Top Stocks for Hurricane Season

Mother Nature is a tough taskmaster with her destructive whims and wrath. She listens to nobody, but it is possible to profitably invest in companies that help get us back to normal life after her fury.

Hurricane Bertha, which petered out before reaching land, was the first Atlantic hurricane of the season. But odds are it won't be the last troublesome weather of the year. I have built a portfolio of companies that are ready, willing and able to help areas hit by natural disasters rebuild as quickly as possible, plus a few stocks to avoid when nature decides to remind us who is boss.

Obviously, no one hopes for a hurricane to hit our shores, but harsh weather is an unkind fact of life. Thankfully, our society invests in companies that rebuild our communities and infrastructure rapidly. Given the choice, I would banish all hurricanes that bring so much destruction and heartache to those in their path, but I cannot (yet) control nature. However, I can show a playbook to profits that we can donate to help hurricane victims.

The hurricane portfolio is divided into three parts: onshore plays, offshore plays and stocks to avoid or short. All groups have one common trait: providing basic services such as electricity, gas, transport, phone and cable.

Fundamentally, I think the offshore segment is where the most upside lies because they hold better business prospects (translation: less exposure to U.S. consumer). The offshore plays are more levered to the energy sector specifically to the drilling platforms in Gulf of Mexico.