Investing.com – With Donald Trump now set to return to the White House for a second four-year term and Republicans taking hold of at least the Senate, investors are attempting to assess how the US president-elect’s policies and a conservative control of Congress could impact a range of industries.
At Rosenblatt, analyst Barton Crockett offered some initial thoughts on how the outcome of the momentous Nov. 5 election will affect these internet media players.
Apple (NASDAQ:): Crockett noted concern that Trump’s plan to impose harsh tariffs of 60% of more on goods coming from China would be negative for the tech giant, which makes roughly 80% of its flagship iPhones — along with other devices — in the country.
However, they argued that “past is prologue” and the new Trump administration would likely seek to exempt big American firms from large duties.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:): Trump has suggested that the Google-owner should be broken up because it needs to be American champion that can compete with massive Chinese rivals.
A change of administration could thus yield a less aggressive approach to worries over its search engine monopoly than the “remedies currently being floated,” Crockett said.
TikTok: Trump has reversed the position he took against the short-form video platform in his first term and has said would “save TikTok.” As a result, Crockett said, Trump could use some of his first days in office in January to possibly stymie a Biden administration law that would shut down TikTok on Jan. 25 if its not sold to new, non-Chinese ownership.
However, Crockett flagged uncertainty around whether Trump can use an executive action to overturn the law, while pushing Congress to reverse it may prove difficult because the ban enjoys broad support.
Should TikTok be shut down, it would “clearly benefit” Facebook-parent Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:), Google (NASDAQ:), and short-video service Snap (NYSE:).
Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:): Investor optimism that a Trump administration would back away from a Biden-era antitrust lawsuit has helped lift shares in the event ticket seller in recent months, Crockett said.
“Certainly, behavioral remedies and a deal would be consistent with Trump’s make-a-deal ethos, and we believe a deal could be struck that Live Nation would welcome short of a split-up,” Crockett wrote.
Amazon (NASDAQ:): Crockett estimated that a large portion, potentially even “a majority,” of third-party merchandise on e-commerce titan Amazon’s platform is sourced from China.
As a result, Trump’s 60% import tariff on the country would be “disruptive” for the company, leading it to push up prices, Crockett said. Customer demand, in turn, would suffer, Crockett added.
“Given the inflationary impact of such high tariffs, and probably a negative reaction from consumers to substantially higher prices, we wonder if Trump would use the threat of tariffs to negotiate some other kind of deal. But, with control of Congress, Trump also might be able to move ahead and try to implement the tax rate adjustments/breaks he has floated as an offset to tariffs,” Crockett said.
