The world’s biggest sporting event kicks off in North America next week. Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs have listed the sectors and stocks they see getting a boost from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. “The World Cup will be an opportunity for those sectors and companies that are most exposed to see a temporary tailwind,” the Deutsche analysts wrote on Tuesday. “Our analysts in leisure, restaurants and beverages, media, tech, and gaming see names in their coverage for which the World Cup could be a supportive factor for shares,” Deutsche analysts wrote on Tuesday, outlining a number of stocks that would get a “temporary tailwind.” Deutsche picked U.S. restaurant brands with greater proximity to World Cup host cities, saying they were best positioned to benefit from increased tourism. Deutsche analysts said the brands with the biggest exposure to host stadiums include Sweetgreen , Shake Shack , and The Cheesecake Factory . Deutsche also said this World Cup could generate the highest U.S. advertising revenue in the event’s history due to the expanded nature of the tournament, with 48 teams rather than the usual 32. The key beneficiaries will be Fox, which has English-language broadcast rights, and Comcast’s Telemundo, which has the Spanish-language media rights, the analysts wrote. Goldman Sachs is also forecasting a boon to European and U.S. consumer staples, European consumer discretionary, U.S. retail, US lodging and leisure, and U.S. airlines, because of the sheer number of people spending big to travel to see the games. In consumer staples, Goldman referred to its earlier note from March, in which it forecast brewers would see the largest benefit from the tournament. Goldman has several beer companies rated as “buy,” including AB InBev , Constellation Brands , Molson Coors , Heineken and Carlsberg . The bank does not, however, see a similar uplift to the spirits market. “Although research attempting to quantify the value of hosting or winning the World Cup in this way remains limited, what findings there are suggest that the public are willing to sacrifice a considerable amount for both,” the Goldman analysts added. Despite the uplift in consumer spending, both Deutsche and Goldman said they saw negligible effects on U.S. GDP, because the World Cup is less economically impactful than ongoing macro events, such as the war with Iran, Fed and trade policy, and AI capex spend.
