For better or worse, April’s “Liberation Day” was a chance to make a lot of money.
On the positive side, the volatility surge created some incredible deals. In mid-April, I reported how one of our quant systems identified five incredible stocks to buy during this period.
Here’s how they’ve done since:
- Papa John’s International Inc. (PZZA): +29%
- Coupang Inc. (CPNG): +26%
- JBT Marel Corp. (JBTM): +18%
- Dollar General Corp. (DG): +14%
- SpartanNash Co. (SPTN): -3%
Meanwhile, bearish investors also made out like bandits. We noted in mid-March that President Donald Trump’s tariffs would be far wider reaching than his 2018 ones and highlighted three stocks to sell. These three have indeed struggled.
Deckers Outdoor Corp. (DECK) alone plummeted 20% this week after warning they would have to “absorb” (i.e., “eat”) significant amounts of tariff costs. The owner of the UGG boot brand funnels almost its entire sheepskin supply chain through two Chinese tanneries.
Like most disruptive policies, “Liberation Day 1.0” had its share of winners and losers.
However, InvestorPlace Senior Analyst Louis Navellier forecasts bluer skies are ahead. In a new presentation, he talks about three upcoming events that will be roundly positive for America:
- Tax Liberation
- Tech Liberation
- Energy Liberation
In fact, he’s so confident that he’s calling this “Liberation Day 2.0,” or the type of event President Trump should have touted last April.
During The Liberation Day 2.0 Summit, scheduled for this Wednesday, at 1 p.m. Eastern, Louis will lay out his detailed strategy to prepare for – and profit from – the White House’s three-pronged plan.
You won’t want to miss this free event. Click here to save your spot.
In the meantime, I’d like to share three picks earning high grades from Louis’s quantitative Stock Grader system that help illustrate why he’s so excited.
Let’s jump in…
Tax Liberation: The Sizzle Behind the Steak
We’ve long known that 2025 would be a significant tax legislation year. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expires this year, and tax rates will soar unless Congress intervenes. I’ve been recommending Intuit Inc. (INTU) all year here as a company that would benefit regardless of what Congress eventually does.
The advancement of a new “big, beautiful” tax bill now makes it clear:
We should expect massive deficit spending in the coming years.
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a 1,000-page tax bill that calls for extending the 2017 tax cuts, eliminating taxes on tips, and other expansionary policies that “bring the beef” of President Trump’s campaign promises. Though the Senate will doubtlessly water down the bill, this “Tax Liberation,” as Louis calls it, should still put more money into American pockets and send consumer demand soaring.
This would prove an incredible windfall for Sezzle Inc. (SEZL), a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) company that serves some of America’s largest retailers. The firm counts Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Walmart Inc. (WMT), and Target Corp. (TGT) as customers, among others, so it will benefit from a U.S. spending spree regardless of where Americans shop.
Analysts expect revenues to surge 62% this year, and for operating earnings to more than double.
In addition, Sezzle is shielded from tariffs. Revenues are calculated based on gross merchandise value, so higher prices at the cash register translate to more sales. And because the BNPL firm serves so many large retailers, boycotts at one chain (for, say, raising prices due to tariffs) will be offset by more business at others.
Of course, BNPL firms remain risky long-term bets. These companies often take on enormous amounts of bad debt without realizing it… and then collapse once the economy sours.
Australian payment firm Openpay went bankrupt in 2023, and New Zealand-based firm Laybuy did the same in 2024. Sezzle itself faces the same credit risks, so any investment needs a 15% stop-loss.
But until the economy faces a downturn, this short-term buy should continue to sizzle. Sezzle scores an “A” in Louis’s proprietary Stock Grader system.
Tech Liberation
The next area of “Liberation” will be in the tech sector, where the president plans to slash regulation.
The obvious winners are chipmakers, which faced potentially ruinous export bans under the previous administration’s framework known as the AI Diffusion Rule. President Trump has signaled he would scrap these bans, and companies like previously recommended Monolithic Power Systems Inc. (MPWR) have surged 20% since.
AI chips are not the only tech area getting “liberated.” As Louis notes in his presentation, other tech segments like online betting and crypto should also see regulations melt away.
