Cemex Shares Look Attractive

Given our expectation of improving U.S. residential construction activity and rising Mexican infrastructure investment, the narrow-moat company will enjoy strong demand growth.

Securities In This Article
Cemex SAB de CV ADR
(CX)

We’re introducing an enhanced methodology to forecast cement demand. Previously, we relied on the IMF’s forecasts for fixed asset investment spending as an indicator for cement demand. However, this fails to account for declining cement intensity (cement demand per FAI dollar) as a country’s income rises, as investment spending shifts from roads and structures to equipment and technology. We now use a formula that takes into account three important factors for cement consumption: income (GDP), investment (FAI share of GDP), and cement intensity. This approach helps us fine tune our cement demand forecasts across countries of varying income levels.

Of the major countries that span our cement coverage, we see a bright future for producers in the U.S., Mexico, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Strong cement consumption growth, a favorable pricing environment, and high capacity utilization will drive margin expansion. The same cannot be said for China and the U.K., where we expect cement consumption to be underwhelming. We’ve applied these country-level forecasts to our cement coverage, weighted to their geographic footprints.

We’ve updated

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About the Author

Kristoffer Inton

Strategist
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Kristoffer Inton is a strategist, AM Consumer, for Morningstar*. He covers food, tobacco, and cannabis companies. He also serves as the chair of Morningstar equity research’s ESG methodology.

Before joining Morningstar in 2013, Inton was an investment banking associate for Guggenheim Securities in New York. Previously, he was an investment banking analyst for Merrill Lynch in Chicago and New York. In these roles, he helped advise companies on mergers, acquisitions, and financings.

Inton holds a bachelor's degree in finance with high honors from the University of Illinois Gies College of Business. He also holds a Master of Business Administration with distinction from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

* Morningstar Research Services LLC (“Morningstar”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc

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