Four Stocks to Buy for Profiting Despite Tariffs

06/17/2025

The four stocks to buy for profiting despite tariffs offer investors a opportunity to own shares of established companies that appear mostly insulated from the uncertain outcome of ongoing trade negotiations. All four stocks are buy recommendations of Jim Woods in his Investing Edge newsletter

Each of the four stocks are featured in his Investing Edge Income Multipliers portfolio. And all four pay dividends.

Jim Woods heads the Investing Edge newsletter and Bullseye Stock Trader.

Woods also is a former U.S. Army special forces leader who heads the Crypto and Commodities Trader advisory service that is aimed at producing quick profits from both stocks and options, as well as certain cryptocurrencies. He has amassed more than 30 years of experience in the markets.

With that kind of background, he is willing to focus on either long-term or short-term investments, depending on the goals and risk tolerance of each investor. He identifies companies that offer both growth or stability and dividend payouts.

Four Stocks to Buy for Profiting Despite Tariffs: PNC

Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC) ranks as the seventh-largest banking company in the United States and offers a current dividend yield of 3.65%. PNC is recommended by Jim Woods in the Income Multipliers Portfolio of his Investing Edge newsletter.

Woods, a self-described renaissance man, is not the only one who likes PNC for its prowess as a regional banking giant and its consistent dividend payouts. Citigroup is another fan of the company.

The investment bank has set a $200 target price for PNC that is derived from its discounted residual income model, incorporating its three-year forward earnings projection and other valuation metrics. The key inputs to the model assume a 10.3% cost of equity, including a risk-free rate of 4.5%, an equity risk premium of 3.5%, and a beta of 1.65, while assuming a perpetual growth rate of 3.0%.

A money manager who likes the outlook for PNC is Michelle Connell, who heads Portia Capital Management in Dallas. Connell counseled that PNC has been a consistent dividend payer even through the financial crisis, with its dividend yield growing 7% annually during the past five years.

“With over $500 billion in assets, PNC is considered one of the largest regional banking groups in the United States,” Connell continued. “The bank is highly diversified across business segments, including investment banking and asset management. Their competitors cannot say the same.”

PNC plans to continue its geographical expansion during the next five years, Connell told me. The bank’s presence, formally focused on the East Coast, has grown to include the West Coast and the Southeast, she added.

In the next five years, PNC plans to invest another $1.5 billion to open 200 new branches and renovate 1,400 branches. The result will be greater brand recognition and market share, Connell added.

PNC has a healthy loan to deposit ratio of 75%  Over 80% is the average for regional banks.  It is also adept at keeping its expenses under control.

“One of the strongest reasons for my support of the stock is that PNC has been returning over 50% of its earnings to a shareholders, either in the form of dividends or buybacks,” Connell told me. “Another reason is its expansion strategy.”

Currently, PNC trades at almost 1.4 times its book value. Since it has traded in a range of 1.1 to 1.7 times its book value in the past, she views its valuation as fair.

“I think dollar cost averaging or acquisition of shares on a pullback would make sense,” Connell concluded.

Michelle Connell owns and is chief investment officer of Portia Capital Management.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT), headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores and grocery stores. It is one of the dividend-paying stocks that Woods is recommending, despite the current tariff tumult.

“Because it is the biggest player in the space, the company has the strength to withstand any tariff damages,” Woods told me during an interview at the FreedomFest conference in Palm Springs, California. “There will be tariff damage because many of the products they sell come from China.”

While Walmart is not immune to tariff risks, BofA Global Research wrote in a recent research note that the retailer is well positioned to fend off the threat due to its deep relationships with suppliers, advanced pricing, automation, inventory management and potential to shift imported first-party goods to a third-party marketplace.

With 60% of its grocery sales product mix, the company’s U.S. business has just one-third total import exposure, BofA Global Research wrote. Only about 15% is estimated to be from China, which currently is a key target of President Trump’s focus for reducing the U.S. trade deficit, the investment firm continued.

Walmart has achieved U.S. economic profitability, aided by ancillary businesses that include digital advertising, data and fintech, which were up 40% annually for the last four years and are expected to drive two-thirds of the company’s total profit growth for next several years, BofA Global Research wrote.

Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com.

The Republican’s “big, beautiful tax bill” won’t reverse the coming national debt crisis, wrote Mark Skousen, PhD, a Presidential Fellow in economics at Chapman University and the leader of the Forecasts & Strategies investment newsletter. Despite talk of enhancing government efficiency, preparing a 1040 tax form will become increasingly complicated, with new exemptions and rates that likely will expand current trillion-dollar deficits, Skousen wrote in his July 2025 issue.

Interest rates rose across the board on the news, with the 10-year Treasury now yielding 4.7%, and 30-year bonds paying nearly 5%, counseled Skousen, who also heads the TNT Trader advisory service with his son Tim Skousen. Despite President Trump pressuring Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to cut rates, a need exists for the federal government to trim spending first, the elder Skousen wrote.

