The title of best industrial stock of 2019 is going once, going twice ...

In my book, the title of best industrial stock of 2019 is going once, going twice, sold — to an auctioneer of junked cars.

Copart Inc. is a $19 billion company that I had never heard of until this week, but its story has held more allure for investors this year than the aerospace growth at Honeywell International Inc, the turnaround tale at General Electric Co. or the investment rationale of almost any other major industrial company. Copart specializes in online auctions of cars that are too damaged for insurance companies to justify paying the price of repairing them; buyers include scrap yards and companies like LKQ Corp., which dismantles old cars and reconditions their parts to be sold in collision-repair shops. The insurance companies get what’s recovered in the auction, minus fees due to Copart that in some cases will increase proportionally with the value of a vehicle. Business has been good: Copart’s revenue increased 13% in the fiscal year ended in July, while net income increased more than 40%, in part because of the U.S. tax overhaul.