With Hurricane Matthew Picking Up Steam, Investors Are Piling Into This Generator Stock

While residents in Florida are hoping for the best and bracing for the worst from Hurricane Matthew, traders are scrambling to position their portfolios ahead of what could be a historic storm. Matthew was upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday and is expected to make landfall somewhere on the east coast of Florida on Thursday evening or Friday.

With wind speeds upwards of 130 mph and a potential storm surge in the 13-18 foot range, Matthew could easily be the strongest storm to hit Florida in more than a decade.

Related Link: Should Disney Investors Be Concerned About Hurricane Matthew?

While the hurricane is potentially bad news for insurance companies, theme park operators and airlines, traders have been snatching up shares of Generac Holdings Inc. GNRC all week. Generac makes a wide range of power generation equipment, products that could soon be in high demand if Matthew leaves a large portion of Florida residents in the dark.

Generac shares are up 2.7 percent in Thursday’s session and are now up 8.4 percent in the past five trading days.

Government officials, including President Barack Obama, have been urging Florida residents to evacuate ahead of the deadly storm.

For a bit of perspective, 2004’s Hurricane Jeanne made landfall in the same general area Matthew is expected to make landfall. Despite only being a Category 3 storm Jeanne was responsible for five deaths and $7.6 billion in damage.