Out Fox The $treet

Earnings results for Flour (FLR) and Foster Wheeler (FWLT) were less than stellar last week after horrible numbers for McDermott (MDR) the previous week. Looking into the details for at least FLR and FWLT the numbers weren't as bad as first glance. Revenues have been increasing since the lows in 2010 and order expectations remain strong for 2012. Not to mention FLR reported a record backlog. For this sector, it really comes down to global growth expectations and confidence. Everybody knows that demand will exist in the future has power demands continue to grow. The question is when companies will move forward with large multi billion dollar projects. Projects that will utilize any existing over capacity in the industry there by pushing up margins. Even though margins are not overly robust both FLR and FWLT have great balance sheets that allow for strong share repurchase programs. FWLT has reduced the float by 8M and FLR by 5M in the last 12 months so shareholders are getting ...

This is the third in a series of articles on the performance of stock sectors since the financial crisis. The first article focused on  steel producers  while the second article was on  women's apparel . As with the first two articles, the goal is review a sector where stock prices remain drastically depressed from highs seen prior to the financial crisis back in 2006-2008. In some cases, this might be a sign that the sector was just overvalued back then and hence the current price is deserved. In other cases, this might signal that the sector has plenty of room for recovery especially if the global economy gets over the current soft patch. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha .  Disclosure: Long FWLT in client and personal accounts. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. This information is provided for informational purposes and should not be relied upon as investment advice.