It’s interesting times in the US political scene once again as Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term on 20 January.
The fiery politician is heralding a new “golden age of America” during this term in office.
His first order of business was to unwind numerous policies that his predecessor Joe Biden had implemented.
In addition, he is also cracking down on illegal immigrants in the US, exiting the World Health Organization, and maximising US oil and gas production.
Apart from these policies, he has also threatened to impose 25% tariffs on trade partners Canada and Mexico along with a 10% tariff on China, all to commence on 1 February.
Here are five US stocks that could see their fortunes improve as Trump rolls out more policies in the coming weeks and months.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META)
Meta Platforms is a social media behemoth that owns the Facebook and Instagram brands along with chat program WhatsApp.
President Trump announced billions of dollars in private sector investment to build artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in the US.
This initiative should benefit Meta Platforms as the company is looking to invest heavily in AI.
Its generative AI program, Gemini, is already incorporated within its various apps and helps users with queries and to provide more information.
Meta reported a strong set of earnings for the third quarter of 2024 (3Q 2024).
Revenue increased by 19% year on year to US$40.6 billion while operating profit climbed 26% year on year to US$17.4 billion.
Net profit increased by 35% year on year to US$15.7 billion.
Family active daily people, a measure of the number of active users accessing any of Meta’s apps, increased by 5% year on year to 3.29 billion.
Meta said that it will raise spending levels by as much as US$10 billion to support infrastructure investments for its AI strategy.
Trump’s announcement dovetails nicely with the company’s strategy and 2025 may see Meta invest even more money into its generative AI initiatives.
Geo Group (NYSE: GEO)
Geo Group is a provider of contracted support services for secure facilities, processing centres, and re-entry centres.
The company also provides in-custody rehabilitation and electronic monitoring programs for criminals.
With Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants and a looming mass deportation planned for such aliens, Geo Group could benefit from these moves.
The company reported a mixed set of earnings for the first nine months of 2024 (9M 2024).
Although revenue inched up 0.6% year on year to US$1.8 billion, operating profit fell nearly 10% year on year to US$242.1 million.
Net profit plunged 80% year on year to US$16.5 million because of the write-off of bad debts.
Excluding this, Geo Group’s net profit would have risen 24% year on year to US$101.8 million.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Microsoft is another potential beneficiary of the increased AI infrastructure spending.
The trillion-dollar, blue-chip technology company created a new AI engineering group to focus its developers on building an AI platform.
It also announced pay-as-you-go agents for its relaunched Copilot chat. Copilot is Microsoft’s generative AI program.
Microsoft 365 also saw office AI features being built into the software, underscoring the company’s myriad investments in AI.
The company reported a strong performance for its fiscal 2025’s first quarter (1Q FY2025) ending 30 September 2024.
Revenue increased 16% year on year to US$65.6 billion while operating profit jumped 13.6% year on year to US$30.6 billion.
Net profit stood at US$24.7 billion for the quarter, up nearly 11% year on year.
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT)
Trump’s nationalise agenda also meant the prioritisation of national security.
This policy should benefit companies that cater to weapons systems and defences, one of which is Lockheed Martin.
The company specialises in defence technology, has 350 facilities worldwide, and employs more than 122,000 staff.
For 9M 2024, Lockheed Martin’s revenue rose 7.6% year on year to US$52.4 billion.
However, net profit dipped by 4.8% year on year to US$4.8 billion.
Nucor (NYSE: NUE)
Nucor is the largest steel producer in the US and also the largest recycler of scrap.
The company has made a series of acquisitions into new growth areas to boost its business.
One of these, the purchase of Southwest Data Products for US$115 million, allowed Nucor to enter the AI infrastructure space to provide specific solutions to maintain cool temperatures in data centres.
With Trump’s commitment to spending on AI infrastructure, Nucor could benefit immensely as it is now in this space and can provide the required expertise for AI data centres.
The company is also an excellent dividend payer to boot, having increased its quarterly cash dividend for 52 consecutive years, with the most recent increase being from US$0.54 to US$0.55.
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Disclosure: Royston Yang owns shares of Meta Platforms.