I’ve been able to spend more time researching new ideas during the lull between earnings seasons. As I’ve mentioned before, valuations in many sectors look stretched, but that doesn’t keep me from searching for new names. I am by no means a traditional value investor, but I do like the comfort of buying stocks with reasonable valuations.

In a hunt for value, I’ve been poking around in some beaten up sectors.

This search led me to the oil patch where I found a recent IPO that makes a specialized sand used in fracking. SmartSand’s (NSDQ: SND) product makes fracking more efficient and fills the bill for oil and gas exploration companies that need to lower their cost structure.

Look for more buys as the IPO patch starts blooming.

After closing out the Campbell Soup puts for a 64% gain, the bad news keeps flowing from the food sector. Last week spice maker McCormick (NYSE: MCK), a stock on which we hold puts, added its name to the list of weak earnings reporters.

Revenue was flat without the help of acquisitions and management warned that a spike in the cost of raw materials would erode any benefit from higher prices. The company even blamed soft sales on the delay of tax refunds, one of the flimsiest excuses I’ve ever seen. I don’t recall anyone ever saving up their tax refund for spices. Yes, yes, I know- a few ounces of saffron can put a dent in your wallet, but I don’t think that’s what McCormick was referring to.

I’m still holding the McCormick and Kroger (NYSE: KR) puts, which don’t expire until June and July respectively.

In other news…

Acuity (NYSE: AYI), a problem child in the portfolio, continued to drift lower due to negative comments from an analyst at William Blair. The company reports second-quarter earnings next Tuesday, April 4, before the open with a conference call at 10 am. The analyst fretted that earnings may be a bit light but is convinced the stock’s low price reflects that concern.

If the results are disappointing, I’ll be selling the stock. Management has blamed issues in the last two quarters on a delay in orders but has promised they will pick up. The stock is cheap enough that unless the quarter is a disaster, it should move higher.

A new transportation spending bill announced by California Governor Jerry Brown should drive profits for Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC). The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 will invest $52B over the next decade, split evenly between state and local investments.California is Vulcan Materials’ second largest state.

Vulcan received a boost to its earnings estimates by brokerage firms SunTrust and Citi, who also noted any uptick in federal spending would benefit Vulcan.

The Chemours Company (NYSE: CC) received a boost from an upgrade to Buy at Jefferies. The analyst raised his price target on the shares to $48 from $35. He believes the stock could rally further based on structural improvements in TiO2 and fluoropolymers. TiO2 is used in construction and fluoropolymers are the company’s exclusive green coolant replacement.

Also, the stock has jumped 10% since a presentation at a Barclay’s conference last week, an indication that management is exuding some very bullish tones.

Criteo (NSDQ: CRTO) dropped 2% due to a valuation downgrade at Goldman Goldman Sachs analyst Heath Terry downgraded Criteo to Neutral citing the limited potential for share price outperformance with the stock up 24% year-to-date.

At the same time, he raised his price target for the shares to $51 from $49. Although the higher target is just barely above where the stock is now, downgrades on valuation, especially when paired with price target increases, do not hold stocks down for long. I expect Criteo to continue its upward climb based on the strength of targeted internet marketing.