Buzz Stock of the Day – Patrick Industries (PATK)

Shares of Patrick Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: PATK) were up more than 40 percent today. The company manufactures building products and materials to manufactured housing and recreational vehicle market in the United States and Canada.

Last week, the Institute for Supply Management said its index of manufacturing activity moved to 44.8 in June from 42.8 in May. That reading was in line with the 45 reading expected by economists and signals a slowing rate of contraction. And a gauge of future U.S. housing-market activity rose for the fourth consecutive month in May, marking its longest stretch of growth since October 2004. The National Association of Realtors said its index of pending sales increased 0.1% in May to 90.7.

The Elkhart, Ind.-based Patrick Industries has been trading higher since July 1st, when the data was published.

A turnaround in the housing market is exactly what Patrick Industries needs. The company’s first quarter net sales was a mere $44.9 million compared to $97.0 million in 2008. “Our operating plans reflect the impact of lower sales volumes stemming from the recession and low consumer confidence that we believe will continue for at least the next nine to twelve months,”said Patrick Industries’ president and CEO, Todd Cleveland in a statement.

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Tags: housing stocks, infrastructure stocks, nasdaq, PATK, small cap stocks

This entry was posted on Monday, July 6th, 2009 at 5:22 pm by admin and is filed under Industrial Stocks, Materials Stocks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.