26 Stock Tips From the U.S. Government

This column was originally published on RealMoney on Mar. 19, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. EDT. It's being republished as a bonus for TheStreet.com readers. For more information about subscribing to RealMoney, please click here.

Government economic reports can do more than just indicate the state of the economy. Since many of the reports include industry-level data, digging deeper in the reports can help investors find specific industries to consider more closely.

For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which prepares the PPI report, provides detailed information on an industry basis. The problem is figuring out how to find it on their Web site. Starting at the PPI homepage, I scroll down to the headline that says "Get Detailed PPI Statistics," then click on "industry data."

You can then pick out which industries you want to see (I pick them all) and click "retrieve data." I then select "more formatting options," and click on the boxes for 12-month percent change, all years, and include graphs. Once I hit "retrieve data" again, I have what I'm looking for: graphs that make it easy to tell which industries are gaining or losing their pricing power.

Since I wrote about the PPI data in September, the pricing power has shifted to some different industries. Therefore, I thought an update would be in order.

As I pointed out last month, year-over-year price increases for petroleum refineries have suddenly shot straight up. In January, the gain was 48.8%, and in February it was 42.8%. I still like Frontier FTO, but the news is also positive for:

Valero VLO

Sunoco SUN

Tesoro TSO

Western Refining WNR

Holly HOC

Delek DK

CVR Energy CVI

Be warned, however, that the crack spreads are acting funny these days.

Year-to-Year Price Increase for Petroleum Refiners

Click here for larger image.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Prices for industrial gases surged 15.5% in January and 10.3% in February. Some of the leading companies in this space are Praxair PX, Air Products APD and Airgas ARG.

Year-to-Year Price Increase for Industrial Gas Manufacturing

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Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Shifting gears a bit, let's look at electronic computer manufacturing. Pricing power is about as bad as it can get for these guys, with the 20.1% decline in February being comparable to prior cyclical troughs.

Depending on your point of view, this could either be a bearish signal or a contrary bullish one. Either way, the companies most affected are obviously Dell DELL, Apple AAPL and Hewlett Packard HPQ.

Year-to-Year Price Increase for Electronic Computer Manufacturing

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Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Ever wonder why Robert Marcin is so bullish on hard-drive makers? They are one of the industries that had pricing power back in September and have managed to maintain it. The 2.1% year-over-year decline is the best on record.

Of course, there's a contrarian way to play that as well. Names include:

Brocade BRCD

EMC EMC

Iomega IOM

Hutchinson HTCH

Quantum QTM

SanDisk SNDK

Seagate STX

Western Digital WDC

Year-to-Year Price Increase for Computer Storage Device Manufacturing

Click here for larger image.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Finally, after grinding to a halt, line-haul railroads have picked up steam. This is good for Warren Buffett, Burlington Northern BNI, CSX CSX, Union Pacific UNP and Norfolk Southern NSC.

Year-to-Year Price Increase for Line Haul Railroads

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Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

So there you have it. Twenty-six stock tips from the U.S. Government. As with any stock tip, this is a starting place for further research. But it is a starting place that I have frequently found to be a useful one.

This column was originally published on RealMoney. For more information about subscribing to RealMoney, please click here.