Tariffs Are Crushing These 2 Stocks. But Long-Term Investors Are Getting an Incredible Bar

April 4, 2025

The stock market has taken a steep downturn after President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements. As of this writing, the S&P 500 is firmly in correction territory, and the Nasdaq Composite is just a couple percentage points away from officially being in a bear market.

To be sure, stocks are down for good reasons in most cases. But there are some that should be just fine in the long run, despite the near-term uncertainty. Here are two that are toward the top of my watch list right now.

A top “Magnificent Seven” stock at a discount

In general, the megacap tech stocks have not performed well in 2025, and Amazon (AMZN -1.54%) is no exception. As of this writing, the stock has fallen by nearly 30% over the past two months. In a nutshell, Amazon’s marketplace sells a lot of imported goods, and it is generally sensitive to the strength of the U.S. consumer.

To be fair, the business could certainly take a hit if a recession arrives, or if these tariffs linger in their current form. But from a long-term perspective, there’s a lot to like about the company. For one thing, it continues to grow impressively, beating revenue expectations in the holiday quarter and posting 10% year-over-year growth even in an already difficult environment for consumer spending. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is particularly impressive, growing by 19%, and is by far the more profitable side of the business.

Speaking of profitability, CEO Andy Jassy has done a fantastic job of improving efficiency. In fact, while revenue grew 10% year over year in the fourth quarter, Amazon’s operating income increased by a staggering 61%.

E-commerce in general could have a long way to grow, as it makes up just over 15% of all U.S. retail sales. And on the AWS side, the global cloud computing market is expected to roughly quadruple by 2032, compared to 2024 levels. With shares trading for their lowest P/E ratio ever, now could be a smart time to take a closer look.

Bank stocks could be an amazing value

Bank stocks have been hit harder by tariffs than the overall market, and at first, it might seem like tariffs don’t have much to do with them. After all, the big U.S. banks — especially consumer-focused Wells Fargo (WFC -6.75%) — conduct most of their business domestically and certainly don’t sell any imported goods.

However, keep in mind that banks serve as a general proxy for the U.S. economy, and according to most notable economists, the probability of a recession has increased dramatically in recent weeks. Plus, tariffs could cause significant inflation at a time when consumers already feel squeezed.

Tariffs could lead to a sharp slowdown in consumer loan demand and could lead to borrowers not being able to pay their bills. This could certainly impact Wells Fargo’s margins in the near term. However, the bank is very well capitalized and in a strong position to make it through the tough times, and if all of this turbulence results in a faster pace of Federal Reserve rate cuts, it could end up boosting net interest margins over the intermediate term.

To be sure, bank stocks could be rather volatile in the turbulent market times. But with shares down 25% from the 2025 peak and at a valuation of just 10.5 times forward earnings estimates, Wells Fargo could be worth a closer look for patient investors.

As mentioned, both stocks could be volatile in the short term, and if the economy takes an unexpected turn for the worse, or the trade war intensifies, it’s entirely possible both could fall further. But from a long-term perspective, both look attractively valued and now could be a good time to buy if you measure your returns in years.

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Wells Fargo is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Matt Frankel has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

 

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