Agonies, Ecstasies in Stocks for 2006

On April 19, I described my visit to smoggy, lively, crane-crazed Beijing, where industrial strength and frenetic commercial construction was coming at the cost of public health. My China picks ended up pretty strong themselves, with Europe-based industrials Metso Oyj (MX Quote) and ABB Ltd. (ABB Quote) up 28% and 32%, respectively, and pollution control equipment maker Fuel-Tech (FTEK Quote) up 60%. These are all still good to buy, but on dips only.

On April 26, meanwhile, I explained how China is winning the race to lock up oil supplies in Africa and Central Asia by cozying up, in many cases, to rogue regimes. The idea gained a lot of currency over the rest of the year as the rest of the media picked up on it.

There were few pure investment plays on the concept except for the Chinese National Offshore Oil (CEO Quote), which went on to rise 11% over the rest of the year. It's now trading around $90; I still like it and believe it'll break $100 over the next nine months.

Summer

On May 3, I took a look at the boom in commercial construction as spending climbed to $1.2 trillion on an annualized basis, eclipsing a record. A couple of my recommendations in the space, such as NCI Building Systems (NCS Quote) and Lamson & Sessions (LMS Quote), petered out, but three others worked out great, rising between 20% and 30%, and still have a lot of potential: business-equipment maker Genlyte Group (GLYT Quote), warehouse owner AMB Property (AMB Quote) and structural-steel maker Chaparral Steel (CHAP Quote).