With that in mind, I believe Hill & Smith (LSE:HILS) could be a great passive income stock for my holdings. Here’s why.

Roads and infrastructure

As a quick introduction, Hill & Smith is a supplier of infrastructure products such as road safety barriers, plastic drainage pipes, zinc coating for steel structures, and bridges. It is best known for building the crash barriers found on roads but also offers other road safety products such as lighting.

So what’s happening with Hill shares currently? Well, as I write, they’re trading for 1,214p. At this time last year, the stock was trading for 1,757p, which is a 30% drop over a 12-month period. I believe the shares have dropped due to macroeconomic headwinds coupled with the geopolitical events in Ukraine.

A passive income stock with risks

As with any dividend stock, dividends are never guaranteed and can be cancelled at the discretion of the business to conserve cash. A prime example of this is when the pandemic struck.

In relation to Hill itself, macroeconomic headwinds could hamper progress and returns. Soaring inflation, the rising cost of materials, and the supply chain crisis, could hurt performance and returns. Rising costs can place pressure on profit margins which underpin dividends. Furthermore, in times of economic uncertainty, infrastructure spending can be curtailed. I do view this final issue as a short-term risk, however.

Why I like Hill & Smith shares

Let’s take a look at the positives then. Firstly, I believe Hill & Smith shares have some defensive capabilities. This is because roads are essential in the modern world and safety barriers are a key part of this. Hill has an excellent profile and provides its products throughout the developed world. This should boost performance and any passive income I hope to make.

Next, infrastructure spending in the world is only increasing in the longer term. This includes the number of roads and buildings, both domestic and commercial, to cope with an increasing global population. This increase in spending should boost Hill & Smith’s future performance.

Next, at current levels, Hill shares offer a modest dividend yield of 3%. This is higher than the FTSE 250 average of just under 2%, however. A key part of my investment strategy is to focus on the long term. I would expect this rate of return to continue growing based on Hill’s defensive abilities as well as increased infrastructure spending worldwide.

Finally, I can see that Hill has a consistent track record of performance. I am aware that past performance is not a guarantee of the future, however. Looking back, it has recorded consistent revenue for the past four years and profit growth in the past two years. In fact, 2021 was its highest performance recorded based on revenue.

In conclusion, I believe Hill & Smith is an excellent passive income stock that could boost my holdings now and for the foreseeable future. I would add the shares to my portfolio.

Road warrior

I reckon that Hill and Smith’s (LSE: HILS) a UK share that could deliver big returns over the next 10 years. This business is most famous for building the crash barriers that can be found alongside roads. But it offers an array of other roadside furniture like signs, lighting apparatus and bridges too.

Its operations can be found all over the globe, from Australia and Sweden to the UK and the US. In my opinion, it can expect demand for its products to rise as huge infrastructure-building projects come on stream in the years ahead.

Yet a risk to Hill & Smith’s profits outlook in the UK has just emerged. The government plans to launch a £27bn road-building programme, a move that should provide a meaty revenues boost for the UK share. But a legal challenge on environmental grounds threatens to scupper the construction project. I still think the firm is an attractive buy though, even with that UK issue.

Profits projections can fall short if trading conditions change. But City analysts think Hill & Smith’s earnings will rise 31% in 2021. This leaves it trading on a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 20 times.

A green US share

I believe that buying Blink Charging (NASDAQ: BLNK) is another good investment idea for the 2020s.

This US share builds and operates charging stations from which drivers can juice up their vehicles at home, at work or on the street. This puts it in pole position to ride the EV revolution in my opinion.

Despite the broader slowdown in the new car market last year, sales of these cars rose 4% in Blink Charging’s home territory of the US in 2020. Demand for low-carbon vehicles is likely to keep growing too, as legislators are increasingly laying down ambitious targets for EV adoption, and car manufacturers accelerate development in this particular field.

