Mr. Silver: We're an independent equity research firm. We cover almost 200 stocks in a variety of different industries, concentrating mostly on large and mid cap, but we have very few small-cap stocks. We don't actually manage any money, it's more just purely a research and stock-picking firm.
TWST: What do you cover within the automotive sector?
Mr. Silver: I cover automotives, actually auto manufacturers and auto parts
suppliers. I also do truckers and railroads, and transportation.
TWST: What is the status of the automotive sector?
Mr. Silver: It continues to be an extremely difficult environment. Cash for
Clunkers definitely helped, but with a struggling economy we are nowhere near
where we were back in 2006. But it does look like we have passed the bottom.
Production continues to be low, which is going to hurt the auto parts suppliers.
But as the economy and auto sales improve, these auto manufacturers are going to
be the first to feel the jump. That's with respect to North America. Overseas we
are seeing that the emerging economies are already back on the mend, although
the way up may not be as straight as it has been in the past. Markets like
Russia, India, China, Brazil and even the Middle East are seeing sales really
improve, especially over the past few months.
Tickers included in this excerpt: BWA, DAI, FEIC, HMC, JCI, TM, TTM
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