Materials SPDR (ETF) (AMEX:XLB)

superevvy (< 20) Submitted: 2/13/2012 4:08:37 AM : Start Price: $37.17 XLB Score: -6.17

I made this judgment on a flip of the coin.

richardrogers4 (67.48) Submitted: 7/7/2010 2:18:21 PM : Start Price: $27.51 XLB Score: -2.08

buying on recent weakness

bleugooseboy (35.37) Submitted: 6/1/2009 7:05:19 PM : Start Price: $25.85 XLB Score: -9.90

Reflation trade

ThenewM (84.42) Submitted: 1/29/2009 5:12:26 PM : Start Price: $20.27 XLB Score: -9.53

Generally bearish on commodities. I expect the US Gov't won't be able to increase the money supply adequately to account for the tremendous loss of credit-based purchasing power. A reduction in the real money supply (including credit) will reduce economic demand and drive prices down. Commodities should correlate more with the dropping prices than companies of the S&P who have more to offer than just a particular asset. This should equal points in CAPS.

StarWitchDoctor (96.12) Submitted: 9/23/2008 3:06:09 PM : Start Price: $33.73 XLB Score: -11.46

large cap firms have access to crunched credit.

sunnydog01 (< 20) Submitted: 3/16/2008 2:13:16 PM : Start Price: $35.84 XLB Score: -13.94

Spiider in the sector. Poised. Patient. Everything is drifting towards practicality, utility, indispensibility, production and profit; hand and glove. A foundation that is able and stable by nature is enduring and useful during the wild swilngs, bottoms, gloom and doom.

ceejayoh (80.46) Submitted: 3/14/2008 10:27:47 AM : Start Price: $37.68 XLB Score: -13.49

Industry has slowed due to the recession, but this will lead to pent up demand and rapid expansion after the crisis is over. I'm not sure which industries will grow the fastest, so I am bullish on the ETF to get the benefit of the general trend when things pick up.

InvestorDeb (65.62) Submitted: 1/28/2008 1:01:55 PM : Start Price: $32.34 XLB Score: -1.27

Overdone on the selling, particularly in light of the Fed's change of heart regarding the direction of interest rates. No money on this one, just a CAPS pick.

BetterMoney77 (< 20) Submitted: 12/10/2007 6:07:53 PM : Start Price: $39.41 XLB Score: -4.72

Materials sector bullish

nanapb (< 20) Submitted: 11/6/2007 10:28:09 AM : Start Price: $38.49 XLB Score: -3.46

has a good mix of stocks for world growth.

Hhorse (42.36) Submitted: 10/28/2007 11:42:52 AM : Start Price: $39.84 XLB Score: -4.60

No comment

Ludraman1 (< 20) Submitted: 9/18/2007 9:18:44 AM : Start Price: $36.05 XLB Score: +0.85

You still need stuff to make stuff. This is a bit of a bet on emerging markets and it less speculative than some of the stocks that offer this.

jimdy (< 20) Submitted: 3/29/2007 8:56:27 PM : Start Price: $34.39 XLB Score: +0.66

My tech sys

NetscribeETF (37.64) Submitted: 3/19/2007 2:31:28 AM : Start Price: $33.85 XLB Score: -0.13

Materials Select Sector Index invests in the materials sector of the Standard and Poors 500 index. The Index includes companies from the chemicals, construction materials, containers and packaging, metals and mining and paper and forest products industry. The past performance of the fund has been good with 18.83% return in the previous year at an expense ratio of 0.24%. It has net asset worth approximately $1.02 billion and is trading at a price to earning multiple hovering around 14.

Global demand for hybrid seeds and increasing population favor production of food grain. Of late the decreasing corn acreage comes as a bad news for the fertilizers and agricultural chemical companies such as Monsanto. E.I Dupont that tops the list in terms of capital allocation is loosing market share for its Pioneer brand corn seed and not able to meet the demand due to lack of production capacity. The restructuring it had undergone would take time to give positive economic returns whereby it is going to its root of being a scientific company concentrating more on innovation.

The specialty chemicals business sells more on the basis of performance specification rather than on price. Though the huge research and development, and marketing expenses hurt the margins they are more stable with continuous demand and unhurt by cyclical changes. With housing starts on the decrease and car manufacturers cutting production due to the rise in inventory, it can cause a major problem for the metals sector dominated by steel and aluminums companies. Outlooks for the paper packaging, metal and glass container looks good favored by new innovations. Legislations, taxations or restrictions that prohibits usage of certain raw materials or require certain disposal treatment comes at a big disadvantage and is sending mixed signals to the same.

Majority of the firm’s performance is vulnerable to the construction and automotive sector. Moreover they depend on oil and natural gas that form a significant part of input cost, which is on the verge of rising due to geopolitical tensions. With exports forming a huge part of their revenues thereby increasing the currency risk and not much to benefit in the year 2007.