building materials

Investors are still mostly spooked by anything related to housing. But some pros are starting to cherry-pick among the group's potential long-term winners. Among them is Louisiana-Pacific, one of North America's largest forest-products companies.

Serious Materials is a green construction materials company that has raised more than $60 million in venture capital, thanks to innovative products like its EcoRock sheetrock, which is made with less than one-fifth the energy used to create standard drywall.