(New York)

Okay, there is a trade war going on. But even still, industrial stocks look too cheap, at least according to Barron’s. The Industrial Select SPDR is up less than 2% this year, way behind the broader market because of fears the sector will get hammered by a trade war. Compounding that is the worry that the sector is past the peak of its cycle. However, the sector is still posting strong growth and good earnings. Stocks like Boeing and Caterpillar had big gains last year, but have weakened considerably recently. Recent earnings, though, were good, showing that core machinery sales continued the 15% annual growth they have been showing for several quarters. In seems the worst could be behind the sector.

FINSUM: It is too early to say whether the sector is out of the woods, but we would say that a 2% gain this year is not exactly what we would think of as the pre-condition for calling something very cheap.