Investing
As US/China Trade War Takes a Breather, Full Trade Data and Reactions by the Numbers
August 31, 2019 11:42 am
Last Updated: January 30, 2020 4:43 pm
Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG) may not be the dominant food company in America, with its $7.5 billion market cap, but when the news talks about soybeans investors should think of Bunge. Shares closed up 1.5% at $53.41 on Friday, which allowed for a small gain of just 0.4% for the week, and they are still down about 25% from the 52-week high.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) sells large amounts of its heavy earth and infrastructure building equipment to China and the Asia Pacific region, and the international component was about 59% of total revenues in 2018. Its shares were up 1% at $119.900 on Friday, and it was up 4.3% from the prior week’s close. Caterpillar is still down about 25% from its 52-week high.
Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) has farming exposure globally, but slower or no imports from China will hurt Deere in many markets. Deere was actually down 1% at $154.91 on Friday, but it still rose over 5% from the prior week. The stock is still down close to 10% from its 52-week high.
General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) has frequently been said to sell more cars in China than in the United States. Whether that holds true in the future and whether manufacturing stays or migrates remains to be seen. GM was up 0.5% at $37.09 on Friday, but that was a gain of almost 3% for the week, and it is still down almost 11% from its 52-week high. GM’s dividend yield is over 4%.
Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) continues to have a big reliance on China and Asia Pacific manufacturing and destination. Its shares closed down 1% at $84.50 on Friday, but it rose 5% over the course of the week, even after Friday’s loss. Nike is down about 6% from its 52-week high.
The top technology sector stocks took it on the chin as well, and there is zero chance that any of these companies can immediately mitigate their exposure to China via manufacturing, parts inclusion and selling into the country. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) has a market cap north of $200 billion, and its shares closed up 1.15% at $47.41 on Friday. That’s a gain of 5.45% for the week, and Intel’s 52-week high is $59.59. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) was flat at $31.45 on Friday, but it rose 6.5% over the last week. AMD is now down only about 10% from its high.
Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) has a $100 billion market cap and closed up 0.3% at $167.51 on Friday. Its gain for the week was 3.1%, and it is still down about 40% from its highs of $292.76. Nvidia’s woes and worries around sales into artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining markets go beyond just China.
Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) has close to a $95 billion market cap, and its shares closed up 1.7% on Friday at $77.77, for a gain of 5.8% from the prior week’s close. Qualcomm’s 52-week high is $90.34. As the dominant processor for smartphones, there is no escaping China here. And guess which nation that rhymes with China was the one to block the Qualcomm-NXP Semiconductor merger in the past (Hint: it’s China).
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is the independent pure-play leader in memory, and it has 50% exposure to China as its chips might end up in anything that needs DRAM or flash memory. Micron was up 1.3% at $45.27 on Friday, and its gain was about 5.4% for the week.
As a reminder, 24/7 Wall St. showed ahead of this week’s recovery how some of the top Chinese stock reactions are starting to be less severe than some of the reactions in their American counterparts. These are obviously not the only companies that have direct exposure to China, nor do include some of the smaller companies that have an even larger exposure to China. If tensions are rekindled, it’s important to understand where the tariffs actually will hit on both sides of the equation.
If things just feel too dicey and rocky, think about 10 lessons of sanity from Warren Buffett during insane markets.
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