by Ian Wyatt, editor Daily Profit
Some of your favorite blue-chip stocks may be about to get a boost. The
London Olympics begin in earnest on Friday and the world will be
watching.
Sponsors for the London Olympics have already sold
more than $1 billion in TV ad spots – exceeding NBC's $850 million haul
for the record-setting Beijing Games. Here are four blue-chip stocks
that stand to gain from the London Olympics.
Consider that the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, was the most
watched sporting event ever. With many of the same athletes – Michael
Phelps, Usain Bolt, the LeBron James and Kobe Bryant-led U.S. basketball
team – returning, this year's ratings could be even bigger.
The
companies paying all that money to be an Olympic sponsor typically see
quite a return on their investment. Having 4.7 billion viewers
repeatedly seeing your ads over the course of two-and-a-half weeks tends
to get you a few extra customers.
Procter & Gamble (
PG)
As
one of 10 official corporate partners of this year's Games, the U.S.
consumer-products giant had to fork over at least $100 million for the
rights. It will probably be worth the investment.
Procter & Gamble was also an official sponsor of the Beijing Games,
and that summer the stock got a 14.6% boost – more than any other major
sponsor over that time span. P&G could use a similar boost this
year. The shares are down 2.7% in 2012 despite recent gains.
Comcast (
CMCSA)
Fresh
off airing the most-watched sporting event in American history, now
Comcast gets to take on the world. The cable- and TV-network operator
owns the rights to NBCUniversal, which in February broadcast Super Bowl
XLVI to a record U.S. audience of 111 million viewers.
The Super
Bowl broadcast helped propel Comcast to 30% year-over-year earnings
growth in the first quarter despite the company's slumping video
subscription business. It's not unrealistic to think that airing the
London Olympics will have a similar impact.
Visa (
V)
Another
regular corporate sponsor that got a nice push after the last Olympics.
Visa commercials seem to air non-stop during the Olympics, which
perhaps had something to do with why the stock popped 5% during the
Beijing Olympics.
The shares are already up 25% in 2012 and are
trading close to 52-week highs, so this year's bump may not be as
pronounced. Nonetheless, Visa should get plenty of bang for its
considerable buck in the coming month.
Nike (
NKE)
The
world's largest sports apparel company isn't an official sponsor of the
Games (that would be German-owned Adidas). But Nike has plenty of ties
to some of the more prominent individual athletes we'll be cheering for
in London.
The company has deals with the aforementioned Phelps
and Bolt – the biggest stars of the Beijing Games, each of whom will be
featured prominently again in these Games. With ties to a number of
other athletes, perhaps Nike will strike gold again this Olympics and
stumble on the next big star.
Regardless, the 15% spike the
stock received in the weeks after the Beijing Games shows that Nike's
Olympic presence can result in massive returns.