11 Infrastructure Giants Loving Trump’s Infrastructure Ambitions

March 1, 2017 by Jon C. Ogg

If you are surprised about the gains seen in the infrastructure stocks since the election, you haven’t been reading 24/7 Wall St. or many other financial trends sites. While President Trump’s infrastructure plan is now being touted as $1 trillion, the legislation for a path to that plan might make the number lower, or even higher. Just don’t bog trend investors with too much detail — the key infrastructure stocks have screamed higher yet again on the back of Trump’s speech to the joint session of Congress.

Investors and the people who use infrastructure are all looking forward to the great infrastructure rebuild. Our grade has been touted as a “D” for years now, and there could be multiple trillions of dollars that need to be spent before it is all said and done. Thousands of bridges need to be replaced or massively bolstered. Water infrastructure is ancient. Ask California how it feels about dams. Refineries are ancient, more pipeline projects are coming, and try comparing the city roads and many parts of the national highway system to other countries. We won’t even bother pointing out the ancient ports and airports.

What is up for grabs is the potential for new billions and billions of dollars for each of the major infrastructure companies. The goal is to “Buy American, and Hire American!” Just do not be so naïve as to think that some foreign outfits won’t be involved. In some cases there may be little choice, and in other cases some of the foreign companies may employee more Americans than actual American companies do.

Again, it just doesn’t matter if the infrastructure spending tallies up to $750 billion, $900 billion, $1 trillion or even more. What matters is “More, Much More! and Coming Soon!” What investors need to consider now is how much some of these companies have run since November 8, 2016. Some are up over 50%, but some of the stocks have taken a breather in 2017 over worries that they either rose too far too fast or that too much future business was being priced in. It is also important to consider that the Dow just hit 21,000 and that the bull market is now about eight years old.

Here are 11 stocks loving the infrastructure ride after the first post-inauguration speech.

AECOM (NYSE: ACM) provides architecture and engineering design services through three services segments: Design and Consulting, Construction, and Management. The company has had many domestic and international operations. It services the transportation, environmental and energy sectors, and it also serves key infrastructure projects such as highways, airports, bridges, wastewater facilities and power transmission and distribution. This puts AECOM right in the major infrastructure investing cross-hairs for what you can expect ahead.

AECOM shares were last seen trading up 4% at $37.82, in a 52-week trading range of $26.46 to $40.72. It has a consensus analyst price target of $43.50 and a market cap of $5.9 billion. So far, the stock was flat year to date.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) needs no introduction, but it should easily benefit from all the heavy machinery that will be needed for mining, construction and other infrastructure projects. The Dow Jones Industrial Average component pays a hefty dividend, and its stock has continued to defy those who have tracked its monthly global and North American sales trends as the sole basis to invest.

Caterpillar was last seen up 2.2% at $98.77, in a 52-week range of $68.21 to $99.46. It has a consensus price target of $93.73 and a market cap of $57.9 billion. So far in 2017 the stock was up 5.1%.

Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. N.V. (NYSE: CBI) went through a transformation. While technically a Dutch company, it has many Americans in the top ranks and throughout. CB&I spent about $3 billion to acquire the Shaw Group and its former 18,000 employees, and it is now over 40,000 as a result. It also has more than 80 U.S. offices. Its prior core areas included oil and gas infrastructure, steel plate structures and plant manufacturing. Shaw is a vertically integrated player in energy, chemicals, environmental, infrastructure and emergency response industries. For a heavy infrastructure land grab, CB&I should take a share of it.

Chicago Bridge & Iron was down 3.4% at $32.42. The 52-week range is $26.12 to $41.33. The consensus price target is $37.00, and the market cap is $3.2 billion. So far in 2017 the stock was up 5.7%.

Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) is based in Irving, Texas, and provides engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance and project management services to government and private industry. Its five groups are Oil & Gas, Industrial & Infrastructure, Government, Global Services and Power. It had about 43,000 employees in 2013, but that was down to almost 39,000 on last look.