That said, I think there is a serious threat to Blink Charging’s long-term earnings outlook. Plug-in EV sales are soaring today, sure, but hydrogen vehicles may eventually prove to be the winner. They’re quicker to fill up and their fuel cells offer better range than the majority of electric batteries. New hydrogen fuelling stations are also being built all over the world. And the world’s largest carmakers are also investing huge sums into this form of green mobility too. Hyundai, for example, has just announced plans to build a vast hydrogen cell manufacturing plant in China.

Despite this risk, I still feel that Blink Charging could deliver big returns for UK share investors over the next decade. This is even though City analysts expect the company to remain loss-making this year. And especially as the company aggressively builds out its charging station network through a mix of organic investment and acquisition activity.

Getting rich from UK shares isn’t a simple process. It’s become easier in recent years as the amount of material and guidance from experts like The Motley Fool has exploded. But it takes time and some trial-and-error, too, to come up with a robust investing strategy and build a five-star stocks portfolio. It also requires a lot of financial discipline to keep putting money aside to build that shares portfolio, of course.

There is a short cut to making big money from share investing, however. That’s by buying UK shares after a stock market crash. It’s not a secret as such. Hundreds of Brits made millions in Stocks and Shares ISAs in the 2010s by using this very trick. Yet the lack of serious dip buying after the recent market crash suggests it’s a strategy many investors aren’t willing to try.

2 top dip buys

The panic that accompanies stock market crashes means that high-quality stocks are always sold off along with the dogs. The 2020 crash is no different in this regard. Even UK shares in great financial shape to sail through the economic downturn have been chucked out. You and I can buy them at low cost today, watch them soar in value as corporate profits steadily improve and investor appetite improves, and then sell them at a fat profit.

The London Stock Exchange is loaded with top-quality UK shares like this. Let me fill you in on a couple on my own ISA watchlist:

• I’m thinking of using the 35% share price decline at AG Barr in 2020 as a dip-buying opportunity. Recent Covid-19 lockdowns smashed demand for its drinks across the hospitality and the ‘on the go’ segments. The long-term outlook for the Irn Bru manufacturer remains quite robust, though. Barr’s brand power is as beloved as ever, allowing it to raise prices whatever broader economic conditions are like. And it remains hugely cash generative, too, giving it the strength to ride out the current economic crisis and to continue investing in its products too.
• Hill & Smith’s 20% share price decline in 2020 has also attracted my attention. This UK share manufactures road barriers, signs, gantries, and other fixtures you see at the side of the road. In other words it builds products that are indispensable whatever broader economic conditions are like. Indeed, with infrastructure spending on the march in both its British and US markets, the long-term profits outlook here remains quite robust as well.

Getting rich with UK shares

These are just a couple of the too-good-to-miss UK shares available to buy today. Browsing The Motley Fool’s huge catalogue of exclusive reports can help you find even more. So do some research and go dip buying today. You could get seriously rich and possibly even make a million.

Like its cousin Tritax Big Box, this small-cap owns and lets large warehousing and distribution hubs to retailers, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturers and logistics companies. The difference is that Tritax Eurobox’s property empire is located not in the UK but across mainland Europe.

The business is, unlike its British relative, yet to report any disruption to its operations following the coronavirus outbreak. Even if it does, any current trouble will prove but a mere fleck on the company’s outlook for the rest of the decade and beyond.

It noted in March: “Structural drivers of accelerating e-commerce growth, automation of omni-channel supply chains, and ongoing urbanisation continue to increase demand for prime big box logistics assets.”

With vacancy rates tumbling and new development activity failing to match demand, Tritax Eurobox looks set to deliver brilliant profits growth in the years ahead. This is why City brokers expect it to recbound from a 22% earnings fall in fiscal 2020 with a 20% rise next year. I’d buy it despite its high forward P/E ratio of around 19 times.

Road warrior

Hill & Smith Holdings (LSE: HILS) is another share market sinker I’d happily buy in an ISA today. The business manufactures safety barriers, signs, gantries and other types of roadside furniture. Its lost a quarter of its value during the past two months, weakness that leaves it trading on a rock-bottom forward P/E ratio of 15.9 times.

