Top Pros' Top Picks 9/26/25

Market Minute ⏱️ 9/26/25: New Tariffs Coming for Trucks, Drugs, and...Cabinets

Mike Larson | Editor-in-Chief

Stocks are bouncing after a modestly weak session on Thursday. Gold, silver, and crude oil are higher, too, while crude oil, Treasuries, and the dollar are flattish.  

President Trump rolled out a slew of new tariffs set to take effect Oct. 1 in a series of social media posts. Branded drugs from companies that aren’t building plants in the US? 100%. Heavy trucks imported into the US? 25%. Kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities? 50%. Upholstered furniture? 30%.

SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)

Trump cited “National Security and other reasons” for the latest round of levies. But after some initial post-announcement volatility, markets settled down. That’s in part because most drugmakers already have or are building US-based plants. The housing-related tariffs were actually lower than some advocates had been pushing for, too.

How much is TikTok worth? The federal government is pushing a $14 billion valuation for the social media platform’s US operations. The administration wants its Chinese-based parent company ByteDance Ltd. to sell a majority stake to US investors.

But TikTok’s US operations generate more than $10 billion in annual sales, which means that’s only a 1.4X revenue multiple. That valuation looks incredibly low relative to peers like Meta Platforms Inc. (META) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) – which trade at 10X and 8X sales, respectively. China and the US are still haggling over the proposed deal, which has a 120-day completion deadline.

Finally, the Wall Street Journal published a front pager on its website titled “Spending on AI Is at Epic Levels. Will It Ever Pay Off?” As the headline suggests, it covers the massive Artificial Intelligence spending plans companies are announcing and the enormous size and prodigious power demands of data centers going up around the US. The piece also raises questions about whether they’ll generate enough revenue over time to make the upfront investments worthwhile. It’s worth a read no matter where you come down on the AI debate.

Weiss’ Brodrick: If You Want to Profit from AI, Consider AI-Related DEFENSE Stocks

• Housing: What the Surge in New Home Sales is Telling Us
  👉️ TICKERS: XHB, ITB
  New homes sales just jumped by 20% on a month-over-month basis – and hit the highest level since 2021 on an absolute level. What does this mean? It confirms the view that there is a lot of pent-up demand in the housing market, writes Eoin Treacy, editor of Fuller Treacy Money.

• BILL: An Attractive Turnaround Play in the Fintech Space
  👉️ TICKERS: INTU, BILL
  BILL Holdings Inc. (BILL) offers a financial operations platform for small and midsize businesses worldwide. It had a falling out with investors beginning in November 2021. But its prospects are reviving due to a successful turnaround strategy focused on profitability and new AI-powered products, explains Clif Droke, editor of Cabot Turnaround Letter.

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