Top Summer Stock Picks: Recreational Vehicles

BOLTING LANDING, N.Y. (Stockpickr) -- With Independence Day memories fresh and yet another heat wave sticking over the East Coast, I thought that it would be apropos to take a look at some summertime stocks. And since much of my summer revolves around spending time on my 25-foot Harris FloteBote Royal Heritage Pontoon on Lake George in upstate New York, I'm going to focus on recreational vehicles. Whether you plan on spending the summer on water or on land, there are several interesting investment opportunities.

The company that makes my boat, Harris Kayot, has been owned by Brunswick(BC) since 2005. Powering the boat is a 115-horsepower Honda 4-stroke engine made by Honda Motor(HMC), which besides cars and trucks, manufactures marine engines and personal water craft (PWCs).Other popular PWCs and boats are manufactured by Sea Doo, a Bombardier (Pink Sheets: BDRBF) company, and the Wave Runner by Yamaha Motor (Pink Sheets: YAMHF). Also seen on our national waterways are boats and engines manufactured by Mercury Marine, a division of Brunswick, perhaps one of the purest plays in the marine arena.

If you escape the summer heat in a pool rather than a lake or the ocean, it's likely that some of the products produced by Pool(POOL) are in or around that pool. Arch Chemicals(ARJ) manufacturers one of the most recognizable brands of pool chemicals, HTH. I would note that the dividends for both Pool, at 2.44%, and Arch Chemicals, at 2.59%, have dividends that exceed the dividend yield of the S&P 500, which is approximately 2.1%.

For those who prefer to take their summer fun on the road in an RV, this is a very tough segment of the recreational industry, due to the spike in gasoline prices in 2008, followed by the credit crisis and recession. Fleetwood Enterprises, for example, filed for bankruptcy in 2009. When it comes to RVs, the name that comes to most peoples' minds is Winnebago(WGO). While the company has not earned money in several years, analysts are expecting a profit of 28 cents a share in 2010 and 58 cents a share in 2011. The company has $76 million in cash with no long-term debt. Should the RV industry rebound, Winnebago will lead the way.

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