CHRIS VERSACE: Good morning, Action Alerts Plus members. We have a busy day ahead of us, as the pace of earnings season accelerates yet again. And we have some key manufacturing data out as well. While we have no portfolio earnings today, as I discussed with JD during yesterday's roundup, we will be mining the reports we do get. We'll be watching them for insights and other data points that we will use to update our thoughts on existing portfolio holdings as well as those on our bullpen shopping list.
For example, in our opening comments to members today, I noted Caterpillar's North American construction business rose more than 30% year over year in the June quarter. That strength is likely tied to infrastructure and other stimulus spending out of Washington. Clearly good news for our shares of Vulcan Materials, United Rentals, and of course, Deere's construction business.
But we're far more interested in how Cat sees the second half of the year playing out. The degree to which it sees end market demand accelerating, the more likely we could see even stronger second half demand for Vulcan, United Rentals, and of course, Deere's construction business.
Now, that's one example. And we have a sea of companies reporting not only today, but later this week. And we will be doing the same process. Today, that means digesting and reassessing what companies, ranging from Rockwell Automation, Kennametal, Eaton, Cisco, Advanced Micro Devices, elf Beauty, Terex, and others, say this morning and after today's close.
Now, I have to tell you, this isn't anything new that we're doing with the portfolio. Rather, this is all part of doing the homework and key to being what we call an active investor. We don't simply fix it and forget it. No crock pot investing here, like some do. And of course, as we update our thoughts for these individual companies and what they mean for the portfolio, we will also finetune our views for the bullpen. But also, we will reassessing prospects for the second half of the year for the S&P 500 and its earnings.
As we wrote in last week's roundup and again today in our opening comments, with the S&P 500's current valuation rather stretched, we will need to see earnings expectations for that basket of 500 stocks move higher in order to see the overall stock market move demonstrably higher and on a sustained basis. As we watch for this, we recognize we're moving into a seasonally weak time of year for the market.
And while we have our shopping list, we will take our time putting shares into the portfolio basket when it makes sense to do so. So let's quickly review what stocks are on our shopping list. Inside the active portfolio, Universal Display and Applied Materials. And turning to the bullpen, that means Morgan Stanley, McDonald's, and Qualcomm. Members, that's today's Rundown. Thanks for joining us. We'll be back with another episode tomorrow.