Editors’ picks for companies likely to be in the spotlight
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Stock prices soared to record highs in November as Wall Street looked ahead to a second term for newly elected President Donald Trump.
The S&P 500 climbed 5.7%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 7.5% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 6.2%. The Russell 2000, an index of small-cap stocks, rose nearly 11%, boosted by expectations for faster economic growth and lower taxes under Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress.
Market participants will likely continue to pay close attention to Trump and his policy proposals in December. Although Wall Street will also take into account the short-term economic outlook, especially inflation and the labor market.
The Federal Reserve is expected to make its last interest rate decision of the year on December 18. Policymakers have emphasized lately that they are in no rush to cut rates, but investors are still weighing the likelihood of another quarter-point cut in December. .
Below we take a look at some stocks that could see big price moves in the coming month.
No S&P 500 stock has gained more from Donald Trump’s re-election than Tesla (TSLA), whose CEO Elon Musk has embedded himself in the newly elected president’s inner circle after spending millions of dollars on his campaign.
Shares of the electric vehicle (EV) maker are up nearly 40% since Election Day. That increase, which has pushed the company’s market value above $1 trillion, comes at the same time the new Trump administration has pledged to roll back government support for electric cars, including a $7,500 tax break.
Wall Street expects Tesla to benefit from Elon Musk’s influence over the future president, which he could exert as both an informal adviser and co-head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. Trump’s transition team has reportedly already outlined plans to relax regulations on self-driving cars, which could help make Musk’s dream of launching a Tesla robotaxi service a reality. Musk could also encourage Trump to exempt Tesla vehicles from proposed tariffs on goods from China.
Tesla stock will remain in focus this month as Trump continues to staff and define the priorities of his incoming administration.
Salesforce-(CRM) reports earnings after markets close on December 3, and the results could be an early test of technology’s ability to monetize artificial intelligence and justify record stock prices.
The enterprise software giant launched Agentforce, its generative AI-powered assistant, on October 25, with the goal of having its AI agents used a billion times by the end of 2025. Salesforce is reportedly hiring 1,000 salespeople to drive adoption of the new tool. .
Other software companies have reported strong interest in AI agents, which operate with a greater degree of autonomy than chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Crowdstrike (CRWD) executives said its AI agent, Charlotte, grew triple digits in the most recent fiscal quarter.
Salesforce stock is up about 25% this year, after nearly doubling in 2023. Despite trading near an all-time high, Wall Street remains bullish on the stock, with two-thirds of analysts tracked by FactSet rating it a ‘buy’ .
Honeywell shares (HON) rose 14% in November, boosted by activist investor Elliott Investment Management’s mid-month disclosure that it had taken a $5 billion stake in the company.
Elliott has pushed Honeywell to follow the lead of fellow conglomerates General Electric and 3M and split itself into two publicly traded companies focused on aerospace and automation respectively.
Wall Street has rewarded these industry giants handsomely for their spinoffs. Shares of GE’s clean energy unit, GE Vernova (GEV), are up about 150% since their debut in late March, and GE Aerospace (GE) is up almost 80% since the beginning of the year. 3M (MMM) shares have risen by 50% since the spin-off of healthcare unit Solventum (SOLV).
Honeywell had already started divesting businesses when Elliott took over his stake. In October, the company announced plans to spin off its chemicals division. According to CEO Vimal Kapur, this decision reflects Honeywell’s efforts to “further sharpen Honeywell’s alignment with three compelling megatrends: automation, the future of aviation and the energy transition.” Last month, the company sold its personal protective equipment business to a private equity firm for more than $1 billion.
Shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR), the software company that has invested billions of dollars in Bitcoin, is up 70% since Donald Trump’s re-election sparked a crypto rally.
MicroStrategy has spent over $20 billion to build a treasury reserve of 386,700 bitcoins worth over $37 billion. As the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, Microstrategy shares have become closely correlated with the cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrencies have soared in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory. He has vowed to embrace the industry and promises to build a strategic Bitcoin stockpile. Trump has yet to announce who will head the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission, but both are expected to be much friendlier to the crypto industry than their predecessors.
The upcoming Congress, which Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has called the “most pro-crypto Congress ever,” could also prioritize passing crypto legislation.
Like Tesla, shares of Microstrategy could see price action this month as the details of Trump’s crypto agenda become clearer.
Supermicrocomputer (SMCI), the AI server maker that was one of the stock market’s brightest stars earlier this year will likely remain in focus as it awaits word from Nasdaq on whether it can maintain its listing on the exchange.
Supermicro shares had lost 85% of their value when the company filed a plan with the Nasdaq in mid-November to meet the exchange’s listing requirements. That plan was still under review at the time of writing. Since the company filed the plan, the stock has turned positive again this year, but is still down 73% from its all-time high in March.
Supermicro’s troubles began in August when the company delayed the filing of its annual financial report with federal regulators. Reports followed in September that the Justice Department had opened an investigation into its accounting practices, and in October Supermicro’s accountant Ernst & Young resigned, citing concerns about its accounting and board independence.
Supermicro found a new auditor last month, without whom its compliance plan would likely have been dead on arrival. In December, Nasdaq could approve Supermicro’s plan and give it more time to file its report. However, if Supermicro rejects the plan, it will have seven days to request a hearing to challenge the decision, potentially dragging the company’s delisting risk into the new year.
