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DEUTSCHE BANK PICKS TOP WORLD CUP PLAYERS OFF THE SOCCER PITCH

With little more than one week to the kick-off of the 2026 World Cup, Deutsche Bank picks its top players for a successful summer.

It's not the likes of Luka Modric or Harry Kane that you'd like to have on your fantasy soccer team during a semi-final, but rather the companies in your portfolio that the bank expects to benefit the most from the tournament that will take place across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Restaurant chains with greater proximity to World Cup host cities are best positioned to benefit from incremental traffic, DB's analysts say.

It names, among others, Sweetgreen SG.N and Jack in the Box JACK.O but it also notes that restaurants with global recognition such as Shake Shack SHAK.N and Starbucks SBUX.O could bag a goal.

"We also see some incremental optimism for consumption around the Cup for Constellation Brands STZ.N , but we are not ready to underwrite that optimism into our forecasts," it adds.

In the lodging sector, some of the bank's dream-team names are Diamondrock DRH.O, Sunstone SHO.N and Host HST.O.

All of them are full-service hotels, which DB expects to record larger revenue-per-available room, as many team delegations will pay a premium to occupy entire floors, use meeting spaces and food and beverage outlets, or catering services.

It also expects Hyatt H.N , Hilton HLT.N and Marriott MAR.O to outperform in lodging, given elevated chain scale exposure.

Other names are Lyft LYFT.O in the transport sector, DraftKings DKNG.O in betting, but also rights holders Fox FOXA.O and Comcast-owned Telemundo CMCSA.O.

Ultimately, Deutsche Bank expects the competition to have a limited impact on U.S. GDP, chiefly because of the macro environment (war in Iran, AI capex, etc...).

Even in the best-case scenario, the world's largest economy could see just a 0.05% GDP boost from the World Cup - about $15 billion - barely a rounding error for a $32 trillion behemoth.

(Paolo Laudani)

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