President Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico went live on March 4, 2025, after a one-month moratorium, prompting retaliatory tariffs from both countries and China. This "game of tariffs" is expected to impact the US economy significantly. Immediately after Trump’s announcement, the S&P 500 fell to a new low (5,732.59) since November last year. Although the index had recouped some losses slightly (to 5,778.15 at the time of writing), the message is clear: Trump has ignited a full-blown trade war, and investors aren’t willing to take any losses.
Legendary investor Warren Buffett commented on this situation, saying the American people will suffer the sharpest pain from the tariffs. “Tariffs are actually, we’ve had a lot of experience with them. They’re an act of war, to some degree. Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the tooth fairy doesn’t pay ’em! And then what? You always have to ask that question in economics. You always say, ‘And then what?’” Buffet told CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell.
However, others see this policy as the Trump administration’s strategy to try to renegotiate some of the trade deals the US has with the countries in question. Spencer Ford, CEO and Wealth Advisor with Conservative Financial Solutions believes that this administration wants to win in the eyes of Americans, and if tariffs are the way, so be it. Although he doesn’t hesitate to suggest a better approach:
“The way they’re gonna do that [score better trade deals] is through a strong economy, and you don’t do that through prolonged tariffs because it just makes things more expensive. They’re [tariffs] inflationary. And as we’ve seen, it’s not really good for the investment markets. I think a lot of people are hoping maybe we’ll see what happened from Friday to today with Ukraine where, Yeah. Suddenly there’s a change of heart there.”
Will Trump change heart? Probably. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently announced that President Trump will likely announce a deal to cut tariffs on the neighbors. “Both the Canadians and Mexicans were on the phone with me all day today trying to show that they’ll do better on reducing the flow of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the US,” he told Fox Business Network.
But whatever happens, the damage has already been done. Looking at the NYSE, most companies listed on the exchange have been doing great since Trump’s comeback at the White House. The NYSE Composite Index has been in the green since January 10, 2025. However, this growth was almost wiped off in a single day when the US tariffs were effected, and the target countries announced retaliations.
On the very day the tariffs were effected, the NYSE shed over 2% in value. This index includes a mix of large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap shares, but the scales tip towards large-cap stocks. This tells you that when the index posts losses, the sell-off affects large-cap stocks more. Granted, small-caps were also affected but the largest impact went to the huge conglomerates that often operate across borders.
The latest data shows that NYSE stocks are recovering—the NYSE has so far climbed 1.33% (as of the close on March 5). A lot of this activity is investors’ optimism about a tariff reprieve across more sectors after Trump gave the big three automakers a one-month reprieve. But whether this will happen is a question no one can answer right now. That means that the possibility of the NYSE stocks taking another dip in the future is real. And the shares whose value is much more at stake are the large-caps, which makes this an opportune time to consider NYSE penny stocks.
Our Methodology
To assemble these companies, we used stock screeners to identify NYSE stocks trading under $5. We filtered the resulting companies and picked 12 stocks based on upside potential (at least 30% as of March 7). Additionally, we have included the hedge fund sentiment around each stock, as of Q4 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
15 Biggest Shipping Companies In The World in 2024
An aerial view of an expansive shipping dock, its bustle of activity serving as a visual representation of the company's business.
Hafnia Limited (NYSE:HAFN) is a Norwegian shipping company that transports oil and other products across the world using tankers. They have a fleet of over 200 vessels, making them one of the largest operators in the industry.
For the fourth quarter of 2024, Hafnia Limited (NYSE:HAFN) reported a net profit of $79.6 million, down from $176.4 million in the same period of 2023. Total revenue for the quarter was $233.56 million, slightly below the expected $244.91 million, and the adjusted EBITDA stood at $131.2 million. Similarly, this metric came in lower than in Q4 2023. If you zoom out to the full-year perspective, the story is the same. The company posted $774.0 million in net profit, slightly down from $793.3 million in 2023.
Despite the declines, the company’s board recently approved a dividend of $0.0294 per share for Q4 2024. Additionally, Hafnia Limited (NYSE:HAFN) has been actively pursuing share buybacks. In January, the company repurchased approximately 2.8% of its outstanding shares.
On March 5, 2025, BW Group Limited, Hafnia’s largest shareholder, purchased additional shares in the company on the Oslo Børs and the New York Stock Exchange. These efforts have seen the stock reverse its relentless bear posture and start climbing. For that reason, analysts project an 80.59% upside potential, which also explains why this stock is in our list of 12 best NYSE penny stocks to buy.
Overall HAFN ranks 10th on our list of the best NYSE penny stocks to buy according to analysts. While we acknowledge the potential of HAFN as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than HAFN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
