With “Super Tuesday” now only days away, the 2016 election season is really starting to heat up. Many of the headlines this year have come from surprising anti-establishment candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.
Voters can and will debate the merits of Donald Trump’s actual career investment decisions, and Bernie Sanders would likely cringe at the idea of having his name tied in any way to Wall Street. However, one stock analyst recently suggested to Benzinga that it would be amusing to take a look at how investments based strictly on the messages the two candidates are conveying on the campaign trail might have performed in the past year.
Sanders’ progressive message applies well to Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG, which is known for its focus on health-conscious ingredients and free-range pork.
Other Sanders investments might include Whole Foods Market, Inc. WFM and Tesla Motors Inc TSLA.
When it comes to Trump, it would be hard not to include a casino stock like MGM Resorts International MGM, gun maker Smith & Wesson Holding Corp SWHC and a defense stock like Raytheon Company RTN.
For those keeping tally, all three of the Bernie stocks are down in the past six months, while two out of three Trump stocks are up.
However, before declaring the Republicans the winner of this contest, it might be worth noting that a Clinton/Sanders inspired short on the SPDR S&P Biotech (ETF) XBI and the Select Sector Financial Slct Str SPDR Fd XLF would have paid off handsomely in recent months.
Disclosure: The author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.
Image Credit: By Nick Solari, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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