The Tide Is Turning For Ingersoll-Rand

A year and a half ago, I thought that Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE:IR) looked undervalued, and the shares are up more than 70% since then. Now, to be fair, I thought Atlas Copco (OTCPK:ATLKY) was the better pick at that time, and Atlas's almost 80% rise since then isn't that much ahead of Ingersoll-Rand, so I think this had more to do with being generally right that the market was too worried about the long-term future of these industrial businesses.

In any case, Ingersoll-Rand's management has made progress in both improving the business and shifting the sentiment. I frankly think there's been more progress on the former than the latter, and so there could still be some upside as investors take a more "normalized" view of the company and its prospects (rather than always seemingly expecting something to go wrong). The May 10 Investor Day likely isn't going to be revolutionary for sentiment, but a clear discussion of the company's innovation and productivity initiatives as well as its plans for capital deployment could further strengthen that improving trend in sentiment.

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The Tide Is Turning For Ingersoll-Rand