One of the biggest challenges which manufacturing companies and too large ones face is the right allocation of capital. The reason, they go through various economic and business cycles where they face both the problem of plenty and scarcity of capital at different points of time. When a metal company starts making money, it mints money. Post that what it does --buy more mines, expand capacity or retire debt -- will determine its future. When looking at manufacturing companies, look carefully at PEG ratio which long-term indicates many things in a better manner than most other ratios.
