Unless Tuesday's election results in a clear Republican or Democratic sweep, investors should not focus on the market's immediate reaction to the vote and should instead look ahead to sunnier futures for stocks, strategist Jim Paulsen said Monday.
"I think we move on whoever wins the White House," Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, told CNBC's "Squawk Alley."
Within a few weeks, he said the market will get beyond the election results and begin to refocus on fundamental aspects. Paulsen predicted equities rising and possibly even seeing upsides going into 2017.
"We've escalated fears, we've brought down prices, we've refreshed valuations a little bit, earnings are coming up, growth is starting to restate," he said. "I like that combo package of fear with better fundamentals, and I think I'd focus on that more than who wins the White House."
Certainly, if there is not a clear winner, Paulsen acknowledged the potentially adverse effects.
"I think that if we get into situation where it's a disputed election, that's really bad and that will certainly drag on, create a lot of uncertainty, raise the ," the strategist said.
But if there is a clear winner, the market will adjust accordingly in due time, even in the case of a Donald Trump victory, which, according to Paulsen, could generate an initial knee-jerk reaction and broad-based sell-off of stocks.
"Right now, I think there's growing evidence that there's not only a pickup in earnings momentum and growth momentum in the United States, but there's evidence of growing and broadening economic momentum picking up around the globe," Paulsen said.
"I would say that that should focus investors in on the more economically sensitive, cyclical areas," he contended.