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U.S. investors are staring down several headwinds at the moment: heightened tech stock valuations, hawkish Federal Reserve commentary, and erratic tariff policies from the Trump administration.
Even Nvidia’s blowout earnings on Wednesday only managed to lift stocks overnight, before a nasty sell-off erased all the gains and more on Thursday. The S&P 500 is still hovering close to all-time highs, but if you think a storm is coming, then you want to take defensive positioning before stocks enter correction territory.
There's been no better place to escape U.S. market drama this year than high-quality international stocks.
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Benzinga Edge Quality Score: 99.36
Shinhan Financial Group (NYSE:SHG) offers the best of both worlds: sturdy fundamentals and a strong technical uptrend. The South Korean-based banking giant is a conglomerate offering retail and commercial services, as well as asset management, insurance, and private equity to domestic and international clients. The firm has a USD-equivalent market cap of $25.5 billion and reported strong growth in both interest income and net interest margins (NIM) in its Q3 2025 earnings report released earlier this month.
South Korean stocks have long been subject to the "Korea Discount," a long-term value trap trend. But the government has recently taken steps to enhance capital market valuations, and the South Korean KOSPI index has responded with a 68% year-to-date (YTD) gain. SHG shares still trade at suppressed levels, with a Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio of 7.94, a Price-to-Book (P/B) value of 0.5, and a dividend yield of over 3%. Technical traders have already taken notice; the share price is now above the 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages (SMAs), with the 50-day acting as a strong support level.
Benzinga Edge Quality Score: 99.26
Another undervalued company from South Korea is POSCO Holdings (NYSE:PKX), a $16 billion industrials firm whose recent business pivot may not be fully priced in by the market. POSCO has a reputation as a traditional steel manufacturer, a very cyclical business that's now under constant threat of tariffs from the Trump administration. Materials like steel typically have low margins, but POSCO has recently pivoted into lithium battery manufacturing, a much higher-margin industry. The company has already inked deals to build a lithium extraction plant in the U.S. and mine nearly $800 million worth of the raw material in Australia and Argentina. Despite this business pivot, POSCO trades at just 14 times forward earnings and 0.4 times book value.
PKX shares are still well off the all-time high of $131 set in July 2023, but the lithium/steel combination is already paying dividends (literally, the stock yields 3.3%). The stock appears to have bottomed in February and is now riding a support trendline on the upswing, as evidenced by the higher highs and higher lows. The bullish momentum has carried the stock price back above the 50-day and 200-day SMAs, and the RSI has been trending higher.
Benzinga Edge Quality Score: 97.07
Philippine Long Distance Telephone (NYSE:PHI), or PLDT, is the Philippines' largest telecommunications company, offering a full suite of wireless and fixed-line services. In addition to being one member of the country's telecom duopoly (alongside Globe Telecom), PLDT also developed the popular PayMaya app, which was recently rebranded as Maya. Similar to PayPal, Maya allows clients to send money to other people and businesses on the network. In recent years, it has added a crypto wallet, savings account, and lending division.
PHI trades at just 7.5 times forward earnings and 1.2 times sales, along with a dividend yielding over 7%. Recent government action to open up telecom competition sent the stock plummeting in September, but this may have created a buying opportunity. The undervalued company is riding some technical tailwinds, and the stock retook the 50-day and 200-day SMAs in just a handful of sessions. On the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator, momentum has been building back up since the September sell-off and recently crossed above the signal line, hinting that this 16% month-long rally still has legs.
Benzinga Edge Quality Score: 94.80
Here's a semiconductor stock that's actually undervalued. United Microelectronics Corp. (NYSE:UMC) is one of the Big 3 in dedicated chip foundries, along with Taiwan Semiconductor and Semiconductor Manufacturing International. With only 5% of the total foundry market, UMC has fabs in Taiwan, China, Singapore, and Japan. It counts major U.S. firms such as Texas Instruments, Intel, and Broadcom among its biggest customers. The stock also has a dividend yield of 6.8% and an 11% YTD gain.
UMC trades at just 14 times forward earnings and 2.4 times sales, both figures well below the industry average for high-margin semiconductor companies. This depressed valuation has made it an attractive takeover candidate, and earnings are also improving. After three consecutive top- and bottom-line earnings misses, UMC turned things around in Q3 2025, posting an EPS and revenue beat, with EPS exceeding expectations by more than 60%. The company's gross margin figure grew to 29.8%, and it continues to dominate the market for "mature node" chips used in cars and power management. A wedge pattern has formed on the daily chart, with prices condensing into lower highs and higher lows. A break above or below the wedge trendlines usually resolves the conflicting signals, and the moving averages and RSI suggest the next move is upward.
Editorial content from our expert contributors is intended to be information for the general public and not individualized investment advice. Editors/contributors are presenting their individual opinions and strategies, which are neither expressly nor impliedly approved or endorsed by Benzinga.
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