Harsco capitalizes on a contemporary trend

Given that the markets continue to exhibit a choppy/consolidation pattern (or perhaps worse), it's best to consider including a few defensive stocks in your portfolio. Low-profile Harsco Corporation (NYSE: HSC) is worth a review.

Harsco is a diversified industrial services and engineering products company that caters to the steel/metals industry. The company offers metal reclamation, slag processing, scrap management and related services for steel/metal manufacturers. HSC's access services business rents/sells concrete-forming equipment, scaffolding, and bridge-decking products, primarily for industrial maintenance and commercial construction clients.

Typically, companies like Harsco would be more-sensitive to the business cycle, but that risk is lessened by HSC's revenue stream diversity, wide 5-continent geographic footprint, and a contemporary trend: recycling. Fortunately for Harso, recycling and reclaiming processes are likely to increase in popularity, for both cost and environmental reasons, in the years ahead. Harsco is well-positioned in this regard, and analysts generally project 13%-20% annual revenue growth for HSC for the immediate years ahead. The Reuters F2007/F2008 EPS consensus estimates for HSC are $2.97/$3.35.