I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pa., in many ways the birthplace of the American steel industry.
Pittsburgh is where industrialist Andrew Carnegie put down roots and built the company that became U.S. Steel Corp. X 0.00%↑.
Pittsburgh is also where Jones & Laughlin Steel operated: In the family station wagon or my Dad’s Super Beetle, my folks, my sisters and I used to drive past that sprawling complex on our way to Sunday dinners at my maternal grandparents’ house.
Later, as a business reporter with The Baltimore Sun, I got to cover the Sparrows Point operations of the late, great Bethlehem Steel.
So I have a “feel for steel.” And other commodities, too — like coal, silver, copper, rare earths … even sand.
But my view isn’t standard fare: I look past the usual supply-and-demand, up-and-down cyclicality and trading focus that’s the typical commodities story.
I understand the story side of commodities — that they’re really “a lens into the economy” and a key enabler of such innovations as the Internet, drones and even artificial intelligence.
Today’s guest, Matt Warder, has that same broad view. He’s the new shepherd of The Coal Trader here on Substack. And when it comes to coal insights — sector health, predictions based on facts and ways to make money — Matt is your man.
Matt’s “specialty of specialties” is “met coal” (metallurgical coal) — one of the must-have ingredients for steelmaking.
Since the days of industrialization … back to the days of Carnegie … steel has been the “backbone of America.” It helped us build our cities. Churn out the cars and trucks that serve as the nation’s vehicle fleet. And created the locomotives and the rails they rode on, starting with the railway expansions of the 1800s.
As technology evolved, steel uses marched in lockstep: It built propeller airplanes, spaceships, power plants, semiconductor fabs — and now the data centers that serve as the brains of the AI Era.
So steelmaking is still the “backbone of America.”
And Matt wants to spotlight a beneficiary … and opportunity.
A Forecast … and a Nifty Stock Pick
Here at Stock Picker’s Corner (SPC), we’re Wealth Builders — and we look for the very best story-based opportunities wherever we find them. Some are shorter-term “special situations” — little windows for big gains based on super-unique circumstances. But most are longer-term — three, five, seven, 10 years … or longer.
That brings me back to Matt’s invitation to participate in our first-annual SPC Mid-Year Review — and to be a contestant on our “Desert Island Stock Challenge.”
Just to review: We asked experts in the SPC Network to imagine being “marooned” on a desert island. And we asked them to tell us what stock or investment they’d grab before that happened — understanding they’d have to keep that investment (can’t check on it, sell it or hedge against it) for as long as they were marooned.
Matt’s pick — a nifty “royalty” play — makes for a good story.
And his rare skill set — as a former Wall Street analyst who can engagingly talk to regular folks — made for an interesting interview. He shared some unique “takes” on what we’ve seen here in 2024. And even better: His “what comes next” projections.
If you missed out on any of the insight from our guests, you can find the reports below:
Desert Island Stocks with Danny Brody, CEO of ORO Capital and publisher of The Net Worth Club.
Desert Island Stocks with Peter Krauth, publisher of The Silver Stock Investor.
I’ll be back tomorrow for the final installment of “Desert Island Stocks.”
See you folks next time;
Desert Island Stocks: A Royalty Streamer and the "Backbone of America"