How to play apparel stocks under Trump: Nike, Steve Madden, ON

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As President-elect Donald Trump's second term in the White House draws nearer, investors weigh how the former president's actual tariff policies stack up against his campaign rhetoric. Needham & Co. managing director of equity research for apparel and footwear Tom Nikic joins Market Domination with Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton to discuss his playbook for retail stocks under Trump.

"There's a wide range of exposures" in the apparel and footwear space, Nikic says, noting, "There's a couple of things to keep in mind. No. 1. Any revenues that a company generates outside the United States are not affected by this. So if you're a global brand like Nike (NKE), for example, that does 60% of your revenue outside of the US, that 60% of revenue is completely isolated from this potential risk."

He adds, "A lot of brands over time have been moving their manufacturing away from China just for the sake of having a more well-diversified supply chain."

The analyst says he sees "two ends of the spectrum in my coverage" in regard to the impact of tariffs under Trump. "I think the company that's the most well insulated is ON Running (ONON), the Swiss sneaker company. They make almost all their shoes in Vietnam and what they don't make in Vietnam, they make in Indonesia. So, they have de minimis risk from tariffs."

"The flip side of the coin would be Steve Madden (SHOO). They currently make about 80% of their products in China and don't have that really, really big international presence to insulate them."

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This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.