Topic: How To Invest

Dear Pat: Thank you for all the years of wonderful advice. In following the presidential election coverage, I think there may be a significant increase in spending on infrastructure in the U.S. Do you have a stock recommendation for such an event? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

A: We haven’t found any infrastructure stocks we want to recommend as buys. But here’s a look at one of the hold recommendations by Stock Pickers Digest—as well as two prominent U.S. companies in the industry. Stantec, $33.18, symbol STN on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 93.9 million; Market cap: $3.1 billion; www.stantec.com), is a recommendation of Stock Pickers Digest. The company offers consulting and project management services for public works and a variety of facilities. It benefits from infrastructure investments all over North America. Stantec continues to grow by acquisition. At the same time, it cuts its costs by spreading administrative expenses, financing and employee benefits among its businesses and new acquisitions. But continually buying firms adds risk, including the risk of writedowns. Stantec is a hold. Granite Construction, $47.62, symbol GVA on New York (Shares outstanding: 39.4 million; Market cap: $1.9 billion; www.graniteconstruction.com), is a heavy construction contractor. The company has three businesses: Construction (53% of revenues) does smaller-scale transportation work; Large Project Construction…