NX
Quanex Building Products Corporation
stock NYSE

GDP = C+I+G+NX
GDP measurers aggregate spending that is consumer spending, government spending, investment and net exports (which measure the amount of monetary spending by foreign countries into economy.
Its pretty easy to decouple aggregate spending from broader economic health, as:
\-consumer spending can mask bad economic problems via copious amounts of debt
\-investments can mask bad economic problems via thinks like circular investment (TM) in which nothing is produced but money changes hands and that counts as spending
\-Net exports can mask bad economic problems due to the fact it measures inflow/outflow of goods and does not quantify the conditions in which goods were produced in
so what are the alternatives, this list however is not full by any means:
\-Measuring aggregate energy use, there is an obvious correlation between the amount of energy use/consumption and how well developed an country is
\-Measuring aggregate living standards via the HDI
\-GNI, measuring total income of everyone in the economy rather than spending

|Basket|Rank|Company|Analysis|Potential value angle|Current status|Counterpoint|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Flood / dike / water infrastructure|1|DEME|Listed European exposure to dredging, coastal protection, sea defences, beach nourishment, marine infrastructure and dike-related work. Directly relevant to Dutch-style flood protection.|Real assets and know-how: specialised fleet, long project history, engineering capability and public infrastructure relationships. Closer to physical adaptation than most ESG names.|FY2025 turnover €4.2bn, EBITDA €931m, EBITDA margin 22.4%, net profit €346m, order book €7.6bn, dividend €4.50/share.|Not pure dikes; offshore wind and marine contracting matter too.|
|Flood / dike / water infrastructure|2|Sulzer|Pumps, water, wastewater and stormwater pumping stations. Relevant for flooding, wastewater resilience, water transport and low-lying urban areas.|Less pure than KSB, but financially stronger. Installed base and aftermarket/service give it a better “sleep at night” profile.|FY2025 sales CHF 3.56bn, EBITDA CHF 556m, EBITDA margin 15.6%, net income CHF 294.7m, FCF CHF 212.5m, ROCE 21.1%, net debt CHF 267m.|Broader industrial; not a pure climate hedge.|
|Flood / dike / water infrastructure|3|KSB|Direct flood-control and stormwater name: pumps and valves for drainage, flood barriers, low-lift pumping stations, dams and dikes.|Strong engineering niche. If more flood infrastructure is needed, KSB sells the boring hardware that actually moves the water.|FY2025 order intake €3.203bn, sales €3.035bn, EBIT €252.1m, EBIT margin 8.3%, dividend proposal €26.50/share. Pumps order intake up 6.1%, driven by Water Market growth of 12.5%.|Lower margin/FCF than Sulzer. Needs more margin of safety.|
|Flood / dike / water infrastructure|4|Mueller Water Products|Aging water networks, valves, hydrants, leak detection, pressure management and water-intelligence software.|Strong “boring infrastructure” angle. Water loss, pressure management and pipe repair should matter more as systems get stressed.|Q2 FY2026 net sales $384.4m, adjusted EBITDA $97.2m, adjusted EBITDA margin 25.3%, FY2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance raised to $360–365m.|US-heavy; likely already seen as quality.|
|Built environment: heat / rainfall / water resilience|1|Aalberts|Building climate systems, hydronic flow control, heating/cooling efficiency, sanitary systems and water-related building infrastructure. Relevant to extreme heat and resilient buildings.|Good industrial compounder profile. Not the purest adaptation name, but useful if the goal is resilient buildings rather than speculative climate exposure.|FY2025 revenue €3.09bn, EBITA €410m, EBITA margin 13.2%, FCF €361m, leverage 1.8x, dividend €1.15/share, €75m buyback announced.|Organic revenue declined in 2025. Price matters.|
|Built environment: heat / rainfall / water resilience|2|Wienerberger|Pipes, roofing, rainwater management, stormwater systems, water infrastructure and climate-resilient building materials.|More cyclical, but a real asset-heavy adaptation supplier. Pipelife gives it a water-management angle; roofing and building envelope matter under heat/rain extremes.|FY2025 revenue €4.566bn, operating EBITDA €754m, EBITDA margin 16.5%, FCF €474m, leverage 2.2x, dividend proposal €0.95/share.|Construction-cycle exposure. Needs patience.|
|Built environment: heat / rainfall / water resilience|3|Genuit|Drainage, surface-water management, blue-green roofs, ventilation, low-carbon heating and built-environment water/climate systems.|More focused than Wienerberger, with Polypipe/Nuaire/Monodraught-type exposure. Smaller, but also more UK-cycle exposed.|FY2025 revenue £602.1m, underlying operating profit £94.4m, margin 15.7%, cash conversion 102%, leverage 1.5x, dividend 12.9p/share.|UK construction and policy risk.|
|Crop failure / food-system resilience|1|KWS Saat|Seed genetics, crop breeding, yield stability and climate-resilient agriculture. Most direct multiregional crop-failure name in the list.|Strong specialist moat: breeding libraries, crop knowledge, farmer relationships and R&D. Not a commodity input play; more upstream resilience.|9M 2025/26 revenue €1.349bn, EBITDA €386.8m, EBIT €311.1m, net income €220m, EPS €6.67. Outlook confirms stable comparable revenue and EBITDA margin excluding one-offs of 19–21%.|Ag markets are cyclical. Farmer economics matter.|
|Crop failure / food-system resilience|2|Corbion|Food preservation, fermentation, shelf-life extension, lactic acid derivatives, natural food safety and algae-derived nutrition.|“Waste less and preserve longer” leg of the crop-failure thesis. In a stressed food system, shelf life and food safety become more valuable.|FY2025 sales €1.267bn, adjusted EBITDA €204.3m, EBITDA margin 16.1%, FCF €90.8m, EPS up 63.3%, dividend proposal €1.00/share.|Less direct than KWS, but financially cleaner.|
|Crop failure / food-system resilience|3|Valmont|Irrigation, agricultural productivity and infrastructure. Bridges drought adaptation, food production and utility infrastructure.|Good dual-purpose business: utility infrastructure plus irrigation. More durable than a pure irrigation small-cap, but less pure thematically.|FY2025 net sales $4.10bn, net earnings $350.3m, diluted EPS $16.79, backlog $1.65bn, debt $829.5m, cash $187.1m, net leverage around 1.1x.|Agriculture segment is under pressure.|
|Crop failure / food-system resilience|4|TOMRA|Sensor-based food sorting, food-loss reduction and resource efficiency. Helps make more usable food out of existing production.|Strong technology and installed-base angle in sorting. Fits the thesis, but diluted by recycling/collection exposure.|FY2025 revenue €1.318bn, net income €93m. Q4 adjusted EBITA €71m, adjusted EBITA margin 19%, Food order backlog up 26%.|Recycling weakness clouds the story.|
|Crop failure / food-system resilience|5|Bioceres|Drought-tolerant crop trait optionality, especially HB4 wheat/soy. Very direct climate-resilient crop angle.|Thematic moat is real if adoption works, but the business is less financially settled than KWS or Corbion.|FY2025 revenue $335.3m, down 28% YoY, adjusted EBITDA $28.3m, net loss $55.2m, operating cash flow $53m.|Not core value yet. Needs a big discount.|
|High-purity niche water / adaptation tech|1|Energy Recovery|Desalination efficiency. Pressure exchangers reduce reverse-osmosis energy consumption and make seawater desalination more feasible.|Narrow but strong moat: high-efficiency component technology, long design life and very high gross margin profile.|FY2025 revenue $135m, gross margin 65.1%, operating margin 17.7%, net income $23m, FCF $17.4m, cash/investments $83.3m.|Small and project-cyclical.|
|High-purity niche water / adaptation tech|2|Water Intelligence|Leak detection and water-loss prevention. Helps utilities, property managers and insurers reduce wasted water and damage.|Small-cap service-network moat through American Leak Detection and monitoring/detection/repair workflows.|Q1 2026 revenue $23.2m, up 9%. FT profile showed TTM revenue £64.74m and net income £3.30m.|Pure but small and illiquid.|
|High-purity niche water / adaptation tech|3|NX Filtration|Hollow-fiber nanofiltration for water reuse, PFAS/micropollutant removal and low-chemical water treatment.|Potential technology moat, Dutch water angle and very high thematic purity.|TTM revenue €12.68m and net income -€25.69m. Company reports more than 80 HFNF installations operational or commissioning.|Watchlist only; still loss-making.|
|High-purity niche water / adaptation tech|4|Cibus|Gene-edited crop traits licensed to seed companies; long-term optionality for crop resilience.|Platform optionality is interesting, but still early.|2026 update referenced commercialization work and annual net cash usage target of roughly $30m or less.|Too early for a value-first basket.|