What regions and firms will be hit hardest by today's El Nino - Macquarie

The weather phenomenon known as El Nino, is back now and is among the three strongest since 1950. As it is already hitting Australia's farmers, Macquarie Research analysts Niraj Shah and Daryna Kovalska have calculated who else willbe a loser, and who will win.

"This year’s El Nino will be among the three strongest since 1950. It is unlikely to breach any records however and will probably not be as strong as that seen in 1997-98," they write.

This phenomenon has covered Singapore with smoke, triggered Pacific typhoons and left Vietnamese coffee growers staring nervously at shrinking reservoirs. In Africa, El Nino hit cocoa farmers, and in the Americas, it has Argentines getting ready for lower milk production and Californians believing that rain will finally come.

Here is how the globe is impacted in the Macquarie calculations:

The research group found North American companies along with those in Australia and New Zealand will likely see the biggest impacts:

"In Aus/NZ, 38 percent of highlighted companies are likely negatively impacted with 62 percent expected to be positively impacted. In North America the negative/positive split is 45/55 and in Asia the mix is 70/30."

As for separate companies and sectors, El Nino’s impact on precipitation and temperature varies by region. However, capital goods companies are all listed as likely to see downbeat impacts since lower income from farming leads to less spending on agricultural equipment.

"Few sectors were uniformly positive or uniformly negative across the 100 profiled companies. For instance, within the North American Utilities some companies stand to benefit from El Nino weather patterns (e.g. DUK US, D US, SO US, AEP US, CNP US, SCG US, TE US), while others are likely to be adversely impacted (e.g. POR US, PEG US)."

Below is the list of firms which will see an impact: