Boeing crash blamed on missile strike, FireEye upgraded amid tensions in Iran and Iraq

Catch up on the top industries and stocks that were impacted, or were predicted to be impacted, by the comments, actions and policies of President Donald Trump and his administration with this weekly recap compiled by The Fly:

1. IRAN BLAMED FOR SHOOTING DOWN BOEING JET: Following reports Tuesday night that at least 10 Iranian rockets had hit al-Asad air base in Iraq where U.S. troops are located, President Trump said no American or Iraqi lives were lost and added that Iran "appears to be standing down" after the missile attack. However, he also said the U.S. planned to immediately impose additional economic sanctions on Iran, which it did on Friday.

On Wednesday, reports came out of Iran that a Boeing (BA) 737-800 single-aisle jet flown by Ukraine International Airlines crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran. U.S. officials have since been quoted as saying they are confident that Iran shot down the Ukrainian passenger, killing all 176 people on the plane, CBC News reported. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also publicly stated that intelligence gathered by his nation and allies indicates the passenger plane was shot down by an Iranian missile, though he would not say if the strike was an accident and declined to say if Canada sees the event as an act of war.

2. FIREYE UPGRADED AMID TENSIONS IN IRAN, IRAQ: Early this week, SunTrust analyst Joel Fishbein upgraded FireEye (FEYE) to Buy from Hold and raised his price target on the shares to $22 from $15. Recent events in Iran and Iraq have put the spotlight on cybersecurity and will lead to increased government and private sector spending in both fiscal 2020 and 2021, he contended. Fishbein noted that priorities should include securing IT systems, networks, and information; securing critical infrastructure; and improving incident reporting.The analyst sees improved operating performance, a "favorable tailwind" due to recent geopolitical events, and a potential sale as catalysts for FireEye shares to move higher. Overall, Fishbein pointed out that he likes FireEye's transformation from a breach response company to a more analytically oriented security platform.

3. "FOREVER CHEMICAL" BILL VETO: President Trump is planning to veto the PFAS Action Act of 2019, which aims to keep harmful "forever chemicals" out of groundwater, The White House said in a statement on Tuesday. After failing to include a measure to broadly regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in the annual defense policy bill late last year, House lawmakers introduced sweeping legislation in November that would force the EPA to set a drinking water standard for PFAS. The White House says the bill would "bypass well-established processes, procedures, and legal requirements of the Nation's most fundamental environmental laws," adding that by "truncating the rulemaking process, this legislation risks undermining public confidence in the EPA's decisions, and also risks the imposition of unnecessary costs on States, public water systems, and others responsible for complying with its prescriptive mandates." The Fly notes that Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital has previously named 3M (MMM) and Chemours (CC) as short ideas due to their exposure to potential PFAS litigation.

4. GOVERNMENT SERVICES STOCKS: In a research note on Thursday, Wells Fargo analyst Ed Caso told investors that while 2019 was "great" for government services' stocks' performance, putting their current valuations near historic highs, the funding outlook is strong, which gives solid market visibility through calendar 2021. Despite the presidential election cycle "noise," Caso also believes that in the case of a Trump win the group is likely to see little change, while a new president is unlikely to impact spending prior to government fiscal year 2022.

Caso downgraded Leidos (LDOS) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $102 price target, noting that its shares were up 85% in 2019. He downgraded ManTech International (MANT) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $76 price target as he expects shares to lag peers given its lower EBITDA margin. He also downgraded Parsons (PSN) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $42 price target, noting that the "clarity and consistency" of its financial model is "still evolving," which he sees leading to relative underperformance.