Saturday, February 18, 2012

4-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Cemex

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, Mexican cement giant Cemex (NYSE: CX  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Cemex's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Cemex facts

Headquarters (Founded) Garza Garcia, Mexico (1906)
Market Cap $5.63 billion
Industry Construction materials
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $13.0 billion
Management Chairman/CEO Lorenzo Zambrano
CFO Fernando Gonzalez
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years) (5.8%)
Cash/Debt $733 million / $17.2 billion

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 96% of the 4,056 members who have rated Cemex believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.

This past fall, one of those bulls, mwlove, summed up the Cemex bull case for our community:

Looks like everyone is kicking [Cemex] while it's down, perhaps for good reason. I look around Latin America and all I see are houses made of concrete blocks. Sometime down the road, construction will pick up elsewhere. Cemex seems to have a plan to meet its debt obligations. If they don't go bankrupt, the stock should be back over $10 in a few years. I'll take a shot with a minimal position.

But before you run out and start gobbling up shares, there might be some industry peers that are better-suited to your indi! vidual i nvesting profile.

Eagle Materials (NYSE: EXP  ) , for example, has a much lower debt-to-equity ratio than Cemex, so it might be a better choice for more risk-averse investors looking to minimize their downside. Meanwhile, Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE: MLM  ) offers a 2%-plus dividend yield, making it a particularly good pick for income seekers. And over the past year, Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC  ) shares have held up much better than the badly beaten Cemex, giving those who want to stay away from "falling knives" a much better option. However, when you consider that Cemex sports a much lower price-to-book and price-to-sales multiple than each of its peers mentioned above, the stock seems nicely suited for contrarian bargain hunters looking to buy into the space.

What do you think about Cemex, or any other stock for that matter? If you want to retire rich, you need to put together the best portfolio you can. Owning exceptional stocks is a surefire way to secure your financial future, and on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors are working every day to find them. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!

Want to see how well (or not so well) the stocks in this series are performing? Follow the new TrackPoisedTo CAPS account.

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