I'm talking about Dominion Resources, American Tower, and Kimco Realty. We selected these companies to come on CNBC to give a sample of the "other" economy--the one that's robust and not seeing a slowdown. It's the economy that's seeing an uptick, and I don't think it's all that ephemeral.
Let's start with Dominion. Here's a power company that has connected 20 percent more lines than it did last year, one of the best year-over-year comparisons it has ever seen. It's a company that, despite weather that's unfavorable to power use, has still achieved that number basically because of growth in lines to people and small business.
Dominion has a data center business that's the strongest in the country because it is known for its cheap and reliable power. The company has a network of pipelines to bring cheap natural gas in from Pennsylvania and Ohio, the Marcellus and the Utica Shales.
Plus, it's getting permits to convert an inbound import facility for natural gas to an export facility, as Cheniere is doing. Dominion will be putting 5,000 people to work after it gets the approvals.
To me that's just a growth story, plain and simple--from a utility. That's not to mention its 3.9 percent dividend yield that gets raised year over year. If people thought of Dominion instead of Abercrombie & Fitch or Zynga or Facebook or Bank of America, they would love the stock market.
Now let's turn to Kimco. Here's a shopping-center company that was supposed to be left for dead by Amazon. Instead, not only has that moment passed, but the retailers in its centers all embrace the Web. It augments their brick-and-mortar businesses. Kimco is actually in a position wherein it has very few empty spaces, less than 6 percent, and is very close to the pre-recession levels. It raises rates regularly.
Kimco is a nationwide real estate investment trust, and it encompasses all levels of commerce. Plus, like Dominion, it has been able to refinance debt at low coupon rates. That alone has enhanced cash flow.
Kimco is simply a great American story. And it yields at 3.8 percent even at the stock's 52-week high.
Finally, there's one of the greatest long-term growth stories out there: American Tower. By the way, this is the only company I follow that is moving aggressively into international markets because it is taking advantage of weakened competitors and sewing up gigantic markets such as Brazil and India.
The tower market is fabulous. Once you have a tower, you can load it up with as many transponders as you want, making it so that the gross margins fly on all the additional revenue.
Every iteration of generation--3G, 4G, and now 5G--requires more transponders and you get more rent. It's a constant stream worldwide, and it is growing, and I can't see any end to it.
With gigantic cash flow, an ability to grow and return capital and a domestic oligopoly with Crown Castle and SBA Communications, American Tower's got more runway here than it can handle. But that's nothing compared with its international opportunities.
Oh, by the way, while India's power went out, American Tower didn't go down. It has a generator with every tower. It was probably the only thing that worked there!
So there they are: three stories to combat the gloom of Coach and Starbucks or Abercrombie and Chipotle.
There they are, right in front of you.
Disclosures: Cramer's charitable trust has no positions in the stocks mentioned.
