Company Overview
Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima manufactures and sells cement and its derivatives within the Argentine market, operating through diverse segments including Cement, Masonry Cement, Lime, Concrete, Rail services, Aggregates, and Others. The company functions within the Basic Materials sector and specifically the Building Materials industry, positioning it as a key provider of essential construction inputs. Its current market capitalization stands at $1.32B, while its trailing twelve-month revenue totals $848.09B. Although the specific employee count is not available in the provided data, the combination of a $1.32B market cap and $848.09B in annual revenue indicates a substantial operational scale within the Argentine infrastructure landscape. These financial dimensions suggest the entity possesses significant asset base and revenue generation capacity relative to typical peers in the building materials sector, reflecting its established presence in domestic production and distribution.
Financial Health
The company reported a revenue of $848.09B and a net income of $23.58B for the trailing twelve months, generating an EBITDA of $168.99B. The substantial gap between the $848.09B in revenue and the $23.58B in net income reveals a cost structure where operating expenses and taxes consume approximately 97.2% of total sales before accounting for interest and other non-operating factors. The free cash flow is reported at $-68,525,989,888, which indicates a period of significant cash outflow relative to operational earnings, suggesting that capital expenditures or working capital requirements currently exceed the cash generated from operations. Gross margin stands at 21.8%, operating margin at 10.3%, and profit margin at 2.8%, with these figures indicating that for every dollar of sales, only a fraction remains as bottom-line profit after all costs are deducted. Total cash holdings of $31.42B are significantly lower than the total debt of $301.44B, and the debt-to-equity ratio is 28.27, indicating a highly leveraged balance sheet where interest obligations are substantial relative to equity capital. The current ratio is 1.44, which suggests that the company holds enough current assets to cover its current liabilities with a margin of safety, though the high leverage complicates this short-term liquidity picture. Return on equity is 2.2% and return on assets is 2.9%, metrics that reveal management effectiveness is currently low, as the returns generated on both shareholder equity and the total asset base are minimal relative to the capital invested.
Valuation Assessment
The trailing twelve-month P/E ratio is 73.13, whereas the forward P/E is 12.57, and this stark difference implies that the market expects a dramatic improvement in earnings or a re-rating of the stock that is not currently reflected in the current price. The price-to-book ratio is 1.68, which indicates that the market values the company at a premium of 68% over its net asset value, a multiple that is often elevated in capital-intensive industries but must be scrutinized given the low return metrics. The price-to-sales ratio is 0.00, and the EV/EBITDA is 1.63, with these alternative valuation metrics suggesting that traditional multiples may be distorted by the reported financials or that the market is pricing the stock based on specific future expectations rather than current profitability. The stock has traded between a 52-week low of $7.04 and a 52-week high of $14.17, and without a specific current price provided, the trading range establishes a historical volatility band within which the asset has moved over the past year. The beta is 0.74, which means the stock's price volatility is historically lower than the broader market, moving at roughly two-thirds the intensity of the general market index during periods of systemic risk or gain.
Growth & Income
Revenue growth year-over-year is -3.2%, and earnings growth year-over-year is -82.2%, indicating that earnings are contracting at a rate far faster than revenue, which implies declining profitability per unit sold or significant one-off costs impacting the bottom line. The dividend yield is N/A and the payout ratio is 0.0%, which explains that the company does not distribute dividends to shareholders and instead retains earnings or utilizes cash reserves for internal purposes such as debt servicing given the high leverage. Because the payout ratio is 0.0%, the company reinvests all available earnings and cash flow into operations, asset replacement, or debt reduction rather than paying out income to investors. The overall growth and income profile is characterized by negative earnings momentum and a lack of current dividend income, presenting a value proposition that relies entirely on potential future operational improvements rather than current cash returns or capital appreciation driven by earnings growth.