These 5 Stocks Have Popped More Than 100% Since Trump's Win

Following a particularly strong jobs report last week, President Trump once again took to Twitter to tout the economy’s stellar performance during his tenure. This comes as no surprise since Trump has time and again claimed credit for the stock market rally and economic success witnessed during the first year of his presidency.

The jury is still out on the extent to which Trump’s actions, and more importantly, his promises, have helped to boost the economy and its markets. His critics point to the fact that Trump has yet to deliver on the legislative front, though his much vaunted tax cuts bill is on the verge of being passed by the Senate.

On the other hand, Trump supporters feel that criticisms of the President stems from ideological biases. According to them, several gauges of business sentiment have been surging ever since Trump’s surprise win.

Further, equity markets have been surging on the expectations of forthcoming tax cuts. With the legislation close to being enacted into law, it makes sense to add stocks which have posted stellar performances since Trump’s win to your portfolios.

Economy Roars Back to Life

According to a Gallup poll held in November, President Trump’s approval rating on his handling of the economy stands at 45%. This is nearly 8% higher than his overall approval rating, which has slumped to 37%. In reality, few can question Trump’s stewardship of the economy on the evidence alone.

A clear picture emerges on studying this month’s economic data. For instance, unemployment remains at a 17-year low while consumer confidence is at a 17-year high, per the latest readings of their relevant guages. Further, both the ISM manufacturing and services index are hovering around the 58-mark despite slipping marginally this month. Additionally, retail sales for October surged 1.6% despite expectations of a decline.

But the most conclusive proof of the economy’s upswing has been a consistently high pace of growth. Per the second estimate, U.S. GDP expanded at 3.3% in the third quarter of 2017, marking the fastest pace of growth since the third quarter of 2014. More significantly, the economy has now recorded 3% growth during two of the three quarters that Trump has been in office.

And this performance has come about without his much vaunted tax reforms. Not only is this a far cry from the long streak of dull 2% growth, current estimates put fourth quarter growth at 3.2%. This would mark the first time ever that the economy has recorded three consecutive quarters of 3% growth, significantly higher than the records set in 2005.

Earnings Likely to Jump on Upcoming Tax Cuts

Until now, Trump’s concrete actions on the economy and the country have been limited to his executive orders. But most of the actual impact on the ground stems from his signature reforms promise, tax cuts. There is significant evidence of this fact, particularly in the 8.6% year over year increase in business investment witnessed during the third quarter which follows an 8.8% increase during the second quarter.

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This trend clearly reflects the new found optimism of U.S. companies which are largely a product of Trump’s tax cuts promises. And this confidence is set to be reflected in fourth quarter earnings results, which is likely to keep alive the trend of strong performances witnessed in the preceding quarters.

Total Q4 earnings are expected to be up +8.8% from the same period last year on +6.8% higher revenues, which would follow the +6.9% earnings growth on +6% higher revenues in 2017 Q3. (Read: Zacks Investment Research

Written By: Zacks Investment Research