Latest Housing Starts, Construction Employment Undermine Strong Q1 GDP

U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2020 (advanced estimate) plunged by 4.8% as the coronavirus pandemic put the economy on lockdown. The following categories made positive contributions to GDP in ascending order of their contribution to the percentage change: Housing and utilities: .08% Change in farm inventories: 0.10% Government consumption expenditures … Read more

Deconstructing Materials Stocks

The deconstruction continues in material stocks. The culprit this time around was a poor reading and interpretation of construction spending. Per AP News: “U.S. construction spending dropped 1.7 percent in March, the biggest setback in 11 months, with weakness in a number of sectors including the biggest plunge in home building in nine years. The … Read more

U.S. Concrete: A Strong Play on the U.S. Economy (My Interview with CEO Bill Sandbrook)

On August 15, 2017, I had the privilege of interviewing Bill Sandbrook, President and CEO of U.S. Concrete (USCR), a producer of ready-mixed concrete and aggregate products for domestic construction projects. I am relatively new to this industry, so I prepared by listening to earlier interviews, reviewing USCR’s latest earnings results for Q2 2017, and … Read more

California Soon To Experience A New Construction Boom

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on July 10, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} …a fascinating story about a 2-man team, a real estate agent and a contractor, who have gone from boom to bust and hopeful boom. They went from a whiteboard full … Read more