In spite of assumptions that a Hillary Clinton victory would be good for stocks and a Donald Trump victory would be bad, it didn’t take long for a modestly bearish open on Wednesday to turn into a third straight day of gains. The key to the surprising surge was a House, Senate and White House that’s now in control of one party, suggesting something — good or bad — is going to get done. The S&P 500 ended the day up 1.11%, closing at 2,163.26, and closing above a key resistance level.
It wasn’t a banner day for all stocks though. Cemex SAB de CV (ADR) (NYSE:CX), Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) and Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) were among the names that found themselves on the wrong side of the table today.
Here’s the deal.
Centene Corp (CNC)
While the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency catapulted most stocks higher, there were a few outlying groups. Among the most noteworthy losers were hospital and healthcare plan stocks. Universal Health Services, Inc. (NYSE:UHS) fell 6.9%, while HCA Holdings Inc (NYSE:HCA) lost 10.8% of its value. Centene, however, was the biggest large-cap loser of all, with CNC giving up 19% of its value on Wednesday.
The torpedo that destroyed CNC and so many of its peers, of course, is Trump’s stated plan to repeal Obamacare. With the legal requirement to be insured now in jeopardy, investors fear hospitals may once again be forced to treat patients even if they have no prospect of paying for those services.
Coty Inc (COTY)
As difficult as it may be to believe, the post-election fallout and analysis wasn’t the only thing going on Wednesday afternoon. Corporations were still proceeding with scheduled business. This includes the release of fiscal first-quarter results from cosmetics company Coty … not that Coty wouldn’t have preferred to skip the event and yield its time in the spotlight to political affairs.
The company missed its Q1 earnings as well as its sales estimates. For the recently completed quarter, Coty earned 23 cents per share on $1.08 billion worth of revenue. Analysts, however, were collectively looking for a bottom line of 33 cents per share of COTY and sales of $1.14 billion.
COTY shares ended the day down 10.2%.
Cemex SAB de CV (ADR) (CX)
Last but not least, Mexican cement company Cemex SAB was yet another victim of Tuesday’s election results, with CX shares giving up 7.1% of their value.
The slide was driven by assumptions that President-elect Donald Trump will indeed seek to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement that currently generously benefits Mexican companies that sell goods and services to U.S. buyers. Cemex is one of the key beneficiaries of NAFTA.
It wasn’t just CX getting crushed though. Mexican mobile phone service provider America Movil SAB de CV (ADR) (NYSE:AMX) fell 9%, and Grupo Televisa SAB (ADR) (NYSE:TV) was off 7.9%, mostly on assumptions that a renegotiated NAFTA would create a ripple effect throughout Mexico’s economy.
As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