Plus, President Trump urged Walmart to “eat the tariffs” attached to goods the company imports from China and other countries, but that’s hard to do when Walmart has only a 3% profit margin, the senior Skousen continued. Expect prices to rise for consumers, he added.

Caption: Mark Skousen leads the Forecasts & Strategies newsletter.

Four Stocks to Buy for Profiting Despite Tariffs: CMI

Columbus, Indiana-based Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) designs, manufactures, sells and services diesel and alternative fuel engines, generators and related products. Woods recommends Cummins in his Investing Edge Income Multipliers portfolio, while Citi Research also is another fan of the company.

“The recent earnings performance of Cummins shows that the company is back on track with executing its business,” Woods said. “Because it is a dominant player in the industry, it can prevail through most market, tariff and economic uncertainties.”

Citi Research recently updated its model following CMI’s first-quarter results by lowering its 2025 estimated adjusted earnings per share (EPS) to $20.35 from $21.20, “baking in” expected tariff impacts and lower North American truck estimates.

“CMI plans to largely pass through tariff costs via price increases, as our understanding is that CMI’s long-term agreements (LTAs) have built-in pass-through mechanisms,” Citi Research wrote. “That said, we get the sense that the tariff pass-through might not be as simple as it sounds. Our understanding is that CMI is in active conversations with customers which will probably contribute to some pricing lag, and we see the possibility that not all of the tariff impact would be passed through in the near term given the fluidity of the tariff backdrop.”

Citi Research anticipates earnings for Cummins will grow by double-digit percentages in 2026 and 2027, backed by anticipated recovery and margin expansion in core end-markets, along with continued strength within its Power Systems segment. The investment firm’s research report opined most of the tariff impact will be felt by CMI in Q2-Q3, as the company expects some price/cost lag.

“We are constructive on CMI’s ability to minimize tariff impacts over the next 6-12 months through tariff pass-throughs (pricing), which should be aided by a likely easing of tariffs, in our view,” the Citi Research report stated. “We raise our price target to $350 from $320 on a higher multiple, reflecting our conviction in CMI’s long-term earnings growth and path to margin expansion. ‘Maintain Buy.’”

Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com.

Four Stocks to Buy for Profiting Despite Tariffs: EPD

Another dividend investment to buy is Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE EPD), formed in 1968 by Dan Duncan and two partners as a wholesale marketer of natural gas liquids. Today, EPD has an integrated energy infrastructure network that provides midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals.

The Houston-based energy partnership links producers from some of the largest North American supply basins with domestic consumers and international markets. Enterprise is an investment I personally own, but it has not been without its challenges.

On June 3, 2025, Enterprise received notice from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) that the agency intended to deny Emergency Authorization Requests with regard to three proposed cargoes of ethane to China, totaling approximately 2.2 million barrels. Per the notice, Enterprise has up to 20 days to respond to the bureau with any comments or rebuttals regarding the affected the regulatory requests.

The denials will become final without further notice, unless Enterprise is advised by the 45th day after the date of the notification. As previously disclosed on May 29, 2025, in EPD’s Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the bureau notified Enterprise of new licensing requirements for exports of ethane and butane, saturated, having a purity of 95% or more by volume to China.

EPD reported that U.S. ethane exports to China were approximately 227,000 BPD in 2024, representing 8% of total U.S. ethane production and 46% of total U.S. ethane exports. Enterprise’s marine export terminal on the Houston Ship Channel loaded approximately 213,000 BPD of ethane in 2024, with approximately 40%, or 85,000 BPD, destined to Chinese markets, the company reported.

“Ethane exports destined to China from Enterprise’s Morgan’s Point facility in 2024 represented only 37% of total U.S. ethane exports to China for 2024,” Enterprise Partners announced. “Currently, Enterprise estimates that total U.S. ethane exports to China has increased to approximately 290,000 BPD in 2025.”

Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com.

Four Stocks to Buy for Profiting Despite Tariffs: Geopolitics

Geopolitical risk rose appreciably with Israel’s bombing of nuclear research facilities in Iran on Friday, June 13. Iran responded by launching airstrikes at Israel on Friday night, hitting targets in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the country’s two largest cities. Reuters reported that the bombing by Israel was its biggest-ever military strike against its longstanding enemy.

Air raid sirens sounded across Israel as its officials urged the people there to take shelter. Missiles were seen over Tel Aviv’s skyline, with its military leaders saying Iran had fired two salvos of missiles, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, war continues to rage in Ukraine as Russia intensifies its attacks against its neighboring nations. Investors can take extra protection for potential fallout from the wars by holding shares in the four stocks, Woods advised.

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, who can be followed on Twitter @PaulDykewicz, is the editor of StockInvestor.com and DividendInvestor.com, a writer for both websites and a columnist. He further is 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. The book is great as a gift and is endorsed by Joe Montana, Joe Theismann, Ara Parseghian, “Rocket” Ismail, Reggie Brooks, Dick Vitale and many others. Call 202-677-4457 for multiple-book pricing.