Building materials

Two other housing-related companies to benefit both from ongoing natural disasters and the housing rebound are Eagle Materials (EXP) and USG (USG). Together they dominate the U.S wallboard market, and they've been boosting prices lately. Eagle is the low-cost wallboard producer, and it dominates many of its regional markets. It also sells cement. USG also sells ceilings, tiles and flooring. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) owns a 33.5% stake in USG -- and bailed it out during the worst of the credit meltdown.

Infrastructure and construction engineering

"I have some advice for our leaders in Washington," says Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research. "Next time you folks decide to spend $800 billion to stimulate the economy, do so on a national infrastructure program to bury all the power, phone and cable lines."

Indeed, it seems dumb to repair power and cable lines downed by falling trees during this storm, then do it again with the next big storm.

With incidences of harsh and unusual weather increasing, power line repairs aren't the only investment we'll be making over and over again in the power grid. Substations also get flooded, damaging equipment. Transformers blow up.

At some point, politicians, utilities and transit companies will wise up and make significant changes in infrastructure to adapt to the new, harsher weather. This might include the installation of streets made with porous concrete and drainage systems that get rid of excess floodwater quickly, the hardening or relocation of power transformers and equipment to protect them in storms, and perhaps even the use of sea walls.

"Sandy refocuses everybody on one word: infrastructure," says Dan Veru, the chief investment officer at Palisade Capital Management, which manages the Pyxis Small-Cap Equity (HSZAX +0.56%, news) fund. He thinks one company that should benefit here is Quanta Services (PWR), which installs and repairs power and telecom infrastructure and natural gas distribution systems. "Some places could be as much as a month without power. People are going to start talking about the aging grid," says Veru.

Next, consider General Cable (BGC), which sells wire and cable. It specializes in cables for harsh environments. So it seems like a natural play on the "new normal" in weather. But it also sells the regular wire used in power grids. General Cable has been expanding in areas with less-developed infrastructure in Asia, Latin America and Africa, where an emerging middle class will increase electricity usage big time, leading to grid overhauls. So General Cable is an emerging-markets play, as well as a natural-disaster play.

Infrastructure upgrades also will drive business to construction engineering companies such as Granite Construction (GVA), which handles projects such as roads, bridges, airports and dams; Aecom Technology (ACM), which helped design the London Olympic Park and the California high-speed rail system; and Sterling Construction (STRL), which focuses on transportation and water infrastructure, including storm sewers and flood control.

One knock on these companies has been that they get a large portion of their sales from governments, which are under budgetary pressure. But politicians may find new priorities if more people complain to them about hardships from the destruction of the infrastructure by natural disasters.

Generators, pumps, filters and water systems

Obvious hurricane plays include companies that sell generators and pumps. Generator maker Generac (GNRC) spiked recently on good earnings news and Hurricane Sandy, rising above $38 from below $28. I'm not sure I'd buy right now, after this spike, except as a long-term hold. But this won't be the last natural disaster to drive up demand for generators.

Cummins (CMI), another play here, is primarily known for the sale of engines used in vehicles, but it also sells generators and filtration systems.

Xylem (XYL), which sells pumps and equipment used in water treatment, testing and filtration, is a pure-play water company. It should get a boost from Sandy because of all the water-related equipment destroyed by the storm. But Xylem is also a long-term play on the ongoing upgrade of antiquated water systems, says Russell Croft, portfolio co-manager of the Croft Value Fund (CLVFX). He thinks the stock looks reasonably priced at 13 times earnings, since it will grow profits at a double-digit pace for the next few years. About 40% of revenue comes from aftermarket replacement parts, so Xylem has some fairly predictable recurring revenue, adding an element of safety here.

Pentair (PNR) sells pumps, water-filtration and purification systems and enclosures that house electronics. Thus it's a play on natural disasters in several ways. Pentair has a partnership with the water division of General Electric (GE), which gives the company access to GE technology and customers.

Insurers

Insurers have an odd relationship with natural disasters. Short term, disasters hurt because they mean payouts. Long term, insurers may benefit if natural disasters take enough capacity -- or capital -- out of the insurance sector. In this scenario, they can raise prices.

But Sandy doesn't really tip the scales either way for investors in property and casualty insurers like Chubb (CB), Travelers (TRV) and Allstate (ALL), says Stephan Petersen, an insurance sector expert with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

The losses aren't big enough to hurt them badly, or to reduce capacity enough to boost pricing power. Homeowners have been facing rate increases in the 8% to 10% range, but that trend is not likely to get worse because of Sandy. "I don't think this is significant enough to change the trajectory of what is going on," says Petersen.

Utilities

It seems as if utilities serving the areas struck by Sandy, including Consolidated Edison (ED), Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG) and FirstEnergy (FE) should take a big hit, because so much of their equipment got destroyed. But it's not that simple.

While utilities' fourth-quarter revenue will go down and costs will spike near term, in the long run regulators will let them recoup the costs by charging more, points out Morningstar analyst Travis Miller. Not only do customers go without power for weeks. They have to pick up the tab on the damages, too.

At the time of publication, Michael Brush did not own or control shares of any company or fund mentioned in this column. .

Michael Brush is the editor of Brush Up on Stocks, an investment newsletter. Click here to find Brush's most recent articles and blog posts.