Trump Vs. Harris: EVgo, Cleveland-Cliffs, Plug Power, Nucor Brace For 2024 Election Impact

Tesla Inc stands tall as the go-to electric vehicle (EV) choice in Texas, with 48.7% of respondents naming it their primary vehicle—significantly higher than the national average of 37.6%.

The Tesla Model 3, Model Y, and Model S lead the pack, cementing Tesla's stronghold in the Lone Star State.

Conflicted Minds: Eco-Friendly Or Wallet-Friendly?

Yet, the motivations behind this preference reveal a nuanced landscape. According to Plug In America's recent consumer survey, while 30.5% of Texas drivers cite clean air and environmental protection as their top reason for going electric, a surprising 12.7% consider these factors "not at all important." This suggests that for many, the appeal of an electric vehicle may lean more towards cost savings (21.4%) and performance (18.1%).

Read Also: Jim Cramer Recommends Buying This Tech Stock: ‘That Is A Terrific Situation’

Golden State Green: California Sets The Bar Higher

Meanwhile, in California, the focus on environmental protection is even stronger, with 45% of drivers prioritizing it above all else, surpassing the national average of 40.7%.

Additionally, over 75% of California respondents indicated that federal EV tax credits and affordable home charging are influential in their purchasing decisions.

JPMorgan Weighs In: Tax Credits Matter!

JPMorgan notes that the upcoming 30D tax credit is crucial for sustaining EV demand and improving perceptions of affordability.

However, potential changes in the U.S. government leadership could threaten this support, which may have ripple effects on companies in the charging sector like ChargePoint Holdings Inc and EVgo Inc (EVGO).

Despite its popularity, Tesla faces unique challenges in Texas due to state franchise laws prohibiting direct sales to consumers. Nevertheless, this obstacle hasn’t deterred its appeal, suggesting strong brand loyalty among Texas drivers.

As Tesla continues to excel in Texas, it must navigate the diverse motivations of its consumers—balancing environmental aspirations with economic incentives—to maintain its leading position in the rapidly evolving EV market.

With robust demand and a dedicated following, Tesla remains a key player in the shift toward a greener future.

Read Next:

• Elon Musk Predicts ‘The Most Fun’ With A Second Trump Presidency. Mark Cuban Responds, ‘Because Cratering The Economy Will Be A Blast’

Photo: Shutterstock

© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

TriMas (TRS) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.43 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.57 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.57 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -24.56%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this maker of packaging materials, aerospace components and other engineered parts would post earnings of $0.53 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.43, delivering a surprise of -18.87%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates just once.

TriMas, which belongs to the Zacks Metal Products - Procurement and Fabrication industry, posted revenues of $229.36 million for the quarter ended September 2024, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.69%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $235.34 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates two times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

TriMas shares have added about 6.8% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 20.1%.

What's Next for TriMas?

While TriMas has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for TriMas: unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.39 on $223.11 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $1.76 on $931.38 million in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Metal Products - Procurement and Fabrication is currently in the bottom 32% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Another stock from the same industry, GrafTech International (EAF), has yet to report results for the quarter ended September 2024. The results are expected to be released on November 12.

This maker of graphite products is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.14 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -75%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

GrafTech International's revenues are expected to be $128.14 million, down 19.4% from the year-ago quarter.

Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Steel Producers industry is mired in significant challenges as steel prices have experienced a sharp decline in the United States and globally this year. Soft demand in China amid an economic slowdown is also a concern.

However, improved demand in the automotive space and a resilient non-residential construction market augur well for the industry. Players from the space, like Steel Dynamics, Inc. STLD, Commercial Metals Company CMC and Companhia Siderurgica Nacional SID, are worth a look despite near-term headwinds.

About the Industry

The Zacks Steel Producers industry serves a vast spectrum of end-use industries such as automotive, construction, appliance, container, packaging, industrial machinery, mining equipment, transportation, and oil and gas with various steel products. These products include hot-rolled and cold-rolled coils and sheets, hot-dipped and galvanized coils and sheets, reinforcing bars, billets and blooms, wire rods, strip mill plates, standard and line pipe, and mechanical tubing products. Steel is primarily produced using two methods — Blast Furnace and Electric Arc Furnace. It is regarded as the backbone of the manufacturing industry. The automotive and construction markets have historically been the largest consumers of steel. Notably, the housing and construction sector is the biggest consumer of steel, accounting for roughly half of the world’s total consumption.

What's Shaping the Future of the Steel Producers' Industry?

Weaker Steel Prices to Weigh on Margins: U.S. steel prices have seen a sharp decline this year due to a slowdown in end-market demand after a strong run in late 2023 that extended into early 2024. The benchmark hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices are down more than 40% since reaching $1,200 per short ton at the start of 2024. The downside has been influenced by a concoction of factors, including a pullback in steel mill lead times, an oversupply of steel exacerbated by increased imports, reduced demand from key industries and economic uncertainties. Sluggish industrial production and construction activities also contributed to the decline. While the recent steel mill price hikes have led to a modest uptick in HRC prices, a significant recovery is not expected over the near term given the weak manufacturing backdrop and demand weakness. Prices are currently hovering around the $700 per short ton level. As such, lower realized prices are expected to weigh on steel-producing companies’ profitability and cash flows over the near term.

