Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: I bought shares of Cemex a few years ago. Would you recommend still holding on to it?

Article Excerpt

Cemex S.A.B. de C.V. (ADRs), $9.15, symbol CX on New York (ADRs outstanding: 976.3 million; Market cap: $8.9 billion; www.cemex.com), is North America’s largest cement maker. Mexico-based Cemex is also the world’s third-largest cement maker, after Lafarge of France and Switzerland’s Holcim. The stock is down from a 2007 peak of $37, and a 2009 peak of $14. The company makes and sells cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates (sand and gravel) and clinker (powdered cement). It gets 35% of its sales from Europe, followed by Mexico (24%), the U.S. (18%), South America, Central America and the Caribbean (10%), Africa and the Middle East (7%), Asia (4%) and others (2%). In the three months ended September 30, 2010, Cemex’s sales fell 2.2%, to $3.8 billion from $3.9 billion a year earlier (all amounts in U.S. dollars). That’s because weak demand in the U.S. and Europe offset strong sales in Mexico. Cemex sold 2% more cement than in the year-ago quarter. However, sales volumes of…