Investors should buy industrial stocks due to the prospect of more defense spending under a new president next year and avoid consumer discretionary names, according to Morgan Stanley.
"We are upgrading industrials to overweight [from equal weight], downgrading consumer discretionary to underweight [from equal weight]," equity strategist Adam Parker wrote in a note to clients Monday.
"We think the airline stocks can see some multiple expansion even in a modestly higher oil environment. ... We continue to like defense, viewing it as a win-win in either post-election regime."
Parker raised his industrials model portfolio allocation to 14 percent from 11 percent and lowered his consumer discretionary weighting to 8 percent from 13 percent. He noted how the consumer sector is in eighth place out of 11 sectors in equity return performance this year.
"While we generally think the U.S. consumer is in good shape from an economic perspective, it increasingly feels like discretionary is finishing its first of what could be several years of lagging performance," he wrote.
"Broadly, wage inflation for minimum wage workers who work for the big boxes and restaurants, higher health-care costs, potential movements in the saving rate, share gains by online retailers and the potential for modestly higher gasoline prices in the near term are all potential negatives," he added.
To take advantage of the call, here are six Morgan Stanley overweight-rated industrial stock ideas.
