Cement stocks US Concrete, Cemex SAB de CV and Texas Industries have been showing bullishness recently with USCR rising 14.47 per cent, CX rising 7.47 per cent and TXI rising 1.05 per cent on Thursday. One possible explanation could be the fact that base materials producer Vulcan Materials Company has just rejected an unsolicited bid from Martin Marietta Materials that the former’s CEO said undervalued the business in a construction trough.  Likewise and earlier in the week, the Commerce Department reported  the largest number of new housing unit starts in about two years plus more freshly issued building permits. Hence, should investors and traders alike be considering cement stocks like US Concrete, Cemex and Texas Industries?

US Concrete is a producer of ready-mixed concrete, precast concrete products and concrete-related products in big markets like California, New Jersey/New York and Texas. On Thursday, US Concrete rose 14.47 per cent to USD2.69 (USCR has a 52 week trading range of USD1.90 to USD12.03 a share) for a market cap of USD32 million. I am not seeing any news directly from the company to have caused US Concrete to rise and investors should be aware that the company was in Chapter 11 last year. On the other hand, there is nothing like a good bankruptcy to clean up a balance sheet. US Concrete has also reported revenues of USD146,509k (most recent quarter), USD130,027k, USD87,049k and USD111,918k along with net income of USD9,609k (most recent quarter) and USD2,548k plus net losses of USD24,714k and USD5,906k. For 3Q2011, US Concrete’s President and CEO stated that the company was encouraged by the pickup in volumes along with an improved pricing climate in the majority of their ready-mix markets. On the other hand, rising raw material and fuel costs along with lower than expected results for the aggregates business meant disappointing EBITDA performance. US Concrete did announce price increases that appear to be holding but investors will need to keep an eye on whether rising costs begin to bite earnings.

Cemex is a Mexico-based holding company principally engaged in the cement manufacturing globally. On Thursday, Cemex rose 7.47 per cent to USD5.47 (CX has a 52 week trading range of USD2.27 to USD10.72 a share) for a market cap of  USD5.6 billion. I am not seeing any news specific to Cemex but in the past the stock has risen or fallen on optimism over the European debt situation and expectations about the performance of stocks in emerging markets – not necessarily reasons to get one excited about CX per se. However, investors should note that Cemex has reported revenues of USD14,453,000k (2010), USD15,151,000k (2009) and USD17,763,595k (2008) along with a net loss of USD1,339,000k (2010), net income of USD108,000k (2009) and a net loss of USD4,536,244k (2008) plus its expected to continue posting losses well into the future and is heavily indebted. Moreover and given its global exposure, Cemex also has the risk of taking a hit where ever there is trouble and trouble has popped up just about everywhere in recent years.

Texas Industries is a supplier of heavy construction materials in the South Western United States and operates in three segments: 1) Cement, 2) Aggregates and 3) consumer products. On Thursday, Texas Industries rose 1.05 per cent to USD30.93 (TXI has a 52 week trading range of USD21.89 to USD47.42 a share) for a market cap of USD862.65 million but its also down over 30 per cent for the year. Texas Industries as reported revenues of USD621,813k (fiscal 2011), USD621,064k (fiscal 2010) and USD839,202k (fiscal 2009) along with rising net losses of USD64,913k (fiscal 2010), USD38,853k (fiscal 2010) and USD17,647k (fiscal 2010). Moreover, Texas Industries is also expected to produce losses for the rest of next year but at least sales are expected to rise – which gives the company and investors alike some hope.

 Cement stocks US Concrete (USCR), Cemex (CX) and Texas Industries (TXI) have had a rough few years and may not be out of the woods yet but eventually things will recover – something investors need to keep in mind.