Adding VMC as the third pick to my Special Report “10 new stock ideas for an old rally
Here’s what I wrote today when I added Vulcan Materials to my Special Report “10 new stock ideas for a old rally.”
VMC
Special Report: “10 New Stock Ideas for an Old Rally”–all 10 picks
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index had a banner first half of 2024 with the index climbing more than 17% as of June 30. But two-thirds of that gain is attributable to just six stocks: Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon.com (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META), and Apple (AAPL.).Track the performance of equal-weighted version of the S&P 500–rather than the commonly tracked index where the contribution of any stock to the index is weighted by market cap–and the index was up just 3.9% in the first half of 2024. For the second half of 2024 and looking ahead to 2024, I’m not so much worried about the fundamentals of this extraordinary rally as I am by a failure of market imagination Everybody owns the same 6 stocks. Hey, I get the excitement around these stocks and the boom in Artificial Intelligence. I share it. Which is why I own shares of Nvidia, Amazon, and Alphabet in my online portfolios. But there are 494 other stocks in the S&P 500. And 2000 stocks in the small-cap Russell 2000.(Up 9% in the first half of 2024.)After a rally that has recorded 30 new record highs for the S&P 500 just the first half of n 2024, some of that other 494–or 2000–are actually better stock buys, and likely to out perform the 6 stocks everybody owns from their current record high prices. But which ones? That’s what my Special Report: “10 New Stock Ideas for an Old Rally” is all about.
Senate passes infrastructure bill heavy on traditional road, rail, and water spending–so guess which stocks went up today?
The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that the Senate passed today–roughly half of that represents new spending–still faces a tough go in the House of Representatives where progressive Democrats have criticized the measure as light on dollars to fight global climate change. That spending has been pushed into a second infrastructure bill, which would also include money for expanding Medicare and improving access to childcare among other “social” infrastructure spending, which the Senate actually took up today. Most political pundits think that efforts to pass a “social” infrastructure bill using reconciliation will be enough to secure all the votes needed to pass the traditional infrastructure bill in the House. The bill passed today would include more than $110 billion to replace and repair roads, bridges and highways, and $66 billion to boost passenger and freight rail. The plan includes an additional $55 billion to address problems in the U.S. water supply such as continued use of lead pipes despite conclusive evidence that lead in water pipes leads to cognitive impairment in children. It allocates $65 billion to modernize the country’s power grid and $7.5 billion to build out a national network of electric-vehicle charging stations. The bill earmarks $47 billion to respond to wildfires, droughts, coastal erosion, heat waves and other climate crises.
Buying Martin Marietta Materials in my Jubak Picks Portfolio to add to infrastructure plays
On Monday, June 28, I’ll be adding shares of Martin Marietta Materials (MLM) to my Jubak Picks Portfolio to increase my exposure to the infrastructure sector after the Thursday, June 24, announcement at the White House of a bipartisan infrastructure deal. You should think of this producer of construction aggregates–used in highways, for example–as a version of aggregate producer Vulcan Materials (VMC) with a different regional profile. Whereas Vulcan is strongest in the Southeast and Texas, Martin Marietta has just acquired the assets of Heidelberg Cement in Arizona and California.
Watch my new YouTube Video: 5 stock picks for the infrastructure deal
I’m starting up my videos on JubakAM.com again–this time using YouTube as a platform. The twenty-ninth YouTube video “5 stock picks for the infrastructure deal” went up today.
News that White House and Senator group have struck a deal on infrastructure sends the usual suspects higher today
The White House has announced that it has struck an infrastructure deal with a bipartisan group of 10 Senators. There are almost no details on the deal and it’s not at all clear that President Biden will be able to convince the progressive wing of his own party to support the deal. On the other side of the aisle, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has not endorsed the deal. As I do the math, if only the 5 Republican Senators who were part of the negotiating group vote for the deal in the Senate, it will fail to clear the 60-vote threshold necessary for passage if McConnell and other Republicans decide to filibuster the legislation. All that aside, today the usual infrastructure stocks gained.
Selling my infrastructure play Vulcan Materials out of Jubak Picks into today’s rally
Last week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw in the towel on any near-term chance for a big infrastructure spending package. The horrific jobs numbers had convinced her, she said, that sending more aid to unemployed workers and small businesses took a higher priority....$416 billion for seawalls in the United States by 2040–that’s a lot of gravel sales for Vulcan Materials
In the next 20 years spending on seawalls to protect communities could cost as much as the initial investment in the interstate highway system. Total spending to defend against rising ocean levels could run to $416 billion in the next 20 years, according to a report...
Vulcan Materials beats on earnings–up 4.4% even without infrastructure deal in Washington
Before the New York market opened this morning Vulcan Materials (VMC) announced earnings of 46 cents a share, excluding one time items. That was a full 9 cents a share above Wall Street expectations. Revenue of $996.5 million was up 16.6% year over year and beat Wall...
VMC is my fourth earnings recession Special Report pick
If politicians are to be believed Vulcan Materials (VMC) would be my perfect earnings recession stock. Revenue and earnings look on a steady uphill trend in 209, after carving out that track in 2018. The company's business is almost totally domestic. And there's even...
