5 Stocks with Pricing Power to Combat Inflation's Erosion of Purchasing Power

Trading Random
May 12

Inflation gradually diminishes your purchasing power over time.

Beyond securing annual salary increases that keep pace with or exceed inflation, investing profitably stands as one of the few reliable methods to preserve your purchasing power.

Consider this: you can further safeguard your purchasing power by investing in companies capable of consistently raising their prices over the long term.

Intrigued?

This article highlights five stocks possessing significant pricing power and explains how they can help mitigate the impact of inflation on your finances.

Why Pricing Power Serves as the Ultimate Inflation Hedge

Firms with pricing power safeguard their profit margins by transferring increased costs to consumers, thereby limiting inflation's adverse effect on their earnings.

However, not all businesses possess this ability.

Pricing power stems from a dominant brand or a strong market position that permits price hikes without a significant loss in sales volume.

This resilience is ultimately driven by competitive moats, such as efficient scale, high customer switching costs, or limited market competition.

DFI Retail Group Holdings Limited — The Consumer Brand Leader

DFI, which operates well-known brands like IKEA, Guardian, and 7-Eleven across various Asian markets, is a prime example of a company with substantial pricing power.

These iconic brands benefit from strong customer loyalty and solid market positioning.

For instance, IKEA is often a top-of-mind choice when consumers consider purchasing new furniture.

This brand loyalty and market strength allow for steady price increases without the fear of customers significantly reducing their purchases.

DFI's pricing power is evident in its operating margin, which improved from 2% in December 2020 to 4.1% as of December 2025.

The key insight is that powerful brands can successfully pass on rising costs to their customer base.

Sembcorp Industries Limited — The Essential Services Provider

Providing essential services that customers rely on for daily life also confers a degree of pricing power.

Frequently, such companies have contracts with pricing adjustment clauses, often linked to consumer price indices, ensuring they can cover the costs of delivering these essential services.

Sembcorp, a local energy provider, exemplifies this with its long-term contracts that span decades.

These contracts typically include built-in price escalations tied to inflation rates.

These mechanisms provide sustained support for the group's earnings over time.

The key takeaway is that companies offering essential services can possess significant pricing authority.

ParkwayLife REIT — The REIT with Built-In Escalations

ParkwayLife REIT owns healthcare properties, primarily hospitals and nursing homes, mainly in Singapore and Japan.

This REIT distinguishes itself through lease arrangements that stipulate steady annual rental increases.

Thanks to triple net lease agreements for its core Singapore hospitals, ParkwayLife REIT is also not responsible for rising property expenses.

These factors have enabled this healthcare REIT to grow its income and distribution per unit (DPU) consistently.

In fact, the core DPU has shown a consistent upward trend since the REIT's listing in 2007.

The key insight is that certain REITs can pass increasing costs to their tenants while securing income growth through steady escalations embedded in their lease contracts.

ST Engineering Limited — The Market Leader with High Switching Costs

STE holds a strong leadership position in the commercial aerospace maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) market, ranked second globally by Spherical Insights, making it difficult for customers to switch providers.

Once a customer commits its aircraft fleet to STE for MRO services, switching to a different supplier becomes unlikely due to prohibitive costs, regulatory complexities, and potential extended downtime.

This structural dependency allows STE to implement steady price increases over time without losing its customer base.

The key takeaway is that high switching costs can create durable pricing power for a company.

Seatrium Limited — The Commodity or Asset-Linked Player

Finally, Seatrium, which is involved in constructing offshore vessels, may experience strong earnings growth during periods of high oil prices, which often correlate with elevated inflation.

Higher oil prices incentivize the construction of new vessels for oil and gas exploration, directly boosting Seatrium's revenue.

Furthermore, Seatrium may also benefit from improved earnings leverage during such periods.

The key insight is that some businesses can directly benefit from the very factors that drive inflation.

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

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