During Mettler-Toledo
The Ohio-based maker of industrial scales and laboratory equipment had already opened the call by breaking down the expected impact from President Donald Trump’s still-evolving trade policy. But when the event moved to the question-and-answer portion, the inquiries from analysts seeking further detail about potential tariffs became constant.
“Uncertainty remains across many of our core markets and the global economy,” Chief Financial Officer Shawn Vadala said on the call. “Geopolitical tensions remain elevated, and include the potential for new tariffs that we have not factored into our guidance.”
Mettler-Toledo’s experience wasn’t unique. America’s largest companies are being inundated with queries about how or whether Trump’s salvo of promises on issues ranging from international trade to immigration and diversity will alter businesses.
A CNBC analysis of the earnings calls of S&P 500
On top of that, new acronyms and phrases, such as “Gulf of America” and “DOGE,” have found their way into these meetings as the business community assesses what Trump’s return to power means for them.
Curiously, Trump himself wasn’t racking up mentions on these calls. Many uses of the word “trump” in transcripts reviewed by CNBC referred to the verb, rather than the president.
Still, a review of call transcripts shows how key words tied to Trump’s policies have quickly become commonplace. With the first earnings season of 2025 more than 75% complete, the comments offer an early glimpse into how these companies view the new administration.
Tariffs
One of the most talked-about policies has been Trump’s tariff plans. The president briefly implemented — and then postponed — 25% taxes on imports to the U.S. from Mexico and Canada. He also separately slapped a 10% levy on China and imposed aluminum and steel tariffs. Then, on Thursday, he discussed a plan to impose retaliatory tariffs on other trading partners on a country-by-country basis.
Given the uncertainty, it’s no surprise tariffs are a hot topic. The topic has come up on more than 190 calls held by S&P 500 companies in 2025, putting it on track to see the highest share in half a decade.
The frequency picked up late last year as Trump’s return to the White House became clear. About half the calls in 2024 that mentioned forms of the word took place in the fourth quarter, according to a CNBC analysis of data from FactSet, a market research service.
“Studying tariffs has been at the top of the list of things that we’ve been doing,” Marathon Petroleum
Several companies said they were not factoring potential impacts from these levies into their guidance, citing uncertainty about what orders will actually be put in motion. Others just aren’t sure: At Martin Marietta Materials
“We’ve game-planned out several scenarios and steps we could take depending on what actually goes into effect,” he said.
Immigration
The topic of immigration, meanwhile, has already come up on the highest share of calls since 2017.
Trump has promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants during his second term in office. Cracking down on immigration has been a core component of Trump’s political messaging since he ran for his first term, in part to “build the wall” between the U.S. and Mexico. Critics assert that his plans would shock the labor market and could result in higher inflation.
Immigration mentions tend to tick up during the first year of a new administration, CNBC data shows. But 2025 has surpassed the first years of former President Joe Biden’s term and of former President Barack Obama’s second term, underscoring Trump’s role in elevating the issue within U.S. businesses.
Some companies grouped immigration with tariffs as drivers of broader unpredictability within the economy. Nicholas Pinchuk, CEO of toolmaker Snap-On
“It’s clear the techs are in a good position. But that doesn’t make them immune to the macro uncertainty around them: ongoing wars, immigration disputes, lingering inflation,” Pinchuk said. “Although the election is in the rear mirror and the new team may be more focused on business expansion, there’s a rapid fire of new initiatives. … It’s hard not to be uncertain about what’s up.”
Firms in a variety of sectors took questions about what changes in the composition of America’s population would mean. AT&TVerizonT-MobileEquity Residential
In the Southern California market, Hamid Moghadam, CEO of real estate developer Prologiswildfires.
Other businesses insisted deportations wouldn’t create labor shortages for their operations because all of their workers are legally authorized. One such company, chicken producer Tyson Foods
“We’re confident that we’ll be able to continue to successfully run our business,” CEO Donnie King said on Feb. 3.
DOGE and the Gulf
Topics that gained newfound relevance with Trump’s return to office have also already started emerging.
DOGE — the acronym for the new advisory group known as the Department of Government Efficiency, led by TeslaElon Musk — has been mentioned on more than 15 calls, as of Friday morning. DOGE has put Wall Street on alert as investors wonder if contracts between public companies and federal agencies could be on the chopping block with Musk’s team slashing spending.
During a visit to the Oval Office on Feb. 11, Musk ripped Iron Mountainactually benefit other parts of its business.
“As the government continues to drive to be more efficient, we see this as a continued opportunity for the company,” Meaney said.
Executives at Palantirtop performer within the S&P 500 in 2024, are similarly hopeful. Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar described Palantir’s work with the government as “operational” and “valuable” and said he is hopeful that DOGE engineers will be “able to see that for a change.”
“I think DOGE is going to bring meritocracy and transparency to government, and that’s exactly what our commercial business is,” Sankar said during the company’s Feb. 3 call. “The commercial market is meritocratic and transparent, and you see the results that we have in that sort of environment. And that’s the basis of our optimism around this.”
He noted some concerns among other government software providers, and called those agreements “sacred cows of the deep state” during the call.
Elsewhere, the so-called Gulf of America has been a point of divergence after Trump’s executive order renaming what has long been known as the Gulf of Mexico. Chevronrepeatedly in its earnings release and on its call with analysts in late January. But Exxon Mobil
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