Capital One, Discover surge as Trump victory seen as positive for merger

Investing.com -- Shares of Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE:COF) and Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) were sharply higher Wednesday after Donald Trump was elected the 47th President of the United States.  The new administration is seen as more favorable to the pending merger between the two credit card companies.

At 11 AM ET, Capital One was up 13%, and Discover Financial was up 17%.

In February 2024, Capital One agreed to acquire Discover Financial in an all-stock deal. Under the terms of the agreement, Discover shareholders will receive 1.0192 Capital One shares for each Discover share.

The companies expect to complete the transaction in early 2025, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.

Analysts at BTIG weighed in on the merger following the news of the Trump victory and said their base case view is that the merger will be approved by 2Q25.

"Trump's win and a Republican Congress is broadly positive for M&A," BTIG commented.