This isn’t jaw-droppingly cheap, sure. But it’s a reading which undermines its excellent long-term earnings outlook. Hill & Smith has been a reliable growth generator in recent years because of huge infrastructure spend in its core US and UK markets. A ramp-up of roadbuilding activity has driven demand for its road fixtures, with annual revenues rising 9% in 2019.

But the FTSE 250 firm isn’t having it all its own way right now. On home shores, it’s shuttered around half of its operations in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. It declared back in March that while its US operations remained open, demand there had softened.

Another ISA hero

A prolonged lockdown in these territories could cause havoc for Hill & Smith. City analysts expect these troubles to result in a rare drop in annual profits in 2020. A 15% decline is currently forecasted.

From a long-term perspective though, the engineer’s earnings picture is extremely rosy. It’s why the number crunchers expect the bottom line to rebound 20% in 2021. Crumbling American infrastructure means it’s in great shape to ride a boom in new construction projects.

In the UK, meanwhile, the government published its Road Investment Strategy 2 just a month ago. The plan pledges £27.4bn worth of major road investment and gives Hill & Smith terrific earnings visibility all the way through to 2025.

Like Tritax Eurobox, I’d happily buy this stock market star for my ISA today.

Holders of Polymetal International (LSE:POLY) would have been toasting the waves of risk-aversion that battered financial markets in recent weeks, its share price leaping to levels not seen since February on the back of a resurgent bullion price.

And there’s plenty of reason to expect gold to remain well bought as Brexit talks reach their end game, as the second Cold War ramps up, as the war of words over international trade goes on, and as fears of overheated equity markets grow.

With earnings at Polymetal expected to keep flying through the medium term at least, City brokers are predicting bulky dividends of 44 US cents per share and 52 cents for 2018 and 2019 respectively, figures that yield a chunky 4.7% and 5.6%.

European invader

The significant growth potential for value shopping brands makes B&M European Value Retail (LSE: BME) another great dividend share to buy today.

The FTSE 250 retailer doesn’t boast the same sort of monster yields as Polymetal, its own readings clocking in at 2.1% for this year and 2.4% for next year. But the rate at which the firm is growing its dividends, assisted by some fairly stunning double-digit earnings advances, still makes it a brilliant income share, I feel.

The full-year payout leapt almost 25% in the year to March 2018, for example, to 7.2p per share. And City boffins are predicting that it will swell to 8.5p this year and to 9.8p next year.

I’ve previously tipped B&M to thrive as it expands rapidly across the UK and Germany. And news last week that it was continuing its European invasion with the takeover of French cut-price retailer Babou boosted my enthusiasm. Its trading model is terrific and should be as popular with Gallic shoppers as those in its other territories.

A hot dip buy

I feel Hill & Smith (LSE: HILS) is another great dividend growth to pile into today despite the release of disappointing financials more recently.

In August, investors took fright after the crash barrier builder advised that short-term delays to some UK road projects, allied with the impact of bad weather, caused profits to fall short of expectations in the first fiscal half.

Still, thanks to its robust order book, Hill & Smith advised that it expects a good second half of 2018. And looking further down the line, the profits outlook looks good too, as infrastructure investment in Britain as well as the US is only heading one way, and that is northwards.

So I fully expect dividends, which have relentlessly risen for about a decade-and-a-half, to continue rising. The City agrees and last year’s 30p per share reward is anticipated to rise to 31.8p in 2018 and again to 33.1p next year, figures that yield a beefy 3.3% and 3.4% respectively.

What management doesn’t seem to have expected was a shortfall in orders during the first half of the current year. Shares in the Solihull-based firm fell by more than 20% in early trade on Wednesday, after the company said that pre-tax profit fell by 14% to £28.9m during the first half of the year, despite a 1% rise in revenue.

Chief executive Derek Muir said that delays to spending on road and utility projects were to blame, along with “a more cautious UK investment environment”. An increase in raw material costs also hit the firm’s operating profit margin, which fell from 13.3% to 11.7%.

