Infrastructure related stocks are attractive these days due to the huge infrastructure build up that is happening in emerging market economies like India, China, Brazil,Eastern Europe etc. China and India are building roads, railroads,bridges,tunnels,etc. at an incredible pace.In addition there is also huge construction boom in the residential and commercial real estate sector.All this constructions require one important ingredient: Cement.Cement is in high demand world-wide and companies producing them are raising prices in some countries and making cement as much as they can. So in this post, we profile three cement ADR stocks.
1.Company: Cemex SAB de C.V.
Country: Mexico
Ticker: CX
Price per share: $ 28.02
Cemex is the 3rd largest cement manufacturing company in the world with factories in 50 countries.It was selected as one of the top global investment ideas for 2008 by BusinessWeek back in January.
The company will pay a stock dividend soon to shareholders as per the news released on June 4th.Details can he found here.
Recently Cemex acquired the Rinker group of Australia.
2.Company: LaFarge
Country: France
Ticker: LFRGY
Price per share: $ 42.90
Dividend Yield: 3.58%
LaFarge is cement and related construction products maker.Recently it acquired the concrete division from L&T; in India to gain a strong foothold in the growing cement industry there.LaFarge was founded in 1833 and has over 90K employees today.
The stock has been flat for the past 52 weeks.LaFarge increased the annual dividend by 33% over last year’s back in May.Cement accounts for 54% of sales.net Income for 2007 increased by 41% over 2006.
From corporate site:” Expansion of emerging markets Emerging markets drive global growth in the sector. Around the world, cement production is increasing by 5% per year. This means 100 million additional tons of cement is being consumed every year.
This growth is predominantly driven by urban and demographic development in emerging markets. 80% of the global demand for cement comes from these markets! In these countries, the cement market is growing at a significantly faster rate than the general economy.
Lafarge is positioning itself as a leading player in this context.”
Note: All data as of June 6th, 2008
