Cemex Rises to highest in 11 Months on US outlook

Cemex Rises to highest in 11 Months on US outlook
17 September 2009


Cemex rose to the highest in 11 months in New York trading on increasing evidence of a recovery in the US economy, the company’s biggest market.

Cemex American depositary receipts climbed 7.9 percent to $14.11, the highest since Oct. 2. The shares have tripled since reaching a 52-week low of $3.87 on March 9. Mexican markets were closed for a holiday.

Monterrey, Mexico-based Cemex has extended gains since it concluded last month a transaction with lenders to extend the maturity on about $15 billion of debt for five years. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said yesterday the U.S. recession is “very likely over.” Cemex generated 21 percent of its revenue from the U.S. by the end of last year, the most of any geographic region, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Over the past year there were doubters in Cemex’s ability to refinance a lot of this debt, and there were a good amount of short positions,” Harrison Grodnick, who co- manages $700 million at Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group., said in a phone interview from Minneapolis. “Now that we’re starting to see the recession ending in the U.S., overseas and particularly in Asia, the demand for cement may be forcing a lot of these short positions to cover.”

Output at U.S. factories, mines and utilities climbed 0.8 percent last month, exceeding the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, data from the Federal Reserve in Washington showed.

Source: Bloomberg
Published under Cement News