This post is part of a series in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked financial experts to name their top stock pick if McCain or if Obama wins the election.
"We see a rough few years ahead for the markets and the economy in the United States; however, if you were determined to invest in the U.S. and McCain wins the election, we would look at defense, pharmaceuticals and oil," says Martin Hutchinson in The Money Map Reporter.
"If you were bound and determined to invest in domestic stocks, a McCain presidency would be good for defense stocks, as defense spending would be higher, so you might look at Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC).
"It would also be good for the large patented pharmaceutical stocks, as they would not be subjected to price controls as the Democrats currently propose.
"Among pharmaceutical stocks Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK), with a forward Price/Earnings (P/E) ratio of about 10 and a 5% dividend yield, looks like a good value.
"A McCain presidency would also be very good for domestic oil companies, which would expand their offshore operations, their work with such unconventional oil sources as shale, and possibly even drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
"EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG), for example, is rapidly expanding production in the huge Bakken oil fields of the upper Midwest."
Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a daily look at the latest market commentary and favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-13-2008 @ 2:47PM
Jim said...
Mccain needs to hit Obama hard on his plans to raise corporate taxes...
Business taxes affect business decisions, job creation and retention, plant location, competitiveness, the transparency of the tax system, and the long-term health of a state's economy. Most importantly, taxes diminish profits. If taxes take a larger portion of profits, that cost is passed along to either consumers (through higher prices), workers (through lower wages or fewer jobs), or shareholders (through lower dividends or share value). Thus a country with lower tax costs will be more attractive to business investment, and more likely to experience economic growth.
According to the KPMG report, 23 countries have lowered their corporate tax rates this year, and no nation has raised its rate since last year. Last week, for instance, Sweden announced a series of proposals to improve its business climate, including a plan to cut its corporate tax rate from 28 percent to 26.3 percent. A September 17, 2008 Industry Week article, "Sweden Announces Income Tax Cuts to Boost Jobs," explains, "Since coming to power in the autumn of 2006, the Swedish government has launched a series of measures aimed at inciting Swedes to return to the job market instead of living off of state subsidies."
"The U.S. rate was higher than all other global regions in 1999 and the difference is even more dramatic today," Hodge states. "If the Swedes now recognize that taxes matter to a country's business climate and incentives to work, then when will America's political class?"
In Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact No. 145, "KPMG Study Finds U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Higher Than Every Global Region," Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge explains that America's stagnant business tax system is potentially harmful to America's economic competitiveness in the global marketplace.
This KPMG survey comes on the heels of the Tax Foundation's CompeteUSA project, a campaign to raise public awareness of America's high business taxes and how our business tax system might be affecting our competitiveness, wages and living standards.
Recent OECD studies show U.S. corporate income taxes are 50 percent higher than the average among our counterparts in the industrialized world, and that corporate taxes are the single most harmful tax to GDP growth, more so than personal income taxes or consumption taxes. Last month, the Tax Foundation released a revised summary showing that the U.S. federal corporate income tax quietly taps family pocketbooks for nearly $370 billion per year in the form of higher prices, lower wages and poorer return on investment.
To learn more about the CompeteUSA project, go to http://www.taxfoundation.org/competeusa.
The KPMG survey can be found at http://www.kpmg.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/Corporate-Tax-Rates-Survey-2008b.pdf.
Fiscal Fact No. 145 can be found at http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/23621.html.
The Industry Week article can be found at http://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=17335.
10-13-2008 @ 2:55PM
Sheldon L said...
McCain is done.
The economy is the coffin and Palin was the last nail.
10-16-2008 @ 10:53AM
Rodger Lemonde said...
I would recommend condos in Mexico if McCain is elected. Four more years of the failed policies we have been saddled with isn't the America I was born in. Especially with the side order of xenophobia and run a way ego.