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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jurgis Bekepuris who wrote (16306)	1/29/2003 11:56:50 AM
From: Paul Senior	Respond to of 78666

About CX: some notes for backup to my assertion of "astute management": CX: 3rd largest cement company About 21% of US market. About 55% of Mexican market (reported '01) Generally focused on emerging markets though. World's largest cement trader (enables some control over export markets) Attempts to ue IT to deliver cement JIT. A focus on efficient manufacturing. ----------------------------- On Industry Week's "Best-Managed Company" list five times: '96-'00 (May be in subsequent years too; I don't have info.) ------------------- Hires marketing people from P&G and KO. So we get: (Some snippets from 1/'00 LA Times newspaper article:) "It pays lavish attention to its distributors - 5000 in Mexico alone - who can earn points toward rewards for hitting sales targets; some can earn Cemex stock. High-volume independent distributors can buy trucks and and other supplies through Cemex at significant discounts." "Cemex knows that tens of thousands of immigrants to the US go home at holiday time... with cash... to to build or expand their houses. So Cemex hands out construction tip booklets at airports in migrant cities where charter flights pour in each December." (40-50% of Mexican cement sales are in the "self-construction" market, i.e. sales are by 50-kilo bags. And for CX, more that 50% of its sales volume world-wide is this way. (vs. bulk, ready-mix)) (ref: Bloomberg 8//'01) "(In Mexico)... when the roof is finished at a building site, the workers and neighbors celebrate with a meal...Cemex provides the food- if the builder agrees to put up a sign with the Cemex logo announcing the party." ---------------------------- CEO Zambrano was described by Forbes in 1998 as "One of the world's ten smartest entrepreneurial-billionaires." (edit: whatever that means -g-) Education: Zambrano is a Stanford MBA grad. "Hi-potential CX execs are sent to US colleges, others take virtual MBAs or attend co's in-house management program in Florida." "His hi-tech obsession permeates the company. "Computers connect every Cemex manufacturing plant world-wide and knit together order and distribution systems. That allows orders to be pledged within 20 minutes, even in Mexico City's chaotic traffic. If there are delays, customers receive discounts." -------------- Now if only we investors could just have the stock go up (and not hover at lows where it is now) we'd much more easily be able to nod our heads and say, "Yep. Our management is astute" (-g-)