May 5, 2025 -- (Maple Hill Syndicate) When President Trump was a businessman, he was famous for taking on lots of debt. Now that he's the President, I believe that companies would be smart to do the opposite.

High-debt companies run at least three risks.

Rising interest rates. Tariffs could make some goods scarcer. Tight immigration policy could make labor scarcer. The combination could push up inflation, leading to higher rates that make interest payments more painful.

• Warning! GuruFocus has detected 3 Warning Signs with GNTX.

A recession. If the economy turns sour, companies with lots of debt are in danger of falling into the bankruptcy chasm. J.P. Morgan Chase thinks the chance of a recession is 60%.

Uncertainty. Frequent policy changes increase uncertainty. When uncertainty reigns, low-debt companies are the safer bet.

Even when the economic skies look sunny, I favor low-debt companies. All the more so now.

Here are five publicly traded companies that stand out because they have little or no debt.

Gentex

Down 37% over the past year, Gentex Corp. (NASDAQ:GNTX) of Zeeland, Michigan, seems to me due for a comeback. The company's main product is self-dimming mirrors for cars. Car sales in the U.S. are so-so, and Gentex has stopped shipping to China.

The U.S. has imposed a 145% tariff on imports from China, which has retaliated with a 125% tariff. Analysts expect Gentex's profits to fall about 3% this year, but bounce back in 2026 and 2027.

Gentex is totally debt-free, and the stock sells for about 13 times earnings.

Employers Holdings

Employers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:EIG), out of Reno, Nevada, sells workers compensation insurance, mostly in California. It serves mid-sized and small businesses, especially restaurants. Profits haven't grown fast, but have been consistent: No losses in 23 years.

The stock is cheap, selling for 1.1 times book value (corporate net worth per share). But it seems to be permanently cheap: the price-to-book ratio is the same as the ten-year average.

Monarch Cement

Monarch Cement Co. (MCEM), which I mentioned in a recent column on small stocks, has a market value of a little under $1 billion. It hails from Humboldt, Kansas, and does business in that state plus parts of Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.

The company has zero debt, and lately has posted a profit margin of about 22%. Earnings are reasonable consistent: Monarch has been profitable in 14 of the past 15 years. (It had a small loss in 2011.) So far as I can tell, the company is completely neglected by Wall Street.

Cal-Maine Foods