If you already own the stock, Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) is a play that's likely to test the patience of most investors.

In general, analysts expect CAT to post lower earnings per share through the first half of 2009, then recover in the second half, as various international markets start to recover.

The U.S. economy remains in a pronounced recession. So far, there's little to suggest that job market and household formation trends -- two tell-tale stats regarding prospects for a resumption of both revenue and earnings growth -- have bottomed.

Without question you'd call this a selective market: select the wrong stock, and there's a 30-40% haircut up ahead; select the correct stock, and you're positioned for the recovery with modest downside exposure.

Investing, like the politics that leads to U.S. public policy, is the art of the possible.

Conditions shift, windows of opportunity present themselves, even amid choppy seas. One such opportunity is presenting itself with Fluor (NYSE: FLR).

Fluor is a leading international design, engineering, and contracting firm with projects that include designing and building manufacturing facilities, refineries, pharmaceutical facilities, health care buildings, power plants and telecommunications and transportation infrastructure.

The world's largest maker of farm equipment is due to report earnings on February 18 and the outlook is generally bleak. All of the major drivers behind Deere's (NYSE: DE) formidable business appear to be headed into a tailspin. Global agricultural commodity prices have come down significantly from peaks in 2007 and 2008, leaving farmers with less money to spend.

The industrial equipment giant's brand is synonymous with big, bad earthmoving construction machinery. In fact, it's doubtful that any major construction project performed in America since the Great Depression hasn't been performed without the help of a "Cat."

Given the Obama administration's focus on shovel-ready infrastructure construction jobs as the answer to what's ailing our economy, it stands to reason that Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) equipment will once again be called upon to help rebuild and remodel America's crumbling roads, tunnels and bridges.

Think about this, every time you hear the words "shovel-ready jobs," you should think about the makers of the actual shovels. And there is no denying that Caterpillar makes the biggest and best shovels on the planet.

Take a look at all ten stocks to fall in love with again.

Jim Woods is a Senior Editor for OptionsZone.com.

"In a few years we'll be staring at new highs in the prices of many natural resources," says Larry Edelson, a specialist in resource-related stocks. In Real Wealth, he looks at two exchange-traded funds focused on food and water.

"Mind you, the U.S. and global economies will not get back to the growth levels we've recently seen, not anytime soon.

"But they don't have to for natural resource prices to soar again. The chief reason they will climb again: Massive, worldwide currency devaluations, especially in the U.S. dollar.

"Moreover, natural resources will get a huge boost from the massive infrastructure spending that is now commencing around the world. I expect two key sectors in particular to get a big boost, almost immediately - agriculture and water.

It got little buzz this week, but Meadow Valley Corporation was able to close its going-private transaction. True, the deal size was modest, coming to $61.3 million.

Although, bear in mind that the deal was announced in July of last year -- just before the implosion of the global financial markets. Thus, the private equity sponsor, Insight Equity, had the courage to get the deal done, which will certainly bring credibility to the firm.

Based on the proxy statement, the decision to go private actually began in 2007 (yes, it seems like a different era back then). All in all, it was a diligent process and management was definitely focused.

Do not underestimate the power of a new administration in Washington. With the ability to spend a huge amount of dollars, team Obama can wield tremendous influence in the market.

Case in point is the stem cell space. It is widely expected that Obama will issue an executive order eliminating restrictions on stem cell research.

Stocks like StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM) and Geron Corp. (NASDAQ: GERN) have been moving higher since the inaugural.

Coincidentally, on Friday, GERN announced approval for human trials for its treatment of spinal chord injuries using stem cells. Both GERN and STEM were up big as a result.

Another space expected to do well under the Obama administration is construction. A massive stimulus plan is said to be coming in February. A key point of the plan will be to boost infrastructure spending.

The dollars will benefit companies like Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) and Jacobs Engineering (NYSE: JEC). Unlike stem cells, the market has yet to move these stocks higher. FLR is down more than 10% and JEC is down nearly 18% so far this year.

New York Times (NYSE: NYT) columnist Thomas Friedman in his latest column and again Tuesday night on 'The Charlie Rose Show' returned to his theme of the U.S. effort at nation building.

Nation building, that is, at home. Friedman, among others, has underscored the need for the nation to begin, in a comprehensive way, to rebuild its dilapidated and/or outmoded infrastructure that includes its electric grid, highways, roads, bridges, mass transit systems, schools and other public buildings.

Further, one doesn't have to be a civil engineer or a mechanical engineer to see that the nation's infrastructure has been neglected, and while at times Friedman's discourses on the gleaming magnificence of yet another high tech airport in Asia can begin to grate, his overall conclusion regarding a period of pronounced underinvestment in U.S. public assets is valid.

'Action' is a two-edge sword

Friedman wants 'radical' action, i.e. bold action by President Obama to make up for lost time, infrastructure-wise, and he believes 'Obi 44' has a rare opportunity to act in a big way, given the economic crisis facing our nation, his high public approval rating, and the general desire of public officials across the spectrum to see him succeed.

This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

"Granite Construction (NYSE: GVA) is a play on President-elect Barack Obama's plans to plow vast amounts of money into infrastructure," notes contrarian Todd Salomone.

In Schaeffer's Investment Research, the analyst explains, "Granite Construction -- my top pick for 2009 -- provides civil construction services, including projects designed to improve streets, roads, highways and bridges."

"Investing in infrastructure is one of Obama's solutions to address a deteriorating economy. There is $64 billion in 'ready-to-go' projects, of which GVA should be a beneficiary.

"The shares Granite Construction have performed admirably in 2008 amid an extremely weak broad market. For example, through mid-December, GVA shares were up 24% as the broader S&P 500 Index was down 38%.