Although performance is expected to improve during the second half, Mr Muir doesn’t expect to make up this shortfall. I see this as a profit warning, and the stock’s 20% haircut suggests that other investors share my view.

Still a good business

In my view this remains a good business for long-term investors. This company has a long history of stable profit margins and strong cash generation. The dividend should remain safe, and Hill & Smith’s focus on products which must pass tough regulatory standards means that it’s not readily undercut by cheaper rivals.

However, today’s news suggests to me that profits during the second half of the year could also be lower than expected.

After today’s fall, I estimate the stock trades on a P/E of about 15. That’s not especially cheap, so I think it makes sense to wait for an update on trading before putting fresh money into this stock.

Unloved and unwanted

Utility companies are under pressure to cut costs. This could be bad news for Hill & Smith, but it might be good news for Centrica (LSE: CNA), whose stock is trading at 15-year lows.

Price caps, the threat of renationalisation and cut-throat competition from smaller rivals are all causing problems for the big utility companies. This sector is seriously out of favour. But for Foolish investors, I believe there could be an opportunity here.

Higher energy prices could lift profits

The group’s recent half-year results showed a 4% fall in adjusted operating profit. And at £1,252m, last year’s operating profit was only half the £2,586m reported in 2013.

Centrica shares have fallen by more than 60% since September 2013, and are now priced for a pretty dire future. In my view, this gloomy outlook is overdone.

The group’s finances remain stable and the shares now trade on just 11 times 2018 forecast earnings, with a dividend yield of 8.1%. Although this generous dividend is still at risk of a cut, even a 25% cut would still provide a 6% yield.

Centrica still faces problems, notably at British Gas, where customer numbers are continuing to fall. But there are early signs of progress, and higher energy prices should benefit other parts of the group’s business.

At current levels, I think this utility stock could be a good turnaround buy.

Structural steel group Severfield (LSE: SFR) is a useful barometer of the state of the UK economy. It produces steel for buildings, bridges and even stadium roofs. If orders dry up, then we might need to start worrying about a slowdown.

Happily, there’s no sign of this yet. The company said today that full-year profits should be in line with expectations, which were upgraded in November. Market conditions appear to be stable as the group’s UK order book of £242m is almost unchanged since November’s £245m.

Management say that these figures are “in line with our normal order book levels” and reported a balanced mix of demand across “all key market sectors”.

A risk in India

This company also has a second division, which operates in India. Conditions here are also said to be good, but I think it’s worth noting that the order book has fallen from £79m to £65m since the start of November.

If this trend continues it could become a concern, but for now I’m prepared to trust management guidance that the business is delivering a “good operational performance”.

I’d keep buying

Today’s update suggests to me that short-term growth may be limited. But Severfield has taken big steps to improve its profit margins and strengthen its balance sheet over the last couple of years.

Looking ahead, the stock trades on a forecast P/E of 11 with a prospective yield of 3.5%. If market conditions remain stable I’d expect another round of growth over the next year or two. In the meantime, I’d be happy to keep buying at this level.

Boring but very profitable

Engineering firm Hill & Smith Holdings (LSE: HILS) makes “engineered products for the roads and utilities markets”. These include products such as crash barriers, street lights, steel ladders, gratings and much more. Other customers include the energy and chemicals sectors.

A wide mix of customers and operating countries helps to smooth out peaks and troughs in demand. But what really makes this business special is that many of the group’s products have to meet demanding specifications and safety standards. This means that it’s not easy for competitors to enter the market.

Strong figures

This defensive moat makes the business surprisingly profitable. The group’s underlying operating margin rose from 13.1% to 13.9% last year, while return on capital increased from 14.3% to 18.4%.

Hill & Smith is continuing to expand through regular small acquisitions, but strong cash generation means that this hasn’t resulted in high debt levels. Net debt was just £99m at the end of last year, which looks comfortable to me when compared to operating profit of £74.1m.

A dividend hero?

Hill & Smith’s quality is no secret. The company’s share price has risen by 85% over the last three years as investors have bought into the group’s success. One particular appeal is the firm’s dividend, which has risen from 4.2p per share in 2002 to 30p per share today.

