Very few sectors outperformed the S&P 500 in last week’s turbulent trading. Coal remained the number 1 smoking performer. Soaps & Cosmetics moved up 4 spots to capture the 2nd ranking and Chemicals & Fertilizer dropped a couple of notches but remains in the top 10% of performers.
Three newcomers join the list this week, Finance, Investment Banks & Managers and Electric utilities.
Performance versus the S&P 500
| Rank |
Industry |
% Return +/- the S&P |
| 1 |
COAL |
6.29% |
| 2 |
SOAPS & COSMETICS |
1.45% |
| 3 |
INVEST BANKS & MANAGERS |
.75% |
| 4 |
FINANCE |
.56% |
| 5 |
UTILITY-ELECTRIC POWER |
.55% |
| 6 |
CHEMICALS & FERTILIZER |
.44% |
We scratched below the surface of these industries to find some possible trades. A handful of companies met The Correct Call criteria. One Chemical & Fertilizer stock that appear ready to move now is Sigma Aldrich Corp (SIAL).
Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company. Its biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research, biotechnology and pharmaceutical development.
SIAL is firing on all cylinders as in its most recent quarterly earnings check up Sigma’s two core research businesses continued to perform at better than expected levels, extending the trend from 2007. The Correct Call believes the trend will carry on into the 2nd half of this year.
We are not alone, Dmitry Silversteyn, an Analyst with Longbow Research says SIAL’s “life science business seems to be in an up cycle in terms of R&D spending by biotech and pharmaceutical companies.” He likes Sigma’s very high margins, gross margins at around 50%, operating margins north of 20%, excellent return on equity and very strong balance sheet.
In other signs of financial strength, the company recently paid off 40 million of debt, bought back another 900,000 shares, and boosted its dividend by 13%. SIAL has plenty of cash on hand and says it will continue to buy back its shares, which usually means management feels their stock is undervalued. Investors can also expect to see the company make strategic acquisitions in the last 6 month of the year.
Technically speaking, the SIAL chart printed a buy signal with yesterday’s trading action as we see a bullish MACD crossover. We would not be at all surprised to see SIAL shares challenge its 52 week high of 62 and continue to set new highs as 2008 unfolds.
