Ticker Reports for July 1st
Dollar Down 10%? These 3 Stocks Could Soar
Several interrelated factors are dragging the dollar down. A major one is a chaotic trade and tariff policy that is still a work in progress. At the same time, there are growing concerns about the country’s public debt—concerns that will only get stronger if Congress passes the Trump administration’s “big, beautiful bill,” which will, at least on paper, increase the national debt by trillions of dollars over the next decade.
Commodity prices are also on the rise, and rising commodity prices tend to strengthen the currencies of major exporters like Canada and Australia. This in turn puts additional pressure on the U.S. dollar. Plus, Europe and Asia are rebounding quickly from last year's slowdown, causing a flight to safety to flow to foreign equities and bonds.
Despite all the negativity surrounding the U.S. dollar, the S&P 500 hit an all-time high at the end of June. Many market analysts believe that many issues serving as headwinds today (tariffs, inflation, uncertainty on tax policy) will turn into tailwinds for gross domestic product (GDP) in the second half of the year.
Keeping all this in mind, here are three stocks that are likely to perform well while the dollar is weak and are also poised for a recovery right here in the United States.
Caterpillar: Global Demand and Onshoring Drive Growth
Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) stands out as a prime beneficiary of a weaker U.S. dollar. With more than half of its revenue generated from international markets, the company gains when foreign earnings convert into stronger dollar terms. The company also benefits directly from rising commodity prices because its heavy machinery is heavily used in mining operations.
But there are also domestic catalysts at play with Caterpillar. Many companies have responded to the Trump administration’s calls to onshore their manufacturing, translating into increased demand for industrial equipment. These commitments, along with capital already committed to build data centers, will be bullish for Caterpillar.
That said, CAT stock is up over 11% in the last month and is now trading above the consensus price target of the analysts tracked by MarketBeat. The stock also has a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of over 19x, which makes it expensive compared to its historical levels as well as other industrial stocks.
While investors may want to wait for a little pullback, they may not want to wait too long. On June 24, Citigroup raised its price target for CAT stock from $370 to $420.
Procter & Gamble: A Weak Dollar Lifts International Sales
The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) is similar to Caterpillar in that about 50% of the company’s revenue comes from overseas. That explains why its earnings per share (EPS) remain slightly higher year-over-year (YOY) even as its revenue is under pressure.
Consumer staples stocks in the United States have struggled lately. That’s because the pricing power that many companies enjoyed in 2020 and 2021 has turned into a liability as higher-for-longer interest rates and sticky inflation has caused consumers to be more discerning about how they spend their dollars.
PG stock is down about 5.4% through the first half of 2025. However, even at a forward P/E ratio of around 24x, the stock is still trading at a discount to itself. Analysts project EPS growth of around 6% over the next year, and even that forecast may underestimate potential gains if U.S. economic conditions improve in the second half of the year.
IBM: AI and Quantum Bets Pay Off Abroad
At the midpoint of 2025, IBM (NYSE: IBM) may be ready to win the title of comeback stock of the year—or maybe of the decade. IBM stock is up 33% in 2025, and Wedbush recently raised its price target from $300 to $325. That would be a gain of over 10% for investors.
The company's resurgence is largely driven by its ability to make artificial intelligence (AI) practical for large enterprises, particularly agentic AI. Like the other stocks on this list, IBM also generates significant revenue from international customers.
Another key driver is IBM’s long-standing investment in the quantum computing space. This has been a targeted bet for IBM over several years that is paying off as quantum computing becomes a reality.
The outperformance of IBM stock in 2025 makes it expensive based on many metrics. For example, its earnings yield of 2.07% is lower than its dividend yield, which suggests that IBM is paying out more in dividends than it earns in profit relative to its stock price. But IBM's dividend is backed by the company’s free cash flow (FCF) ratio, which is higher than its historical averages.
Fed Powell can't save America
Fed Powell can't save America
3 Safe Buy-and-Hold Dividend Stocks With Strong Balance Sheets
Dividend yield is a commonly used metric for finding dividend stocks to buy and hold. The dividend yield is the amount of a company’s dividend as a percentage of its stock price. Since a company’s stock price can fluctuate every day, so will the dividend yield. However, because many of these are mature companies, investors don’t expect wide swings in a company’s dividend yield.
Another shared trait of dividend stocks that are built for the long haul is a strong balance sheet. Investors can measure that by looking at the company’s debt-to-equity ratio, which measures a company’s level of debt in relation to the overall value of its stock.
A company with a debt-to-equity ratio of one means that it has $1 in debt for every $1 in shareholder equity. Since dividends are part of that equity, investors want to know that their dividend isn’t at risk, as it could be if a company’s level of debt is too high.
An example of this was 3M (NYSE: MMM). The company was a dividend king that had delivered 65 consecutive years of dividend increases. However, the company ran into financial problems due to legal liabilities (from two separate lawsuits involving forever chemicals and military-grade earplugs). Its debt-to-equity ratio climbed to over 50% resulting in a 35% dividend cut.
A reliable yield and low debt-to-equity ratios make these three stocks safe bets for buy-and-hold investors.
Costco: A Total Return Dynamo
Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) is up 15% in the last 12 months. This comes at a time when many investors are questioning the stock’s valuation. At 55x earnings, it’s trading at a premium to its historical levels. Plus, one share of COST stock is around $1,000.
But there’s no way around it. COST stock is a must-own stock because it generates a consistent total return. That is the combination of stock price growth plus dividends. In the five years ending in June, Costco has delivered a total return of over 266%.