Fluor was last seen up 2.2% at $56.59, in a 52-week range of $44.05 to $58.37. It has a consensus analyst target of $57.88 and a market cap of $7.9 billion. The stock was up 5.9% year to date.

Granite Construction Inc. (NYSE: GVA) is a civil engineering player in infrastructure projects that works on streets and roads, highways and bridges, sites and underground, and power-related facilities, utilities and other large projects. Granite also mines and processes aggregates and sells construction materials for operations of infrastructure and heavy construction. Granite Construction operates through Construction, Large Project Construction and Construction Materials segments.

Granite Construction was up 4.4% at $55.36. The 52-week range is $40.16 to $62.18, and the consensus price target is $65.22. It has a market cap of $2.2 billion. The stock was down 3.6% year to date.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) is based in Pasadena, California, and provides about every level of infrastructure planning and consulting. It serves government and private industry. The company had about 48,000 workers in 2013, and that is now closer to 50,000. Much of Jacobs Engineering’s effort is international, and it has about 200 offices.

Shares of Jacobs Engineering traded up 2.4% to $57.78. They have a 52-week range of $57.35 to $58.40. The stock was down 0.8% year to date.

KBR Inc. (NYSE: KBR) is based in Houston. For many years KBR was considered to be a war-support and disaster-support company, but if military activity and expansion will come about then it could be yet another win. KBR’s Government and Infrastructure business offers services to civilian authorities and private clients outside of the military. One thing that has helped KBR in the past was that it could mobilize workers for disaster assistance perhaps in a faster manner than any other company.

KBR was last seen up 3.5%, at $15.57 in a 52-week range of $12.08 to $17.95. It has a consensus price target of $19.23 and a market cap of $2.2 billion. The stock was down nearly 10% year to date.

Martin Marietta Materials Inc. (NYSE: MLM) supplies aggregates products and heavy building materials for the construction industry, both here and abroad. It mines, processes and sells granite, limestone, sand, gravel and other aggregate products for use in the public infrastructure — in effect cement, concrete and other solid materials used for all types of infrastructure.

Martin Marietta Materials was last seen up 2.5% at $221.41, in a 52-week range of $144.04 to $243.98. It has a market cap of $14 billion. So far in 2017 the stock was down 2.5%.

Tetra Tech Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEK) is based in Pasadena, California, and its shares surged over 2016. It operates in two segments: Water, Environment and Infrastructure, and Resource Management and Energy. Tetra Tech is considered one of the greats when it comes to consulting, engineering, construction, technical services and project management in water infrastructure and resource management. It has about 16,000 employees, up from 14,000 employees in early 2013.

Tetra Tech shares were trading up 3.2% to $41.55. The 52-week range is $27.19 to $44.85, and the consensus price target is $49.00. The market cap is $2.4 billion. So far in 2017 the stock was down 6.5%.

United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI) has been a stellar performer since the election. It is involved in oil and gas equipment, as well as all sorts of equipment for building projects, ranging from residential to commercial to massive infrastructure projects. This is also a failed buyout from the private equity boom of yesteryear, and it has grown exponentially since.

United Rentals was last seen up 4.2%, at $133.40 in a 52-week range of $52.03 to $133.85. It has a consensus price target of $123.86 and a market cap of $11.3 billion. The stock was up 21% year to date.

United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) has been among the major U.S. infrastructure and Trump winners since the election. Being among the top steel players is going to give the company access into just about every sort of project it wants to be involved in. Keeping foreign steel product out, or at least without foreign dumping efforts, will protect its profits as well.

U.S. Steel was up 2.6% at $39.72, in a 52-week range of $9.51 to $41.83. Its consensus price target is $36.27, and it has a market cap of $6.9 billion. So far in 2017 the stock was up 17.5%.

As a reminder, these are far from being the only infrastructure winners. There are just so many to track that we tend to stick with the ones that seem to be the most obvious winners. Consensus analyst targets and valuation metrics were from Thomson Reuters.

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