Factbox: U.S. stocks to watch as Hurricane Dorian threatens Florida

Fednat Holding Co

30/08/2019 19:17

Aug 30 (Reuters) - Shares of insurance and freight companies
reacted as Hurricane Dorian crept toward the Florida coast on
Friday, and the National Hurricane Center upgraded Dorian to a
Category 3 storm on Friday afternoon.
    The Miami-based National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane
watch for the northwestern Bahamas, and said Dorian was likely
to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane as it approaches
Florida through the weekend.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N25Q05O urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN25Q0Y4
    Here are some stocks to keep an eye on as Hurricane Dorian
gathers strength:
    
    FREIGHT
    Shares in freight companies may gain after a destructive
hurricane on bets they will see rising demand from businesses
shipping in materials for rebuilding efforts. U.S. freight
companies include USA Truck Inc  USAK.O , last up 4%, XPO
Logistics Inc  XPO.N , last up 2%, Old Dominion Freight Line Inc
 ODFL.O , up 0.6%, JB Hunt Transport Services  JBHT.O , up 1%.
    
    INSURANCE
    Regional property insurers with exposure to Florida include
United Insurance Holdings  UIHC.O , HCI Group Inc  HCI.N ,
Heritage Insurance Holdings  HRTG.N , Fednat Holding Co  FNHC.O 
and Universal Insurance Holdings Inc  UVE.N . Fednat was down 2%
on Friday and United Insurance was down 2%. 
    Populations have risen along the Atlantic coast every year
since 2000, despite increasing hurricane risks, according to
AIR, a catastrophic risk management company. The total insured
value of residential and commercial property in Florida's
coastal counties reached $3.6 trillion last year, up from $3.2
trillion in 2015.
    
    BUILDING SUPPLIES
    Hurricanes have had mixed effects on shares of building
products. In September 2018, as Hurricane Florence approached
North Carolina, shares of roofing and insulation companies rose
while shares of cement companies fell. On Friday, shares of
building supply companies, including Owens Corning  OC.N ,
Summit Materials Inc  SUM.N , Martin Marietta Materials Inc
 MLM.N  and Vulcan Materials Co  VMC.N , were little changed
overall. One exception was Beacon Roofing Supply Inc  BECN.O ,
whose shares rose 2.8%.
    
    HOME IMPROVEMENT
    Shares of Lowe's Companies Inc  LOW.N  were down 0.1% and
Home Depot Inc  HD.N  was up 0.2% on Friday. Their stocks have
benefited in the wake of previous hurricanes as homeowners made
purchases to repair damage.
    
    HOTELS
    Shares of hotel operators have gained following previous
hurricanes as demand from people displaced by hurricanes
outweighed the hit from declines in tourism. 
    Hyatt Hotels Corp  H.N , Marriott International Inc  MAR.O ,
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc  HLT.N  and Choice Hotels
International Inc  CHH.N  were little changed on Friday, up as
much as 0.3% and down as much as 0.1%.
    
    

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Stocks to watch as Hurricane Dorian intensifies    https://tmsnrt.rs/2zAw1XL
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 (Reporting by Sinead Carew, April Joyner and Noel Randewich;
Editing by Alden Bentley and Leslie Adler)
 ((noel.randewich@tr.com; Twitter handle: @randewich  (415) 677
2542; Reuters Messaging:
noel.randewich.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))