Defense industryDifferent industries will benefit from different election results

The outcome of the presidential election will not only affect taxpayers, but several industries as well.

If Mitt Romney wins the election, defense contractors, oil, coal, and big banks should expect a brake on new regulations and roll back of some existing regulations, as well as tax breaks.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that if Barack Obama is given a second term by the voters, green energy firms, hospitals, and health insurance firms will likely benefit as as the implementation of additional clauses of the president’s health care policy will mean they will be receiving additional paying customers.

At the same time Obama plans to raise taxes on well-off tax payers as well as telecommunication companies and utilities.

A Romney victory could mean a rise in the U.S. stock market, Ken Crawford, a portfolio money manager at Argent Capital, told the Post-Dispatch.

Money manager Joe Terril of Terril & Company,however, says not to expect a significant uptick in the market as they are globalized, so even the president of the United States has limited influence. “Politicians always run for office as if they can manage the economy. That’s baloney,” Terril told the Post-Dispatch. “It’s a world economy. They have little effect on the economy or investment.”

Repealing Obama’s health law, as the GOP has pledged, would hurt some healthcare companies, but help others. Medical equipment makers would benefeit from such a repeal, as the health reform is being partially financed by a special tax on medical equipment makers, which will take effect in 2013. Medtronics, a medical equipment manufacturer,  predicted last year that the health care reform law would cost the company $150 million to $200 million.

Health insurers and hospitals will make money if the president health care law remains in place, as Medicaid coverage for the poor and subsidized insurance purchases for the middle class would expand, leading to more customers for insurance companies and less debt at hospitals.

The Post-Dispatch notes that big banks would enjoy many benefits under a Romney administration. The Dodd-Frank Act, which limits a bank’s ability to risk their money on the capital markers would be repealed. The act also imposes new, tougher regulatory rules on very large banks, the failure of which could shake the entire financial system.

“Financial services will do wonderfully.” Juli Niemann, an analyst at Smith Moore & Co. told the Dispatch.

Oil and Coal companies hope that a Romney administration would lessen the regulatory burden on them relative to a second Obama administration. Obama is planning to reduce tax breaks for oil companies and discourages the use of coal.

Defense contractors are especially worried about a second term for Obama. “He said he’s not going to cut defense, and (defense) is firmly in the cross hairs of the Obama Administration.” Crawford told the Dispatch.