Investing in infrastructure stocks can be a lucrative way to tap into sectors like energy and transportation. But because of government intervention, the pace of infrastructure growth can be uncertain.
Infrastructure stocks are tied to companies and organizations responsible for providing essential services to cities and facilitating the transportation of goods and people. Look at it as the underlying grid that keeps an industrial economy running.
With that said, infrastructure stocks provide exposure to a swath of different companies and sectors. Here are some examples of industries and companies involved in infrastructure:
Mass transit
Water supply
Sewage management
Roads and bridges
Electric companies
Telecommunication systems
Oil rigs and refineries
Waste disposal
But infrastructure goes even deeper than that. The above industries are what’s known as hard infrastructure. Soft infrastructure, on the other hand, comprises industries that deliver specific services to people in the communities they serve. Here are some examples:
Financial institutions
Education systems
Law enforcement
Governmental bodies
Agriculture
Healthcare systems
You can also find infrastructure stocks in the tech space, specifically within information technology. Companies that make servers and other networking equipment essential for the transfer of data are part of the infrastructure industry. They build equipment that’s essential to how many businesses operate and communicate.
Infrastructure is a vast industry that affects several aspects of our everyday lives. And the players in this industry are equally diverse. They include private companies, government agencies and public/private partnerships.
Why invest in infrastructure stocks?
Many investors turn to infrastructure funds because these investments tend to be less volatile than other types of equities in the long run. Historically, these have generated high yields and have remained less responsive to interest rate fluctuations than other investments.
Moreover, global infrastructure investments have outperformed equities by almost 1% and bonds by nearly 4% since 1976. According to the World Economic Forum, worldwide infrastructure investment is projected to reach $79 trillion by 2040.
Moreover, infrastructure is also essential to any modern, functioning economy. Companies need roads to transport goods and fuel to move goods around. People require electricity, heat, water and waste removal to live comfortable lives.
Infrastructure makes all this possible. And its operations also spur job creation.
Risks of investing in infrastructure
Because so many infrastructure projects are essential to modern economies, governments tend to take some control. Political disagreement over how to manage certain projects can have a strong impact on infrastructure investments.
For instance, President Donald Trump announced in 2019 his Administration’s plan to invest nearly $1 trillion in infrastructure. But many of these efforts stalled in Congress over political tensions and concerns over the coronavirus.
The latter alone delivered a major blow to the infrastructure sector. Construction and commercial projects slowed or came to a halt as millions of people’s jobs were eliminated.
Infrastructure stocks
There are plenty of roads to infrastructure investing. You can invest in various funds and individual stocks.
Select a company to learn more about what they do and how their stock performs, including market capitalization, the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, price/earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio and dividend yield. While this list includes a selection of the most well-known and popular stocks, it doesn't include every stock available.
Company summary
Caterpillar Inc. manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives worldwide. Its Construction Industries segment offers asphalt pavers, compactors, cold planers, motorgraders, pipelayers, road reclaimers, telehandlers, and utility vehicles; backhoe, compact track, multi-terrain, skid steer, and track-type loaders; forestry and wheel excavators; and site prep and track-type tractors. The company's Resource Industries segment provides electric rope and hydraulic shovels, draglines, rotary drills, hard rock vehicles, track-type tractors, mining trucks, longwall miners, wheel loaders, off-highway and articulated trucks, wheel tractor scrapers, wheel dozers, landfill and soil compactors, machinery components, autonomous ready vehicles and solutions, and select work tools. Its Energy & Transportation segment offers reciprocating engine powered generator sets; reciprocating engines and integrated systems for the power generation, marine, oil, and gas industries; turbines, centrifugal gas compressors, and related services; remanufactured reciprocating engines and components; and diesel-electric locomotives and components, and other rail-related products. The company's Financial Products segment provides operating and finance leases, installment sale contracts, working capital loans, and wholesale financing; and insurance and risk management, as well as other equipment-related loans. Its All Other Operating segment offers filters and fluids, undercarriage, ground engaging tools, fluid transfer products, precision seals, and rubber sealing and connecting components; parts distribution; integrated logistics solutions; portfolio management; brand management and marketing strategy; and digital investments services. The company was formerly known as Caterpillar Tractor Co. The company was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois.
Cummins Inc. designs, manufactures, distributes, and services diesel and natural gas engines, electric and hybrid powertrains, and related components worldwide. It operates through five segments: Engine, Distribution, Components, Power Systems, and New Power. The company offers diesel and natural gas powered engines under the Cummins and other customer brands for the heavy and medium-duty truck, bus, recreational vehicle, light-duty automotive, construction, mining, marine, rail, oil and gas, defense, and agricultural markets; and offers new parts and services, as well as remanufactured parts and engines. It also provides power generation systems, high-horsepower engines, heavy and medium duty engines, application engineering services, custom-designed assemblies, retail and wholesale aftermarket parts, and in-shop and field-based repair services. In addition, the company offers emission solutions; turbochargers; air and fuel filters, fuel water separators, lube and hydraulic filters, coolants, fuel additives, and other filtration systems; and electronic control modules, sensors, and supporting software, as well as new, replacement, and remanufactured fuel systems. Further, it provides automated transmissions; standby and prime power generators, controls, paralleling systems, and transfer switches, as well as A/C generator/alternator products under the Stamford and AVK brands; and electrified power systems with components and subsystems, including battery, fuel cell, and hydrogen production technologies. Additionally, it offers filtration, aftertreatment, controls systems, air handling systems, automated transmissions, and electric power generation systems. The company sells its products to original equipment manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and other customers. The company was formerly known as Cummins Engine Company and changed its name to Cummins Inc. in 2001. Cummins Inc. was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Columbus, Indiana.
