A look back at history shows that the stock market has performed better under a democratic leader. It’s often the case that Democrats are proponents of programs that favor the the middle class, leaving Americans with more money to invest. The outcome of this election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will likely breed similar results. Many on Wall Street anticipate a Donald Trump presidency would lead to massive volatility in the markets, while a Hillary Clinton presidency would closely mirror the Obama administration and hence keep things steady. If Hillary Clinton emerges victorious come November, there are several companies that should be high on investor’s wishlists.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) Information Technology – Internet Software & Services
Hillary Clinton has deep ties with Silicon valley and has cultivated relationships with some of tech’s titans, one of them being Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg. The real upside for Facebook isn’t necessarily drawn out of the democratic proposed policies but rather the benefit of not having a Trump presidency. On multiple occasions, Trump has dismissed and antagonized the tech sector, calling out names like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). Meanwhile, Hillary has advocated for greater investment in STEM education and expanding broadband access worldwide. A byproduct of greater internet access is more Facebook accounts and engagement. If Facebook can continue to grow its current user based, which is already enormous, then sky’s the limit for the social media company.
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Health Care – Health Care Providers & Services
Health care is one of the more polarizing topics of the current election. Hillary is a staunch supporter of the Affordable Care Act and has insisted she will build on its successes to reduce costs even further. Increased adoption and wider coverage is particularly beneficial for hospital networks and managed care providers. That’s bullish for health insurers like UnitedHealth, Aetna (NYSE:AET) and many of their peers.
First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) Information Technology – Semiconductors
Clean energy is the sustenance of any Democrat’s platform and Clinton isn’t a different. Her campaign pledges to install 500 million solar panels by the end of her first term, roughly 7 times today’s capacity. This would give a huge boost for the otherwise struggling solar industry. First Solar has been one of the lone outperformers in the space, consistently topping earnings and revenue quarter after quarter. SolarCity might see as much upside given its deep seated structural flaws and financial problems.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) Consumer Discretionary – Internet & Catalog Retail
In the past, Hillary has supported net neutrality and the efforts to enforce open internet rules. Netflix has been one of the most outspoken champions of net neutrality. If there are any restrictions on download size or speed it could put a huge damper on Netflix’s business model, which facilitates binge watching TV shows. Netflix is having a difficult 2016 after financial pundits prematurely lumped them in with Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL). Shares are down 16% year to date and about 5% in the past 12 months. This comes after a string of weaker than expected earnings and decelerating user growth. A Clinton presidency wouldn’t necessarily jump start growth but it wouldn’t stunt it.
Cyberark Software (NASDAQ:CYBR) Information Technology - Software
Cyber security is one of the biggest threats to our national security and it’s only getting worse. In all likelihood, the next war won’t be on the ground but through computers. Clinton’s proposed plan on promoting secure networks include safeguarding the flow of information across borders while protecting online privacy and security. This is not a small feat and will take some of the greatest minds in Silicon Valley to keep our data safe. We have already seen an influx of companies begin to tackle these problems and under Hillary they will only grow larger. They include names like Cyberark, Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO, FireEye (NASDAQ:FEYE) and Checkpoint.
How do you think these names will report?