Obama stock: Portfolio plays from media to solar

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.

"It looks very much to me like there will be a rough few years ahead in the United States, whichever candidate wins; however, if Obama wins, we see opportunity in select stocks such as Microsoft, Time Warner and First Solar," says Martin Hutchinson in The Money Map Reporter.

"If Obama takes the White House, interest rates will surely rise. And the major beneficiaries of a policy of higher interest rates will be companies with large piles of cash, who will earn better returns on that money even as they discover cheaper opportunities to deploy it as prices of highly leveraged competitors crash.

"Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), for example, with $23 billion of cash and negligible debt, should find many ways to deploy that capital and convert it into profitable business opportunities.

"Another sector that might benefit is media, which always finds it easier to sell products internationally when the United States has a popular "rock-star" president than it does when an unpopular president occupies the White House.

"You might look at Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), which is largely concentrated in visual and Internet media, without investments in the rapidly declining newspaper sector.

"Finally, you might look for a new energy company that could benefit from Obama's proposed $150 billion alternative energy fund.

"One possibility would be First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR), though -- at 39 times earnings and with a market capitalization of greater than $20 billion -- the stock certainly isn't cheap, despite the company's global reach."

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.