United Rentals, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental company. It operates in two segments, General Rentals; and Trench, Power and Fluid Solutions. The General Rentals segment rents general construction and industrial equipment, including backhoes, skid-steer loaders, forklifts, earthmoving equipment, and material handling equipment; aerial work platforms, such as boom lifts and scissor lifts; and general tools and light equipment comprising pressure washers, water pumps, and power tools. It serves construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and government entities. The Trench, Power and Fluid Solutions segment rents specialty construction products that include trench safety equipment, which comprise trench shields, aluminum hydraulic shoring systems, slide rails, crossing plates, construction lasers, and line testing equipment for underground work; and power, as well as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning equipment, including portable diesel generators, electrical distribution equipment, and temperature control equipment. It is also involved in the rental of fluid solutions equipment primarily used for fluid containment, transfer, and treatment. This segment serves construction companies involved in infrastructure projects, and municipalities and industrial companies. The company also sells aerial lifts, reach forklifts, telehandlers, compressors, and generators; construction consumables, tools, small equipment, and safety supplies; and parts for equipment that is owned by its customers, as well as provides repair and maintenance services. United Rentals, Inc. sells its used equipment through its sales force, brokers, and Website, as well as at auctions and directly to manufacturers. As of January 1, 2021, the company operated a network of 1,165 rental locations, including 1,018 of these locations are in the United States, 136 are in Canada, and 11 are in Europe. United Rentals, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Stam
U.S. Concrete, Inc., through its subsidiaries, produces and sells ready-mixed concrete, aggregates, and concrete-related products and services to the construction industry in the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada. It operates through two segments, Ready-Mixed Concrete and Aggregate Products. The Ready-Mixed Concrete segment engages in the formulation, production, and delivery of ready-mixed concrete to customers' job sites. The Aggregate Products segment offers crushed stone, sand, and gravel for use in commercial, industrial, and public works projects. The company's other products include building materials stores, hauling operations, aggregates distribution terminals, a recycled aggregates operation and concrete blocks, as well as products, including ARIDUS Rapid Drying Concrete technology and the Where's My Concrete? family of web and mobile applications. It primarily serves concrete general contractors, developers, governmental agencies, and home builders. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Euless, Texas.
American Tower, one of the largest global REITs, is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate with a portfolio of approximately 181,000 communications sites.
The Blackstone Group Inc. is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services. The real estate segment specializes in opportunistic, core+ investments as well as debt investment opportunities collateralized by commercial real estate, and stabilized income-oriented commercial real estate across North America, Europe and Asia. The firm's corporate private equity business pursues transactions throughout the world across a variety of transaction types, including large buyouts, mid-cap buyouts, buy and build platforms, which involves multiple acquisitions behind a single management team and platform, and growth equity/development projects involving significant minority investments in operating companies and greenfield development projects in energy and power, financial services, healthcare, life sciences, enterprise tech and consumer, as well as consumer technologies. Its hedge fund business manages a broad range of commingled and customized fund solutions and its credit business focuses on loans, and securities of non-investment grade companies spread across the capital structure including senior debt, subordinated debt, preferred stock and common equity. The Blackstone Group Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in New York, New York with additional offices across Asia, Europe and North America.
Fluor Corporation provides engineering, procurement, construction, fabrication and modularization, operation, maintenance and asset integrity, and project management services worldwide. It operates through six segments: Energy & Chemicals; Mining & Industrial; Infrastructure & Power; Government; Diversified Services; and Other. The Energy & Chemicals segment offers a range of design, engineering, procurement, construction, fabrication, and project management services in the upstream, midstream, downstream, chemical, petrochemical, offshore and onshore oil and gas production, and liquefied natural gas and pipeline markets. The Mining & Industrial segment provides design, engineering, procurement, construction, and project management services to the mining and metals, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing and technologies sectors. The Infrastructure & Power segment offers design, engineering, procurement, construction, and project management services to the infrastructure sector. The Government segment provides engineering and construction services, logistics, and life-support services, as well as contingency operations support services to the defense sector. It also offers support services to the United States (U.S.) intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Diversified Services segment provides asset maintenance and asset integrity services to the oil and gas, chemicals, life sciences, power, mining and metals, consumer products, and manufacturing industries; and staffing services. The Other segment researches, develops, licenses, and commercializes small modular nuclear reactor technology; and serves as a subcontractor for the construction of nitrocellulose manufacturing facility. The company also offers unionized management and construction services. Fluor Corporation was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.
Before you begin trading infrastructure stocks, you’ll need a brokerage account. You have plenty to choose from, so explore your options to find the one that’s right for you.
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Disclaimer: The value of any investment can go up or down depending on news, trends and market conditions. We are not investment advisers, so do your own due diligence to understand the risks before you invest.
Bottom line
Infrastructure helps industrial economies stay afloat. But because infrastructure networks can be very complex, there is uncertainty over which companies and industries will thrive.
Nonetheless, infrastructure investments historically have remained less volatile than other equities. Because infrastructure is vital to many economies, governments can play a large role in regulating certain sectors. That adds another layer of uncertainty.
Yes, there are several mutual funds that invest in stocks of companies involved in the infrastructure sector.
Infrastructure funds invest in stocks of companies that operate in various industries like oil and gas, construction and railroads.
Yes. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) lists 16 critical infrastructure sectors. These include the energy, emergency services and water systems sectors.
According to the agency, these are “considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof.”
Javier Simon is a freelance investing writer at Finder. He is a certified educator in personal finance (CEPF) with a bachelor's degree in multimedia journalism from SUNY Plattsburgh. He's been featured on NerdWallet, Bankrate, SmartAsset and other major finance websites. He loves writing content that helps people understand complex financial concepts, so they can make better financial decisions. When he's not writing and researching investing concepts, he likes going to rock concerts and the movies.
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