China Slowdown a Concern: Steel demand in China, the world’s top consumer of the commodity, has softened due to a slowdown in the country’s economy following a protracted property crisis and weak global demand. The real estate sector has taken a hard hit amid a decline in new home prices, property investment and housing sales. Notably, real estate accounts for roughly 40% of China's steel consumption. A slowdown in manufacturing activities has led to a contraction in demand for steel in China. The manufacturing sector has taken a beating due to weaker external demand for manufactured goods and a slowdown in infrastructure spending. China has also seen a slowdown in the construction sector. The sluggishness in these key steel-consuming sectors is expected to hurt demand for steel over the short term. Depressed demand in China and an oversupply in the market have also exerted pressure on global steel prices.

Healthy Demand in Major Markets Bodes Well: Steel producers are set to gain from firm demand across major steel end-use markets, including automotive and construction. They are expected to benefit from higher order booking from the automotive market. Steel demand in automotive is expected to rise on the back of an easing global shortage in semiconductor chips that weighed heavily on the automotive industry. Meanwhile, order activities in the non-residential construction market remain strong, underscoring the inherent strength of this industry. Infrastructure projects in the United States are on the rise, driven by government initiatives to upgrade transportation and utility networks. Demand in the energy sector has improved on the back of strength in oil and gas prices. Favorable trends across these markets bode well.

Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Bleak Prospects

The Zacks Steel Producers industry is part of the broader Zacks Basic Materials Sector. It carries a Zacks Industry Rank #210, which places it at the bottom 16% of more than 250 Zacks industries.

The group’s Zacks Industry Rank, which is basically the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates a gloomy near term. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Despite the industry’s downbeat near-term prospects, we will present a few stocks worth considering for your portfolio. But before that, it’s worth taking a look at the industry’s stock market performance and current valuation.

Industry Underperforms Sector and S&P 500

The Zacks Steel Producers industry has underperformed both the Zacks S&P 500 composite and the broader Zacks Basic Materials sector over the past year.

The industry has lost 8.7% over this period compared with the S&P 500’s rise of 31.5% and the broader sector’s increase of 9.7%.

One-Year Price Performance

The stock market indexes have enjoyed record highs in recent years with the S&P 500 outperforming other years with President Joe Biden leading the country for the last nearly four years.

With the 2024 presidential election nearing, here's a look back at the top performing S&P 500 stocks in 2021, which was Biden's first year in the White House.

What Happened: Biden stepped down from the 2024 presidential election earlier this year. While the current president won't be re-elected to the White House, past performance with a Democrat as president could highlight which stocks and sectors could be winners if Kamala Harris is victorious in Tuesday's election.

The S&P 500, which is tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust was up 26.9% in 2021. This marked the best yearly performance since 2018 and the second-best performance for the key stock market index in the last 11 years.

The 12 months following Election Day 2020, which was won by Biden, saw the S&P 500 gain 37.4%. This was the best one-year market return under a president in many years.

Here were the 10 best-performing S&P 500 stocks in 2021, according to a report from InvestorPlace, and their sectors.

• Devon Energy : 196.1%, energy
• Marathon Oil : 149.7%, energy
• Moderna : 143.1%, health care/biotech
• Fortinet : 142.0%, technology/cybersecurity
• Signature Bank : 141.5%, financials
• Ford : 137.5%, automotive
• Bath & Body Works : 133.7%, consumer discretionary/retail
• Diamondback Energy : 127.4%, energy
• NVIDIA Corporation : 125.5%, technology/semiconductors
• Nucor : 118.4%, industrials

The results above show that energy was a top sector in 2021 and represented several of the top-performing stocks for the year. Technology also had several companies on the list.

Did You Know?

• Congress Is Making Huge Investments. Get Tips On What They Bought And Sold Ahead Of The 2024 Election With Our Easy-to-Use Tool

Why It's Important: Click through to see the 10 best and 10 worst-performing S&P 500 stocks of 2017, Donald Trump's first year in the White House.

The list above included Nvidia, which was also a top 10 winner in 2017, during Donald Trump's first year in the White House.

Signature Bank, which was the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history, was a top performer in 2017.

Investors should consider whether these past results could repeat if Harris is elected and begins her presidential term in 2025. Energy isn't often thought of as a segment that could do well under a Democratic president, but past results show that the sector could do well, at least in the first year.

Coincidentally, energy was cited as a potential poor sector if Trump wins the 2024 election based on the 2017 results. What likely happened in 2017, and what could happen again, is a run-up in stocks during the election year and a potential selloff in the year after as investors take profits.

With less than one week until the 2024 election, investors are likely positioning their portfolio based on a Trump or Harris victory in some regards. With a close election predicted, investors may want to look to sectors that could benefit under either candidate.

Freedom Capital Markets Chief Global Strategist Jay Woods previously shared some sectors and stocks to watch with Benzinga that could benefit regardless of whether Trump or Harris wins the 2024 election.

Woods named defense stocks and cybersecurity stocks as two of the top sectors to watch ahead of the 2024 election.

“I think you’ve got to watch this sector closely,” Woods said of the defense sector.

Woods added that defense stocks could continue to benefit from geopolitical concerns and the world's many adverse events.

Read Next:

• Trump Vs. Harris: State-By-State 2024 Election Betting Odds, Which Candidate Is Favored To Win In Your Community?

Photo: Shutterstock

© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.