Davy AM's Kennedy: Why media is the ideal 'Trump trade'

Brian Kennedy, ethical fund manager at Davy Asset Management, explains why investors should consider media companies as a way to benefit from the tenure of US President Donald Trump.

When one imagines the definitive ‘Trump trade', one thinks of cyclical businesses that are highly leveraged to the US domestic economy, pay high domestic tax rates which would benefit from reduced corporate tax, and have dollar earnings that will benefit from the rise in interest rates. Given that advertising spend is highly linked to GDP growth, media companies, who either directly make their money from advertising (Walt Disney, WPP) or indirectly benefit from a robust advertising environment (Nielsen), are domestically exposed (Walt Disney, Nielsen) and have high nominal tax rates (Wal...