"In November 2008, the equity climbed above the 40 area, which has capped the shares' rally attempts during the previous 12 months. For chart watchers, a concern would be the 48 area, which would mark a 50% retracement of the August 2007 high and the October 2008 low. Such retracement areas can sometimes act as technical resistance for a stock.

President-elect Barack Obama has said his $700 billion stimulus package will add three million jobs to the economy. Skeptics don't think this is possible because the recession has grown stronger at a speed most economists did not anticipate.

Now, Obama's people think he can do ever better. According to the AP, "President-elect Barack Obama countered critics with an analysis Saturday by his economic team showing that a program of tax cuts and spending like he's proposed would create up to 4.1 million jobs." That math is hard to defend.

The economy lost 540,000 jobs in December. Some experts say it could stay on that pace for the first half of this year. If so, the economy will drop another three million jobs. Certainly looking at the full year, the three million number is certainly reasonable.

Much of the Obama plan is based on building out infrastructure for the energy grid, medical IT, and public works. Programs of that magnitude could take several quarters to get in place. They will involve complex logistics and new agencies to supervise them. By the time most of that is up and running, it could be near to the close of the year.

The reasons that adding four million jobs in America is unlikely is that the economy will shed jobs faster than a stimulus package can ad them, certainly during the period when the economy may be taking its hardest hit. Obama can't fill in that hole fast enough, let alone build a mountain on top of it.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a editor at 247wallst.com.

Not all infrastructure plays are created equal. What has been a fabulous trend to ride since the lows of November has left a few players behind. One of those is Manitowoc Company (NYSE: MTW).

Granted MTW has improved off it lows, but it has not shared the same momentum heading into 2009 as others. Shares MTW sold off to the tune of 12% Thursday and lost another 3% on Friday.

The company stated that profit will likely come in at the low end of its previously announced guidance range of $3.15 to $3.25 per share. Given that there's only a 3% difference between earning $3.15 per share and $3.25 per share, what accounts for the other 9% of today's sell-off?

The company manufactures and sells cranes: lattice-boom crawler cranes, mobile telescopic cranes, tower cranes and boom trucks for use in energy, petrochemical, industrial projects and infrastructure development such as the building of roads, bridges, commercial and residential construction, and mining and dredging.

These are just the things that will do well once the new administration passes its massive infrastructure spending bill. For whatever reason, the stock cannot ride the coattails of this expected boom to its business. MTW now forecasts earnings for '09 of just $1.35 to $1.60 per share. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $2.63 per share, so I take the sell-off not as an indictment of 2008 earnings, but of 2009 earnings.

These downside revisions are troubling to be sure, but do they set the table for future earnings gains?

President-elect Barack Obama campaigned -- and has continued to generate positive press -- on his commitment to job creation.

I've been scratching my head at this for awhile and wondering: Why is job creation a worthy goal? Shouldn't the goal be economic growth, and job creation is a happy byproduct of that?

Writing in Reason, Jacob Sullum, dissects exactly why Obama's rhetoric on job creation is nonsensical, illogical, and flies in the face of economics:

Obama also wants to spend $60 billion to "provide financing to transportation infrastructure projects across the nation." He says "these projects will create up to two million new direct and indirect jobs and stimulate approximately $35 billion per year in new economic activity. Fixing a bridge, widening a highway or building a light rail system may or may not make economic sense. But the fact that it involves paying people to operate jackhammers and pour concrete does not make it any more worthwhile. If creating jobs can justify transportation projects, why not fill the country with bridges to nowhere.

My optimistic hope is that Obama realizes that job creation is not a worthy goal and mentions only because he's politically savvy enough to know that it will generate consensus around his ambitious proposals. But if his billions of dollars in infrastructure projects are motivated by a desire to create jobs, we are in a lot of trouble.

The U.S. housing sector remains in deep recession. Consumer spending is down. Business investment remains lackluster, with industrial production indicators hitting new lows monthly. And lay-offs have hit alarming levels.

Against this backdrop it's understandable if one holds a not-so-optimistic view regarding the U.S. economy and the markets for early 2009: the economy's fundamentals are weak, and it's going to take a lot of stimulus, fiscal and otherwise, to turn them around.

Nevertheless, there are bright spots -- in this case literally, as well as macroeconomically -- regarding the U.S. economy of tomorrow.

This way to the future

One small, but significant data point: despite the plunge in oil prices to around $50 per barrel, demand for solar energy and solar panels remains strong. Demand for solar energy systems increased 45% in 2007 and is expected to register another impressive gain in 2008, The New York Times reported.

About 25,000-35,000 workers -- installers, manufacturers, distributors, project developers, and material suppliers -- are currently directly employed in the solar energy sector, which is expected to grow to more than 110,000 in 2016, according to Solar Energy Institute Association data, The Times reported.

And here's an equally important stat: the jobs pay between $15-30 per hour, with many solar companies offering health benefits, The Times reported.

President-elect Obama has said that he wants to rebuild our infrastructure as a way of jump starting our economy and creating jobs. What does this really mean? To better understand this concept, let's look at a single imaginary construction project. Let's also assume that the Federal Government acts to approve projects submitted by state and local governments. Which people and what skills are involved in it?

Well, first you need people who are skilled at creating and preparing budgets, who know Federal, State and Local laws and regulations and who also know environmental laws at the federal, state and local levels. You need people who know how to write and submit bids with reasonable time constraints. You need computer programmers to write the programs for the project.

Then you need contractors who can perform and complete the project. They, in turn, hire project managers, foremen/women and construction crews. You need civil engineers, architects, and surveyors. You need material suppliers and manufacturers. You also need inspectors, consultants, accountants, auditors and tax specialists. And throughout this process, there are a host of federal, state and local agencies and their employees who must be involved.