US infrastructure stocks to watch on Trump’s $1tn stimulus boost

Last week’s rout in US equity markets was particular tough with US infrastructure related stocks down 9.6% but this week the group has staged a 3.4% comeback on the news that the Trump administration is preparing a $1trn infrastructure plan to boost the economy. We have created a basket of 30 US construction related stocks across different industries that could get a boost from such an infrastructure plan.

Source: Bloomberg and Saxo Group

The basket as a whole is down 8% year-to-date on an equal-weighted basis which is in line with the S&P 500. These construction related stocks have generally a low market capitalization except for the machinery companies which are most likely more global in their business footprint. The average net-debt-to-EBITDA is only 1.6x compared to 1.9x for the S&P 500 indicating a lower leverage which means lower default risk all things equal. The basket’s equal-weight valuation is equal to the S&P 500 if Advanced Drainage Systems is excluded from the calculation. The blended 12-month EPS estimates are up on average 1.5% the past four weeks which also mimics the S&P 500. If the Trump administration’s infrastructure plan materializes we would expect estimates to drastically improve.

An alternative to our custom basket is the Invesco Dynamic Building & Construction ETF (PKB:arcx) which holds 30 US-listed companies engaged in providing construction and related engineering services for building residential/commercial/industrial properties, or large infrastructure projects.

Measured since 1 January 2015 our basket of 30 stocks (equal-weighted) has done better than the S&P 500 but with a higher beta which makes sense since this industry is pro-cyclical. The high downside beta is also evident in the fact that this group of stocks experienced a 70% drawdown compared to only 32% in the S&P 500.