25% Corporate Tax Rate Still Huge for Business: 5 Stocks to Buy That Benefit

Investing

Published: April 6, 2017 8:30 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 1:15 pm

While President Trump is hardly the first person to decry our nation’s huge corporate tax rate, he may be the first person to get something done about it. The difference is, the huge cuts that some were hoping for, going to as low as 15%, are unlikely. Top analysts and tax strategists see the 25% level as more probable, and that combined with other tax code changes and repatriations, but no border tax, would still be a huge plus for corporations.

A new Jefferies research report makes the case that a 25% level would still lower the S&P 500 multiple by 2.4 multiple points to 15 times earnings. That could provide some huge upside potential for companies with a large domestic exposure.

The Jefferies report highlighted 25 top companies that they expect to outperform on tax reform. We chose five of the largest, most liquid companies.

Alphabet

The search giant continues to expand, and it is even working on a driverless car now. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) provides online advertising services in the United States, the United Kingdom and rest of the world. It offers performance and brand advertising services, and it operates through Google and Other Bets segments. The Google segment includes principal internet products, such as Search, Ads, Commerce, Maps, YouTube, Apps, Cloud, Android, Chrome and Google Play, as well as technical infrastructure and newer efforts, such as virtual reality.

The Google segment also sells hardware products, comprising Chromecast, Chromebooks and Nexus. The Other Bets segment includes businesses such as Access/Google Fiber, Calico, Nest, Verily, GV, Google Capital, X and other initiatives.

The company’s innovation includes machine learning and artificial intelligence, which it feels can support the core search business and is now being applied across all the growth initiatives at the company. Jefferies also points to Google Cloud, which is the largest cloud infrastructure and engages in more technology, infrastructure research and development in headcount and dollars than any other company. That gives Alphabet the strength and wherewithal to compete and differentiate itself from Amazon AWS and Microsoft’s Azure.

The Jefferies price target for the stock is $1,000, and the Wall Street consensus price objective is $965.81. Shares closed Wednesday at $849.91.

Amazon

This absolute leader in online retail and dominant player in cloud storage business remains the top pick at Jefferies. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) serves consumers through retail websites that primarily include merchandise and content purchased for resale from vendors and those offered by third-party sellers.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is also the undisputed leader in the cloud now, and many top analysts see the company expanding and moving up the enterprise information value chain and targeting a larger total addressable market. The company serves developers and enterprises through AWS, which provides compute, storage, database, analytics, applications and deployment services that enable virtually various businesses.

The analyst noted in the report:

Any reduction in corporate tax rates would benefit the company, which currently pays an effective tax of over 30%.In addition, with about half of units sold by third-party vendors, a border tax would not impact Amazon as much as investors might think (the burden would fall on the vendors). This represents an additional advantage over brick and mortar competitors. Additionally, the one-third of sales Amazon derives from outside North America would not be subject to a border tax.

Jefferies has a $975 price target, and the consensus target is $959.36. Shares closed Wednesday at $909.28.

Boeing

This top aerospace industrial has been on a roll since the election and has broken out to all-time highs. Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, sells, services and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight and launch systems and services worldwide.

Boeing recently reported much stronger than expected earnings for its fourth quarter, with both top-line and bottom-line results topping analyst estimates. The company’s outlook for the full year was in line with analysts’ earnings expectations.

The report had this to say:

The analyst notes that Boeing is the Aerospace & Defense stock with the most to gain from corporate tax reform. The company currently has ~35% marginal rate, though maybe as low as 31%, depending on domestic manufacturing credit and R&D credit. Boeing would clearly benefit if the rate dropped to 25%. Notably, the company has no material international manufacturing business. Others players in this space generally have some non-US domiciled businesses, though largely in the range of 5% or less.

Boeing investors receive a 3.16% dividend. The $200 Jefferies price objective compares with the consensus target of $177.71 Shares closed Wednesday at $177.08.

Oracle

This top software stock finally has broken out after trading sideways most of last year. Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) develops, manufactures, markets, sells, hosts and supports database and middleware software, application software, cloud infrastructure, hardware systems and related services worldwide.

The company licenses its Oracle Database software to customers, which is designed to enable reliable and secure storage, retrieval and manipulation of various forms of data. Its Oracle Fusion Middleware software aims to build, deploy, secure, access and integrate business applications, as well as automate their business processes.

The company finally rewarded investors with a breakout quarter when it recently reported earnings. Numbers and metrics higher than expected on almost all fronts, and the top analysts noted that the results validated their thesis of an inflection point on software revenue growth and operating income going forward.

Shareholders receive a 1.7% dividend. The Jefferies price target is $52. The consensus target is $48.45, and the stock closed Wednesday at $44.49 a share.

Wal-Mart

The giant retailer has done very well since bouncing off lows for the year in January. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) operates retail stores in various formats worldwide, including discount stores, supermarkets, supercenters, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, home improvement stores, specialty electronics stores, restaurants, apparel stores, drug stores and convenience stores. It also operates via retail websites, such as Walmart.com and SamsClub.com. Its three operating segments are Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam’s Club.

Each week, nearly 260 million customers and members visit the company’s 11,535 stores under 72 banners in 28 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. With fiscal year 2016 revenue of $482.1 billion, Wal-Mart employs approximately 2.2 million associates worldwide.

Shareholders receive a 2.85% dividend. Jefferies has set its price target at $86, and the consensus target is $74.13. The shares closed on Wednesday at $71.65.

These five top companies that have much of their business domestically, but some also have huge cash balances overseas that could benefit from a very low one-time-only repatriation rate of 10% to 15%. All make good sense for growth portfolios, but with earnings for the quarter right around the corner, partial positions may be wise here.