While Trump's Tariffs Sent Investors Sprinting to the Sidelines, Oakmark's Bill Nygren Swooped in and Bought These 3 Beaten-Down Stocks

Bram Berkowitz, The Motley Fool

Tue, Apr 8, 2025, 2:00 AM 6 min read

President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs have sent the market into free fall and it's clear investors are starting to panic as they think about the adverse effects of a transitioning economy, slower growth, and a potential recession or even stagflation. As scary as times like this can seem, however, they have also presented the best buying opportunities for calm investors who have long investing horizons ahead of them.

That seems to be how legendary value investor Bill Nygren of the Oakmark Fund is approaching the situation. While investors have been sprinting to the sidelines, Nygren told CNBC last week that he swooped in and bought three beaten-down stocks that already have negative expectations baked in. Let's take a look.

It's been a rough go for Delta Airlines (NYSE: DAL) this year, with the stock trading down 39% in 2025. Airline stocks are effected by economic sentiment because healthy levels of travel are heavily dependent on a healthy economy.

In early March, airline CEOs began to warn about slowing domestic demand for travel in the U.S. As a result, Delta cut its first-quarter outlook for revenue and earnings, saying that revenue would increase no more than 5% year over year, down from initial projections of 6% to 8%. Delta also took down its adjusted earnings estimates to a midpoint of $0.40, down from a prior midpoint of $0.85.

"The outlook has been impacted by the recent reduction in consumer and corporate confidence caused by increased macro uncertainty, driving softness in domestic demand," Delta management said at the time. Things have only gotten worse with Trump's latest batch of tariffs. There's also the possibility that international travel into the U.S. sours, with the trade war becoming more contentious by the day. Recent data showed that bookings from Canada to the U.S. are way down.

But right now, you can buy Delta stock for a song while it trades at just 5 times forward earnings. The stock may take some time to find its feet again, especially until this mess with tariffs and the trade war gets figured out, but Delta has certainly cemented itself as one of the major airlines, and should bounce back once travel demand rebounds.

Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR) owns the cable, mobile, and internet provider Spectrum, which services over 57 million homes in 41 states. The bulk of Charter's revenue comes from providing internet connectivity, while its second-biggest generator is from providing cable packages and access to streaming networks.