At The Motley Fool, we poke plenty of fun at Wall Street
analysts and their endless cycle of upgrades, downgrades, and
"initiating coverage at neutral." So you might think we'd be
the last people to give virtual ink to such "news." And we
would be -- if that were all we were doing.
But in "This Just In," we don't simply tell you what the
analysts said. We'll also show you whether they know what
they're talking about. To help, we've enlisted
Motley Fool CAPS, our tool for rating stocks and analysts
alike. With CAPS, we track the long-term performance of Wall
Street's best and brightest -- and its worst and sorriest,
too.
And speaking of the best ...
What do you do when
one of the best bankersin the market suddenly upgrades
shares of one of the hottest stocks in the always-hot energy
sector? Personally, I listen up. And from what I hear, ace
stockpicker
Stifel Nicolausthinks
Shaw Group (Nasdaq: SHAW) could go
nuclear.
Predicting
continued hikes in the price of oilas the dollar drops,
Stifel says Shaw's "project backlog" looks secure. (Shaw
builds the infrastructure for both fossil fuel power plants
and nukes alike, for clients including
Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK),
Petrobras (NYSE: PBR), and
General Electric (NYSE: GE).) What's more,
according to Stifel, the stock "appears inexpensive versus
peers with similar [return on invested capital], and as such
we believe the operational improvements instituted by
management are underappreciated." Factor in additional
"revenue from Shaw's nuclear plant construction projects,"
and this undervalued stock rates a "buy" from Stifel.
But is that good enough to win it a place in
yourportfolio?
Let's go to the tape
It depends. Personally, when I look at Stifel's record
in the
Construction and Engineeringsector ... and see that this
analyst has historically gotten twice as many picks right as
wrong ... and generally walloped the market in the process
...
Stifel Says
CAPS Says
Stifel's Picks Beating (Lagging) S&P
by
Foster Wheeler (Nasdaq: FWLT)
Outperform
*****
55 points
Fluor Corp (NYSE: FLR)
Outperform
***
42 points
Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE:
CBI) Continued... |