Perhaps the most impressive part is that Costco is doing this with a debt-to-equity ratio of just 0.21%. That means investors should have no concerns about the company’s ability to raise its dividend as it has for the last 22 consecutive years.
Investors should look beyond the 0.5% yield as a reflection of the company’s stock price. Instead, they can focus on the 12.7% average dividend growth over the last three years as a better reflection on the growth and value in COST stock.
Archer-Daniels-Midland: Cyclical Growth Backed by Compounding Gains
Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) is part of an elite group of stocks known as dividend kings. These are companies that have increased their dividends for at least 50 consecutive years. In the case of Archer-Daniels-Midland, that streak is 53 years. With a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34%, that streak is in no danger.
But if total return is of primary importance, there are better options. The growth of a company like Archer-Daniels-Midland is tied closely to commodity prices, which are notoriously cyclical.
That’s been evident in the ADM stock chart over the last five years. Its reliance on commodity prices makes it different from many consumer staples stocks that are more defensive in nature.
With a P/E ratio of over 12x, the stock is inexpensive to the broader market, but expensive compared to its historical average. That's also evident in its price-to-earnings plus growth (PEG) ratio, which is at 2.94.
Medtronic: Long-Term Growth Is Inevitable
Medtronic PLC (NYSE: MDT) is part of the growing robotic surgery and medical technology industry. The company is perfectly positioned for the aging of America, which will create steady demand for the company’s products and services. It's also well-positioned in the area of AI and machine learning.
That's all well and good, but Medtronic shareholders are wondering when the company will put it all together. That's impossible to say, but shareholders have been collecting a dividend that’s been growing for 49 years and has an impressive 3.30% yield.
They also get a stock that’s trading at a discount to itself with its P/E ratio around 23x.
The company’s debt-to-equity ratio of around 0.53% is impressive, considering the amount of investment it needs to make to continue delivering innovative products.
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2 Under the Radar Space & Defense Stocks With Huge Potential
Within the space and defense industry, the world’s largest players often dominate the discussion. This includes companies like Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and RTX (NYSE: RTX). These firms manufacture F-35 fighter jets and the Patriot missile defense system, respectively. Products like these have allowed them to attain huge market capitalizations. However, the space and defense industry is far from bereft of up-and-coming players that are making a name for themselves. Working with giants like Lockheed indicates these firms could be set up to make waves going forward. Below are the details on two such names. All data cited is as of the June 30 close, unless otherwise indicated.
Kratos: Unmanned Jets & Hypersonics Are Giant Opportunities for This Profitable Player
First up is Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ: KTOS). Many of the technologies that Kratos is developing are next-generation. This includes autonomous jet fighters and hypersonic missile systems. At the beginning of 2025, Kratos received an award for a hypersonic missile test bed worth up to $1.45 billion. The company aims to develop a system that can test hypersonic missiles in a more affordable way.
The company’s focus on being both “first to market” and affordable is compelling. The company provided several examples in its Annual Shareholders Meeting Brief on technologies where it is first to market, including jet drones and hypersonic flyers. Being first to market shows the company’s technological prowess, and a focus on affordability increases the likelihood that its systems will be commercially viable.
Kratos also works with the big boys in defense, showing that it can offer something these companies can’t or don’t want to do themselves. It calls Lockheed and RTX (Raytheon) some of its “outstanding partners." Specifically, the company works with GE Aerospace (NYSE: GE) to develop low-cost turbofan jet engines.
Last quarter, Kratos ended with an opportunity pipeline worth $12.6 billion, an all-time high for the firm. That is nearly 10 times more than the revenues the company expects to generate in 2025. Converting just a moderate percentage of this pipeline would allow the company to significantly accelerate its revenue growth in the coming years. Last quarter, revenue growth was 9.2%.
Notably, Kratos is profitable, generating non-adjusted net income per share of $0.03 last quarter. The company’s very high forward price-to-earnings ratio of 86x may seem frightening. However, revenue streams like unmanned jets still remain largely untapped, as the company is not producing them at scale. Future production scale-ups would not only boost revenues but also margins. The company says that in the second half of 2025, it could receive its most important tactical drone award ever.
Voyager: Starlab Could Send Shares to the Moon, But Risk Is Palpable
Next up is Voyager Technologies (NYSE: VOYG). This company went public on June 11, 2025. The stock more than doubled that same day after opening at a price of $31. However, shares have fallen significantly since, down to $39 as of the June 30 close. Like many companies in this industry, Voyager focuses largely on both space and defense solutions.
Per its S-1 registration filing, the company generates 50% of its revenue from space solutions and 50% from defense. Notably, NASA contributed 26% of the company’s revenue while Lockheed provided 17% in 2024. In August 2024, Lockheed selected Voyager to build an advanced solid-propulsion subsystem for the United States’ Next Generation Interceptor (NGI). The NGI is a missile defense system.
However, the particularly interesting aspect of Voyager’s business is in space. Voyager is leading the creation of Starlab, the NASA-backed space station that could replace the International Space Station (ISS). But, there are several other projects also competing to replace the ISS. Voyager initially received a reward for the project worth $217 million. Winning the next funding phase is crucial to the firm’s success. It would provide much more funding and give the company a solid chance to receive billions in revenue once Starlab is operational. However, not gaining this funding could be catastrophic for the firm’s ambitions. NASA expects to announce the next awards in mid-2026.
Overall, both Kratos and Voyager are smaller defense companies that receive less attention but have significant long-term potential. Kratos, being further along and having a robust backlog, represents the safer option. Voyager's long-term opportunity, especially as it relates to space, is more speculative, but significant nonetheless.
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