Trump Trade: Transition team weighing White House crypto role

Catch up on the top industries and stocks that were impacted, or were predicted to be impacted, by the comments, actions and policies of President-elect Trump with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

CRYPTO ROLE: President-elect Donald Trump’s team is talking about creating a new White House post solely dedicated to cryptocurrency policy, Stephanie Lai, Olga Kharif and Lydia Beyoud of Bloomberg report, citing people familiar with the transition efforts. Trump’s team is vetting candidates to serve in such a role, sources told Bloomberg. Crypto industry advocates are pushing for the role to have a direct line to Trump, they added. Publicly traded companies in the crypto space include Bit Digital (BTBT), Bitfarms (BITF), Coinbase (COIN), Core Scientific (CORZ), Greenidge Generation (GREE), Mara Holdings (MARA), MicroStrategy (MSTR), Riot Platforms (RIOT), Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG) and TeraWulf (WULF).

MEDICARE BILLING SYSTEM: Robert F Kennedy Jr, who was selected by Donald Trump to run the U.S. health and human services department, is working on plans to rid the American Medical Association from its role in drawing up Medicare’s billing codes, which sets doctors’ fees for more than 10,000 procedures, Oliver Barnes of The Financial Times reports. The plan would result in an upheaval of a system that has been in place for decades. Publicly traded companies in the healthcare space include CVS Health (CVS), Centene (CNC), Cigna (CI), Elevance Health (ELV), Humana (HUM), Molina Healthcare (MOH) and UnitedHealth (UNH).

Meanwhile, General Mills (GIS) is planning to engage federal officials over potential restrictions on food dyes that it uses in some of its cereals, as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services under President Trump, calls for them to be removed, Deena Shanker of Bloomberg reports. “Because this is always an evolving space, we work in close partnership with policymakers on this issue. We will engage with federal regulators as they consider any additional changes they may propose,” the company said in a statement to Bloomberg. “The first thing I’d do isn’t going to cost you anything because I’m just gonna tell the cereal companies: Take all the dyes out of their food,” Kennedy said late last month, according to Bloomberg.

STOCK RATING, TARGET CHANGES:

• Raymond James upgraded On Holding (ONON) to Strong Buy from Outperform with a price target of $63, up from $58, and added the shares to its Analyst Current Favorites List. The firm believes the company’s premium branding and low exposure to China sourcing also help insulate it from tariff risk better than peers.
• Roth MKM lowered the firm’s price target on Target (TGT) to $131 from $157 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares after its Q3 earnings miss and guidance cut. Given inventory levels and demand volatility, the firm is concerned regarding Target’s ability to properly prepare for potential tariffs.
• Baird raised the firm’s price target on Parker-Hannifin (PH) to $763 from $710 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares after hosting investor meetings with management. The message to investors was “steady execution” as Parker-Hannifin “appears well positioned to navigate any broader trade/tariff disruptions with little impact on margins or manufacturing strategy,” the firm tells investors in a research note.
• Jefferies raised the firm’s price target on Williams-Sonoma (WSM) to $194 from $156 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. Beyond the “impressive headline EPS beat,” the firm sees “several positive nuggets embedded” in Q3 results, including mid-single digit percentage growth in Trade, high-teens growth in Contract, a new peak in customer service levels, and management optimism in managing potentially elevated tariffs.
• BofA raised the firm’s price target on Axon (AXON) to $750 from $525 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. Axon being the only FedRAMP certified digital evidence vendor leaves the company well positioned to the incoming administration’s priorities, the firm says.
• Truist raised the firm’s price target on Universal Technical (UTI) to $26 from $22 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after the company reported mostly upside Q4 results and FY25 guidance slightly ahead of the preliminary view initially offered in May. Truist’s sense is that the recent election outcome should be a net catalyst for multiple expansion at Universal Technical and across Education Services.

OTHER NEWS:

• Crown Electrokinetics (CRKN) highlighted the potential impact of the incoming Trump administration on its lead pipe detection and remediation businesses, Element 82 and PE Pipelines. While many new EPA programs may face a regulatory freeze on January 20, 2025, the finalized LCRI legislation, effective December 30, will remain intact.
• The Bear Cave issued a cautious report on TransDigm (TDG), saying that the company describes itself as “a leading global designer, producer and supplier of highly engineered aircraft components that are critical to the safe and effective operation of nearly all commercial and military aircraft worldwide.” The Bear Cave believes TransDigm’s model is enabled by “burdensome regulation and bureaucratic negligence,” and believes this will change under the incoming Trump Administration and that TransDigm should be “target #1” for the Department of Government Efficiency.