The stock currently trades on 17 times forecast earnings with a prospective yield of 2.5%. Although this isn’t cheap, I believe it’s a fair price for a quality long-term stock. I’d be happy to buy today and average down during market dips.

In the fast lane

Hill & Smith is a major player in the supply of safety barriers, bridges, signage and various other types of road furniture, and it has thrived in recent years thanks to robust investment in Britain’s transport grid.

Just yesterday the West Midlands company advised that it achieved its best-ever trading performance in 2017 when revenues rose to an all-time high of £585.1m which was up 5% at constant currencies, and underlying profit before tax boomed to a record peak of £78.5m, a 12% improvement at stable exchange rates.

Hill & Smith applauded the impact of recent M&A activity as well as recent restructuring on last year’s result, not to mention the benefits of its broad geographic footprint as the business is a major player in the UK, US and France.

The group is confident of making further heady progress in the current year too, despite the presence of some political and economic uncertainty in some of its regions, advising: “Prospects in our core US and UK infrastructure markets, as well as the other geographies in which we operate, continue to be positive for 2018 and beyond.”

Earnings have risen by double-digit percentages in each of the past four years. And while profits growth is expected to cool in the medium term with a fractional rise forecast by City brokers for 2018 and a 4% increase is expected in 2019, I am confident that Hill & Smith can pick up the pace thereafter.

The firm sources almost nine-tenths of total profit from its British and North American marketplaces, and business is likely to keep rolling in at a brisk pace given rising the increasing investment (particularly in the US) to renew, repair and replace crumbling road networks.

Too risky?

While I reckon Hill & Smith is in great shape to deliver sustained earnings growth, and thus is worthy of a slightly-elevated forward P/E ratio of 17.8 times, the outlook is much less uncertain for Sirius Minerals.

This of course is hardly a newsflash, the mining industry is fraught with an endless catalogue of operational and market-based hazards, after all. But Sirius is particularly dangerous right now. There is no doubting the promise of its colossal POLY4-producing potash project on the North Yorkshire Moors, but as of today, and indeed the next few years, all investors can bank on is hope that the asset will prove to be the monster earnings generator that the company hopes.

In the meantime a lack of revenue streams is putting huge strain on the digger’s balance sheet, and cash resources fell to £468.5m at the close of 2017 from £665.3m a year earlier. It’s not outside the realms of possibility that further fundraising will be needed at some stage should timescales begin to slip.

Sirius Minerals has certainly been making impressive progress over the past couple of years to get the Woodsmith Mine and its related infrastructure in place. However, it still has an extremely long way to go before it pulls maiden material out of the ground in the early 2020s. All things considered, the London business carries still carries an uncomfortable amount of risk for me, I’m afraid.

Thanks to its exceptional geographic footprint I am convinced that InterContinental Hotels Group (LSE: IHG) is one such share. Indeed, City brokers are predicting that the accommodation star will keep the bottom line swelling by double-digit percentages for some time yet (rises of 17% and 10% are expected in 2017 and 2018 alone).

While I plan to look at the big-cap beauty a little more, I think it’s also worth having a look at roadside barriers and signage provider Hill & Smith Holdings (LSE: HILS) right now.

Revenues rising

The market has not exactly put out the bunting following the release of Hill & Smith’s latest update on Wednesday, however.

It was last 2% lower on the day despite the FTSE 250 firm putting out a reassuring update in which it was advised that trading came in “in line with its expectations” during the four months to October 31.

Revenues galloped to £201.5m in the period from £189.6m in the same 2016 period, with organic sales advancing 4% adjusting for currency effects and the impact of acquisitions and disposals.

The results led chief executive Derek Muir to comment: “Overall, conditions in many of our infrastructure end markets remain favourable and we continue to expect the group to report good progress for 2017.”

Read the signs

Now conditions are not exactly perfect for It right now, the Solihull-based business declared: “A small number of road schemes have been delayed into 2018 resulting in lower utilisation of our temporary safety barriers.”

