3. Investing in the Big Picture

I always like to have a few long-term themes for my stock portfolio. It pays to keep up with trends. You’ll often find one or two small-cap companies that are in a unique position to benefit from the larger trends. Two that I hear a lot about are the future surge of natural gas usage (mainly replacing coal as the nation’s dominant fuel source) and the reluctance of neighbors to allow chemical plants, refineries, and other industrial plants to be built in their towns. A couple of companies that have found profitable niches against this backdrop are CARBO Ceramics (CRR) and Team Inc. (TISI).

CARBO produces ceramic beads (or proppants) that improve the productivity of natural gas wells. Team Inc. sends very specialized ...

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