{Q} Such as?

{A} A company like United Technologies [NYSE: UTX]. Years ago, United Technologies was considered a defense-aerospace business that was extremely cyclical, so it carried a lot of risk if you owned the company when the economy was moving in the wrong direction. What UTX has become over time is a company that is much more diversified, not as reliant as they once were on the economic cycle.

{Q} How so?

{A} They provide high-tech products around the world, and are leaders in the six business segments in which they operate. They own Otis, the elevator and escalator company, which is the world’s leader in that space. They also own Pratt and Whitney, which is in the commercial and military aircraft engine business. Even though the commercial airline industry has had its problems, significant new orders have been coming in, primarily from the non–U.S. carriers. They own Carrier—heating, air conditioning. People tend to misunderstand that business. Carrier is primarily a commercial versus residential business, and it’s not as cyclical as you might think.

[United Technologies is] an excellent example of a company still considered highly cyclical; the difference is that they’ve changed their whole persona.

{Q} Any others?

{A} Precision Castparts [NYSE: PCP], which is in Portland, Oregon. When you think of casting, you think of huge furnaces, the guys who are grinding things down, dirty work. But with this company, everything is basically done by robotics. The traditional image of a casting company couldn’t be farther from the truth. This is a company that is growing like a growth company should grow—20 percent to 30 percent top and bottom line. They’re squeezing out costs, streamlining their business.

We also own many in the traditional growth categories. We own Starbucks [Nasdaq: SBUX], Whole Foods [Nasdaq: WFMI], and a fair amount of technology, plus some health care stocks that you’d have to put in the aggressive-growth category.

{Q} Any locals?

{A} We own St. Jude Me-dical [NYSE: STJ] and C. H. Robinson [Nasdaq: CHRW]—both excellent companies.