Halloween is only two days away, and -- like zombies -- tariffs just won't die. They're still roiling stocks.
But they don't scare everybody out of their wits. Sometimes, zombies feel the love. And there tariff lovers out there today. They're Polaris shareholders.
The recreational vehicle maker's third-quarter earnings per share of $1.08 blew through Wall Street's expectation of 59 cents. Embedded in the earnings was a gift -- 13 cents from tariff refunds.
That sent shares up 5.3% on Tuesday, the day Polaris delivered its numbers. The stock was still riding high on Thursday, up 3%.
"We said we were going to about $125 million in refunds," said CEO Mike Speetzen. "We've gotten around $90 million."
Government reviews are holding up some refunds. More tariffs were added after the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the Trump administration's 2025 Liberation Day tariffs were unconstitutional.
Polaris is still planning to pay $215 million in tariffs this year, though it has tried to reorient its supply chain away from China. Last year, about 20% of the company's bill of materials came from China. This year, it will be less than 10%. That removes tariffs, but the shifts the company's sourcing to higher-cost regions.
For Polaris, the tariffs didn't just fail to protect it from foreign competitors -- they backfired. It ended up paying more levies than its Canadian, Japanese, or Chinese counterparts, said Speetzen.
But tariff refunds don't always boost stocks. Case in point is Caterpillar. The company's third-quarter earnings per share of $7.20 included about 20 cents from tariff refunds, according to Bernstein analyst Chad Dillard. The number was well above Wall Street's expectation of $7.06, according to FactSet. Still, shares were off 8.1% on Thursday.
For Cat investor, the boost made the earnings beat low quality. That's haunting Cat, which still faces higher overall costs because of ongoing tariffs.
Tariffs showed up on the quarterly reports of UPS and FedEx, too. They're responsible for returning the money, but it's taking them a while.
"It's our customers' money," said Brian Dykes, CFO of UPS.
The shipping company was expecting to return about $500 million this year. It has returned just under half because it has to confirm that new tariffs don't apply before sending the checks for the old ones.
FedEx ended the third quarter with about $8 billion in cash -- $2.7 billion of that was tariff refunds held for customers.
FedEx and UPS shares rose after reporting quarterly numbers. And both expect a strong peak shipping season, helped by consumer resilience.
Tariffs, like zombies, are hard to kill -- or at least their aftereffects. They keep lurking over supply chain decisions, material costs -- and stock prices sometimes.
Scared yet?
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