Wall Street Transcript Interview with Jack Kasprzak, Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at BB&T Capital Markets: Improving Outlook for Residential, Nonresidential and Public Works Construction
67 WALL STREET, New York - April 15, 2013 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Building Materials, Construction and Housing Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs and Equity Analysts. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
Topics covered: North American Electrical Transmission, Infrastructure Build in Emerging Markets, Strong End Markets for Building Products, Energy infrastructure companies, Infrastructure spending
Companies include: Owens Corning (OC), Granite Construction Inc. (GVA), Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp (GLDD) and many more.
In the following excerpt from the Building Materials, Construction and Housing Report, an expert analyst discusses the outlook for the sector for investors:
TWST: Can you give us some other name that you like right now, and tell us why you like them?
Mr. Kasprzak: Another name would be Granite Construction (GVA). Granite Construction is a highway and bridge construction company. They perform the actual construction work, and we think they are very well-positioned with the way the markets are moving right now. If this trend continues, and all three main end markets improve, one of the things that should happen is capacity should be soaked up, which translates into improved pricing for projects.
Not surprisingly, pricing has been under pressure over the last several years because of the environment. When I say pricing, I mean the bidding on various types of projects should go up. You had seen a sharp increase in the number of bidders over the last several years because of limited demand, which drove down pricing. If that reverses, and we see more projects so the number of bidders on any one project starts to decline, pricing should improve and there should be some pretty nice margin potential upside at Granite Construction.
TWST: Great Lakes Dredge & Dock had an earnings call recently which you participated in. What is happening with that company?
Mr. Kasprzak: Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (GLDD) is a little bit of a unique situation. They are the largest dredging company in the United States, and they have about 40% market share. It's not leveraged to the traditional end markets of construction that we were talking about, because it operates a bit differently than many construction companies.
The theme for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is that the Panama Canal is being expanded. That will be finished sometime in 2015, and it looks like most of the East Coast ports in the United States need to be expanded and upgraded to accommodate...
For more of this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
