20 Brands That Are Sure to Grow During Trump’s Presidency
While some brands are suffering under Donald Trump-related boycotts — including his own daughter’s, Ivanka Trump’s, fashion line — others are thriving thanks to the new president.
President Trump moved to decrease regulation by signing an executive order on January 30, 2017 that will make sure every new regulation is offset by the elimination of an existing one. This means companies in industries like banking, traditional energy, and health care could all see their stocks rise in the next four years.
Here are the 20 companies that could benefit the most from Trump and his new cabinet. No. 19 is a retail giant we all probably use from time to time.
1. AT&T
While Trump said in early January that he opposed the Time Warner and AT&T merger, which would help the company create a monopoly in the communications space, this hasn’t prevented the growth of the stock since the election. Trump has also placed Ajit Pai, a known opponent of net neutrality, at the head of the Federal Communications Commission, making the deal more likely to go through regardless of Trump’s stance on it.
2. Walmart
While Walmart hasn’t seen any concrete benefits from the Trump administration yet, this hasn’t stopped the brand from trying to cozy up to the new administration. In January, the company announced its plan to create 10,000 jobs in the United States this year, and it also gave $150,000 to the inauguration committee.
3. The GEO Group
When the Justice Department announced in 2016 that it would move to end its use of for-profit prisons, the GEO Group’s stock plummeted. But the company, which is the nation’s second-largest private prison operator, has had a huge comeback since the election. With Trump’s plans to crackdown on undocumented immigrants, private prisons will be in more demand than ever before. The GEO Group’s stock rose 21% the day after the election, according to Fortune.
4. CoreCivic
Much like The GEO Group, CoreCivic is set to thrive under Trump’s friendlier stance toward private prisons. The day after the election, the company’s stock rose 34%, according to Quartz.
5. Smith and Wesson
Trump is a proponent of Second Amendment rights, and is likely to undo a lot of gun control measures pushed through by the Obama administration. This could lead to huge gains for Smith and Wesson, the second largest gun manufacturer in the U.S.
6. Vulcan Materials Company
Though Vulcan Material’s stock dropped in the last quarter, the Alabama-based company is poised to take advantage of Trump’s promise of up to $1 trillion in infrastructure spending.
7. Martin Marietta
According to Fortune, Marietta Materials’s stock has also received a boost, largely thanks to Trump’s promise to build a wall that could require spending up to $10 billion on cement alone.
8. Nucor Corporation
Nucor, the largest manufacturer of steel in the U.S., could also benefit from Trump’s ambitious infrastructure plan. The company’s stock was recently upgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley.
9. Performant Financial Corporation
While Democrats have raised concerns over newly elected Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for a number of reasons, including her lack of experience with public schools, there’s also alarm over her private investments in a number of education-related companies.
Politico reported that a review by the government ethics committee found that DeVos had 102 potential conflicts of interest in regard to her new position, including the student-loan collection group Performant Financial Corporation. According to the Washington Post, 23% of the company’s revenue comes from contracts with the Department of Education. Though DeVos promised to divest herself from the companies that are in direct conflict with her new position, it’s unclear if she has done so.
10. Charter Schools
DeVos is also a huge proponent of charter schools, a sector that could thrive during her time as Secretary of Education. In 2016, nearly 3 million students in the United States attended a charter school, and if DeVos moves to expand the number of educational vouchers available to families, this number (and charter schools’s coffers) could expand.
11. Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs’s stock has risen 37% since the election, according to CNN. Trump’s pick for Secretary of Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, was a former partner at the firm.
12. ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil is another company with ties to the Trump cabinet. If Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, former CEO of ExxonMobil, lifts sanctions against Russia, the oil company could earn $1 trillion in dealings with the country.
13. Bank of America
Former hedge fund manager and television personality Jim Cramer believes that under Trump, the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates. Bank of America would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of such a change.
14. Wells Fargo
On the first day of his presidency, Trump reversed the mortgage cuts for first-time home buyers that were introduced under President Obama. Wells Fargo is one of the biggest FHA lenders in the country, and they could reap the rewards from this cut. Now that the Republicans run both the presidency and Congress, it’s unlikely that the Democrats will be able to push through tougher restrictions on banking.
The proposed restrictions were largely inspired by the revelation that Wells Fargo employees had opened more than two million fraudulent accounts. Though the company paid $185 million in fines over the scandal, it’s unlikely it will suffer more punishment under the Trump administration.
15. World Wrestling Entertainment
Former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon was recently confirmed as the new administrator of the Small Business Administration. Though McMahon resigned from the company years ago (after two failed runs for the Senate), her husband, Vince, is still the chairman and CEO of the company. As a candidate for the Senate, Linda McMahon lobbied to deregulate the wrestling industry. Now she could potentially use her new position to further that agenda.
16. Hardee’s
Labor activists had a huge ally in their fight to increase minimum wage with former president Obama, who advocated for a $15 minimum wage and pushed to get all workers compensation for overtime.
With Trump being notoriously anti-union and against a higher minimum wage, and with Andy Puzder’s recent withdrawal from the confirmation process, it’s highly unlikely that Trump’s next pick will be much better. An administration that is against a higher minimum wage could ease the concerns of other fast food giants, who claim that a higher minimum wage will hurt their bottom line and reduce employee numbers.
17. Apple
Apple shelters billions of profits overseas to avoid United States taxes, and CEO Tim Cook says that won’t change until the U.S. implements fair taxes for businesses. While Trump and Cook, who recently spoke out against the President’s Muslim ban, might seem like unlikely bedfellows, the lower business taxes promised under Trump could help boost the tech giant’s market share and sales.
18. Microsoft
Microsoft holds approximately $110 billion in earnings in overseas cash. According to SeekingAlpha, if Trump follows through on his promise to temporarily suspend taxes on bringing foreign assets back into the U.S., the company could save millions of dollars.
19. Amazon
Companies that do a majority of their sales in the U.S., such as Amazon, are likely to get a bump from any stimulus plans, according to MarketWatch. In January, the company announced it would create 100,000 new jobs in the next 18 months.
20. UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is already withdrawing from the Obamacare exchanges, and according to The Street, a pivot toward employee health care could help boost the company’s stock.