Industrial

Products don't get more boring than carbon black, the backbone of 125-year-old Cabot Corp. The black powder is used in plastics, tires, belts, hoses, and gaskets. But boring was beautiful for Massachusetts manufacturers in 2006, as companies that make or sell shingles (Beacon), valves (Watts), and vehicle recovery systems (LoJack) posted strong revenue gains. It was a decent year for industrial stocks across the board, as Bloomberg's US Industrial index posted a 12.6 percent gain for the year. Who says you can't make it in Massachusetts?
Ranked by revenue in 2006