Cut your risk with these four leaders

Article Excerpt

We generally focus on market leaders when analyzing stocks in the more volatile Manufacturing & Industry sector. That’s because they have spent decades building large client bases. That cuts their risk, since long-time customers are unlikely to switch to unproven suppliers. Their strong reputations also help them attract new customers. These four industrial companies’ earnings should rebound with the overall economy. However, only three are buys right now. SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $52 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 151.2 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 1.3%; SI Rating: Average) is a leading Canadian engineering and construction company. SNC designs and builds large-scale public-works projects, such as roads, bridges, transit systems and water-treatment plants. It also builds mines, chemical plants and electrical-power systems. The company gets 55% of its revenue from North America. SNC also runs plants and facilities for its clients. For example, in 2009 the company received a 29-year contract from the…