I looked at two exchange-traded funds with explicitly political strategies. One uses the stock ticker MAGA. Its full name is the Point Bridge America First ETF, and says it’s meant for people who want “to invest in companies that align with your Republican political beliefs.” The fund tracks 150 S&P 500 companies “whose employees and political action committees are highly supportive of Republican candidates” through campaign donations.
I paired MAGA with a fund that uses DEMZ as its stock ticker and calls itself “the first investment product that strives to replicate the S&P 500, without the G.O.P.” The fund contains shares of “companies that have made over 75 percent of their political contributions to Democratic causes and candidates.”
In addition, I looked at the returns of a company that is singularly Trump. That’s Trump Media & Technology Group, which houses Trump Social, the president’s social media platform. Mr. Trump is the biggest shareholder in Trump Media, with a stake held in a trust managed by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
Here are the returns of all three investments, plus the S&P 500, from Mr. Trump’s second inauguration through Wednesday, according to FactSet:
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Point Bridge America First (MAGA): 15.4 percent.
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Democratic Large Cap Core (DEMZ): 28.5 percent.
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Trump Media & Technology Group: -75.8 percent.
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The S&P 500: 27.6 percent.
Just for the fun of it, I also checked the stock performance of Mr. Musk’s two publicly traded companies, Tesla and SpaceX. Recall that for a time, Mr. Musk ran Mr. Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. While he and the president had a falling-out last year, Mr. Musk is a major contributor to Republican political campaigns. He is among the most political of chief executives, but his Republican ties haven’t seemed to have helped his companies’ shares.
Here are their returns, also through Wednesday:
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Tesla, from the inauguration: -11.6 percent.
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SpaceX, from its initial public offering on June 12: -6.9 percent.
All told, the S&P 500 index beat all of these investments except for the Democratic-oriented fund.
This isn’t a scientific study, by any means. Some companies have benefited from political connections. My point isn’t that such relationships don’t exist. It’s that for most investors, it’s been wise to ignore them.
