Simon Constable of TheStreet.com makes a strong argument that Alcoa should be kicked out of the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company’s been essentially treading water during one of history’s great commodity booms. Constable writes:

These days, Alcoa doesn’t appear reflective of the metals sector it’s meant to represent, because its limp performance stands out when compared with stellar showings of the other major miners.

He quotes one analyst who suggests Freeport-McMoran as a replacement Dow stock, but another makes a case for St. Louis’ own Monsanto:

“I tend to think Monsanto would be a good pick,” says Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at New Jersey-based specialty economics firm Channel Capital Research. “Commodities is what’s driving the economy rather than just metals.”

Monsanto supplies the farm belt with genetically modified seeds. As such, the stock is benefiting greatly from the boom in farming. Alternatively, Roberts says the index folks may decide to look even further afield as they work to maintain industry and sector balance.

Monsanto certainly isn’t among the 30 biggest U.S. companies. But its market capitalization, at $63.7 billion, is roughly twice Alcoa’s. Its also bigger than some other Dow components, such as Caterpillar and Home Depot. And the fact that Monsanto is even being mentioned in such a discussion is a testimony to the company’s incredible success in the past couple of years. In August 2004, its market cap was less than $10 billion.