Sector Spotlight: Materials

Sector Spotlight

Each week, my exclusive Portfolio Grader database is updated to reflect what's working in each part of the market RIGHT NOW. Here's a breakdown of the materials industry, with a look at one of the very best and one of the very worst stocks in each part of this sector:

Sector	Best	Worst
Chemicals	Hawkins (HWKN)	American Pacific (APFC)
Construction Materials	U.S. Lime & Minerals (USLM)	U.S. Concrete (RMIX)
Containers & Packaging	BWAY Holding (BWY)	UFP Technologies (UFPT)
Metals & Mining	Keegan Resources (KGN)	U.S. Steel (X)
Paper & Forest Products	Schweitzer Mauduit (SWM)	Verso Paper (VRS)

Please note that each of the “best stocks” listed gets a A-grade in Portfolio Grader and receives my “Strong Buy” recommendation. You can view my sector listings to get similar top recommendations in every industry on Wall Street—just click on the “Best By Sector” link on the homepage of Portfolio Grader. The database is updated every Monday, so check back often to see what’s hot and what’s not!

 

Last week, we talked about how bad things were in general for utilities stocks. This week, I want to overlay the utilities sector with the materials sector so you can see the difference in my “risk vs. reward” calculations for each sector.

As you can see, materials stocks are a cut above utilities. In general, these stocks have a lower relative risk and a higher relative reward.

Remember, risk vs. reward is calculated by putting all the good aspects of a stock on one side of a scale and the bad stuff on the other, then seeing which way the scale tips. And remember, a stock with a good risk vs. reward ratio is NOT always low-risk. Most stocks are pretty balanced—but I seek out the stocks that deliver for much higher rewards than their relative risk.

To read the full Materials Sector Profit Alert, click here.

Go back to the Sector Profit Alert archive.