But the vast amounts government is spending to upgrade Britain’s road network means that this demand hiccup is likely to prove a temporary problem. Indeed, Hill & Smith commented “We continue to expect a ramp up in activity towards the end of the first quarter in 2018 and for utilisation to improve on 2017.”

And it continues to enjoy solid customer interest overseas too — in Australia business has been “performing ahead of expectations,” while the firm described its performance in the US and Sweden as “good.”

So City brokers are expecting earnings at Hill & Smith to rise 9% and 5% in 2017 and 2018 respectively, forecasts that are anticipated to keep dividends rising at a fair lick too (last year’s 26.4p per share payout is anticipated to rise to 28.9p this year and 30.2p in 2018, meaning investors can also dial into handy yields of 2.2% and 2.4% for these years).

I am convinced its leading position in the road furniture market should deliver splendid shareholder returns in the coming years, and reckon the firm is worthy of a forward P/E ratio of 18 times.

No time to nap

Like Hill & Smith, InterContinental Hotels may also be looking a little expensive on paper. Based on current forecasts the hotel giant sports a prospective P/E rating of 24.1 times.

But in my opinion the possibility of breakneck profits growth still makes the Footsie star a compelling pick at current prices, and particularly when you also throw in handy little yields of 1.9% ad 2% for this year and next.

InterContinental Hotels saw revenue per available room rise 2.3% during July-September and, with the company expanding across the globe at a colossal rate (it opened 11,000 new rooms in the past quarter and boasts a pipeline of another 235,000), it can look forward to steady earnings growth long into the future.

To show you what I mean, I’m going to look at two FTSE 250 stocks which I believe have the potential to deliver a market-beating mix of growth and income.

Strong profit growth

Marine services group James Fisher & Sons (LSE: FSJ) has been in business for 170 years. But the group has changed greatly over this time. Its main focus is now on providing a range of specialist and essential services for the energy and transport industries.

Despite the oil market crash, Fisher shares have hit all-time highs since 2015. Today’s interim results revealed that the group’s underlying pre-tax profit rose by 6% to £18.6m during the first half. The interim dividend will rise by 10% to 9.4p.

Rising demand

Nick Henry, the group’s chief executive, says that a combination of new renewable energy projects and an increase in oil and gas-related activity means that the second half should be stronger. Mr Henry expects “a good improvement in the result for the year”.

Fisher shares rose by 3% when markets opened this morning. This suggests to me that today’s figures and the firm’s full-year guidance were slightly better than the market expected.

Based on current consensus forecasts, James Fisher stock trades on a forecast P/E of 18 with a prospective yield of 1.9%. Although this isn’t cheap, I believe Fisher is likely to continue performing well and could reward buyers at current levels.

Boring but profitable

The engineering business of Hill & Smith Holdings (LSE: HILS) is even less glamorous than that of James Fisher. But it’s very profitable. This £1bn company specialises in making products used when building roads and utility infrastructure.

Examples include street lighting, crash barriers, steelwork for bridges and fencing. These may sound like generic products, but in many cases they’re required to meet tough regulatory standards. They’re not easily substituted with cheaper alternatives.

The group’s recent half-year results confirm the appeal of its business. Sales rose by 6% on a constant currency basis, while underlying operating profit was 13% higher, at £38.8m. The group’s operating margin rose by 0.8% to 13.3%.

Shareholders were rewarded with an 11% increase in the interim dividend, which rose to 9.4p per share. It’s worth noting that dividend growth at this group has averaged 15% per year since 2011, and the payout has not been cut since at least 2002. It’s a reliable income stock.

Strong outlook

The group gets more than 80% of sales and 87% of its underlying operating profit from the UK and US. Management expects both of these markets to see significant infrastructure investment over the next few years, providing a strong outlook for growth.

City analysts expect Hills & Smith’s underlying earnings to rise by 10% to 72.2p per share this year. This puts the stock on a forecast P/E of 18, with a potential yield of 2.3%. As with James Fisher, I believe it could be worth paying this price now to get access to the long-term growth potential of this quality business.