Trump's tax plan could bring $250 billion into the US
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President Donald Trump's new tax plan could cause a tidal wave of internationally-held cash to flood back into the US.
The repatriation tax holiday outlined in today's release is designed to incentivize US-based companies that do big business overseas to bring those profits back home.
By Goldman Sachs' calculation, S&P 500 companies currently hold $920 billion of untaxed overseas cash, and the firm estimates that $250 billion of that will be repatriated. Looking at all US-based companies, Citigroup says there's a whopping $2.5 trillion of capital stashed internationally.
Once that money is brought back to the US, companies have a few options for how to use it. The first is reinvestment back into core businesses. This is likely the avenue policymakers would prefer, as it holds the most direct bearing on economic expansion.
Another option would be for companies to repurchase their own shares. This would be beneficial to stock prices and, by extension, the market as a whole. Buybacks are a good way to achieve immediate share appreciation and signal to investors that a stock is viewed as undervalued.
And regardless of how the cash is used, a tax break for multinational companies at least partially addresses what a recent World Economic Forum survey identified as the most problematic factor for doing business: tax rates.
So with that established, which companies stand to benefit most? Goldman says it's those companies holdings the most post-tax cash overseas, relative to their market cap — a group heavily concentrated in the tech and healthcare sectors.
The firm has put together a handy list of the stocks that fit the bill. Here are the ones they've identified as the top 14 beneficiaries:
14. General Electric
Ticker: GE
Sector: Industrials
Total return year-to-date: -19%
Overseas cash: $35 billion
Overseas cash as % of market cap: 14%
13. Foot Locker
Ticker: FL
Sector: Consumer discretionary
Total return year-to-date: -52%
Overseas cash: $1 billion
Overseas cash as % of market cap: 15%
12. Citrix Systems
Ticker: CTXS
Sector: Tech
Total return year-to-date: 7%
Overseas cash: $2 billion
Overseas cash as % of market cap: 16%
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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