where he edits monthly investment newsletters, time-sensitive trading alerts, free e-letters and other investment reports. Paul previously served as business editor of Baltimore’s Daily Record newspaper. Paul also is the author of an inspirational book, “Holy Smokes! Golden Guidance from Notre Dame’s Championship Chaplain,” with a foreword by former national championship-winning football coach Lou Holtz. Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulDykewicz.