And that’s what makes Interactive Brokers Group Inc. (IBKR) so attractive.
Interactive Brokers is a “B”-rated online trading platform favored by high-frequency and active traders. Fees are some of the lowest in the industry, and its software is institutional grade.
The well-run company has generated profits in all but one year since going public in 2007 thanks to its willingness to innovate. In 2014, it became the first online broker to offer direct access to IEX, a private forum for trading securities. It added Bitcoin futures in 2017, and Bitcoin directly in 2021.
The relaxation of tech regulations will give Interactive Brokers the ability to grow in two new areas:
- Forecast contract trading (i.e., prediction markets)
- Cryptocurrencies
That’s because trading of these two assets currently happens on dedicated services like Polymarket (predictions) and Binance (crypto). That makes it cumbersome for professional traders to create multi-bet positions. They generally cannot, for instance, buy shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) and protect their investment with a short bet on tariffs on the same platform.
Interactive Brokers changes that.
The Connecticut-based firm has quietly built a 24-hour trading service that combines stocks, bonds, the prediction market, and cryptocurrencies onto a single platform. And because of their early-mover status, Interactive Brokers should attract early-mover traders, creating liquidity that attracts even more traders, and so on.
Though shares of IBKR have already risen 12% this year, more gains are likely on the way as Tech Liberation continues.
Energy Liberation
The final leg of the president’s “Liberation” strategy is energy, particularly around fossil fuels.
President Trump campaigned on a “drill, baby, drill” platform and has followed up with a flurry of executive actions. On his first day in office, the president reopened federal lands to fossil fuel production.
And in April, the administration said it would accelerate permit approvals for mining and drilling on these lands. New projects will now take up to “28 days at most,” down from the current one to two-year timeline.
This will create an enormous volume of new hydrocarbons to transport. And one of Stock Grader’s top “A”-rated companies in the industry is MPLX LP (MPLX), a natural gas pipeline firm still selling at reasonable valuations.
MPLX was created in 2012 as a partial spinoff from Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) to house its midstream assets. Over the following 12 years, the partnership would grow 25-fold to become one of America’s largest full-service providers of pipelines, natural gas processing, refining, and more.
The resurgence of U.S. hydrocarbon production should benefit MPLX, even if oil prices fall. Analysts expect revenues and profits to rise 7% this year, and for return on invested capital to surge from 16% to 19%. As a middleman, MPLX generates profits from the amount it processes, rather than from the absolute price of the final product.
Best of all, MPLX still trades at a discount relative to its other “A”-rated rivals. The stock trades at just 8.7X cash flow (compared to 11.5X at rival Kinder Morgan Inc. [KMI]) and offers a stunningly high 7.6% dividend yield.
Though riskier plays in energy exploration – like nuclear power and coal mining – could outperform, MPLX’s conservative asset base gives it a risk-reward profile that’s hard to ignore.
The Cautious Optimist
No policy shift is risk-free, and “Liberation Day 2.0” is no exception.
- Taxes. Bond markets are growing worried about America’s widening deficits.
- Tech. Unbridled AI growth is already causing layoffs in multiple sectors.
- Energy. The U.S. will likely fail to meet its Paris Agreement climate goals.
But moving everything into cash is a sure way to miss out. Markets expect long-term inflation rates in the 2% to 3% range, and the value of cash has historically melted away like an ice cube on a warm day.
Fortunately, Louis believes there are some smart ways to navigate these risks.
In his free special presentation on Wednesday, May 28, at 1 p.m. Eastern, Louis will explain how the current administration is on track to unleash $10 trillion of stimulus into the economy, and how all this money will create a new “melt-up” rally.
And he’s ready to dive deeper into his detailed plan for preparing investors to profit from this unprecedented shift. He’s even giving away the name and ticker of one “A”-rated stock he believes could hand investors a $5,000-$15,000 payday in the coming months – and it’s completely free to attend.
To join Louis and reserve your seat for The Liberation Day 2.0 Summit, simply click here.
Please note: The U.S. stock market and our offices – including our Customer Service department – will be closed on Monday, May 25, in observance of Memorial Day. And you’ll hear from me in the Sunday Digest next in two weeks.
Until then,
Thomas Yeung
Market Analyst, InvestorPlace
