The rebuilding of Japan will require large amounts of basic materials. One such material is cement. Cement is used in virtually every type of large building or factory.

It might be helpful to look at some cement stocks. Here are just a few, along with their recent share prices:

• Lafarge Coppee (LFRGY): $14.00. One of the world's largest cement and gypsum manufacturers.

When you are in a hole, stop digging -- no expression better exemplifies the situation in Venezuela caused by Hugo Chavez and his government. Obviously, this is not something they understand, as the current administration keeps digging the Venezuelan economy into a deeper hole, intensified by its attempt to nationalize rigs owned by a U.S.-based company.

On Wednesday, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez issued a statement that Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company, was going to nationalize 11 oil rigs owned by Helmerich & Payne, a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based drilling company.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

In celebration of the holiday, I thought it would be nice to remind investors not to forget about the opportunities in our southern neighbor. While Mexico is not a red hot emerging market like China or Brazil, there are still profits to be had there if you know where to look.

Here's why:

It is mind boggling that Hugo Chavez, the authoritarian President of Venezuela is racing towards a mock socialist political system when the two largest socialist regimes in the world, China and Russia, have done the opposite. Even our long standing communist adversary (now trading partner) Vietnam entered the 21st Century on a capitalist influenced spring loaded economic boom.

BusinessWeek reports in its latest edition that the Chavez government has been taking privately held supermarkets under government control:

The CBOE Board of Directors approved plans to pursue an underwritten initial public offering (IPO) of common stock of CBOE Holdings Inc. According to their statement, "It is the intent of the Board that CBOE's demutualization and IPO take place concurrently. It is the Board's judgment that combining the timing of the demutualization and IPO would be in the best interest of CBOE owners. Subject to a member vote in favor of demutualization, our goal is to complete both the demutualization and the IPO by the end of the second quarter of 2010."

Cemex (CX) closed at $11.08. Cemex announced on Dec. 10 the raising of $1.75 billion through a bond and note offering. December option implied volatility is at 53; January is at 51; below its 26-week average of 58, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

What goes around comes around... and Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan "socialist" president who keeps promoting perpetual referendums to stay in power, has turned his recent attention back to those capitalist dogs he despises so much to bail him out of a tight jam.

After nationalizing agriculture, mining, power and building materials companies over the past few years, which pushed capital flight, Venezuela was reliant on oil for about 93 percent of its export revenue in 2008, up from 69 percent in 1998 when Mr. Chávez was first elected, according to a story in the NY Times.

While the socialist (authoritarian) in him is unhappy as oil is now trading around $35 a barrel today, dealing a severe blow to his misguided notions of economics, the pragmatic side of the former military man is biting his tongue and reaching out to all the major international oil companies he chased off only a short while ago. He is asking them to return and invest to expand exploration, maintain and modernize current facilities and improve over all productivity.

The question is: On what basis would a foreign enterprise dedicate its financial and technical resources to an agreement with a partner that has already ignored previous agreements?

Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and CEMEX S. A. B. (NYSE: CX) are currently in litigation with the Chavez government. The Chinese and their nationally integrated oil companies have not done well either and remain apprehensive.

How can any deal get done? If it was being done on a smaller scale, you might use third party escrow accounts and ask for money to be set aside in advance, but Venezuela is cash strapped and would find this difficult to do.

One metaphor begets another, so from "what goes around comes around" I end with: Mr. Chavez, we would be happy to come back, but first we will have to see "cash on the barrel-head!"

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. DISCLOSURE: I own shares of CX but not XOM .

This post is part of a special report, A Dozen Ways to Play an Obama Building Boom.

"I think we have bottomed in some sectors, including commodities and materials," explains Glenn Rogers. In Internet Wealth Builder, he explains, "President-elect Obama has said he will pour hundreds of billions into projects.

"The Chinese and the Europeans have also committed to huge amounts to infrastructure spending." Here, he looks at one play on this trend -- Cemex (NYSE: CX).

"If you want to venture back into the stock market at this point and you're a long-term investor, my advice is to buy high-quality names with low P/E ratios, no debt coming due next year, and the sustainable ability to pay a dividend.

"Late last month, this Mexican cement giant traded as low as $4.01. Then President-elect Obama announced his plan to spend billions on infrastructure projects and guess what happened?

"The share price shot up on the expectation that infrastructure spending will translate into a growing demand for cement.

"Cemex shares traded as high as $11.35 before pulling back to close the week at $8.16. That's still more than double the November low but this is a stock that was trading at over $30 last June so it still looks like good value at this level.

America Movil (NYSE: AMX), a provider of wireless telecommunications service in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia & Ecuador, closed at $33.88. AMX overall option implied volatility of 83 is above its 26-week average of 43 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Telmex (NYSE: TMX), an operator of wireline telecommunication systems in Mexico, closed at $22.64. TMX November option implied volatility of 63 is above its 26-week average of 35 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Cemex (NYSE: CX), an international producer, distributor and marketer of cement, closed at $10.12. Smith Barney says "Tougher times ahead; downgrading to Hold." CX November option implied volatility of 122 is above its 26-week average of 45 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

In the margins of Barron's this week there was a smallish note about the government of Venezuela nationalizing Cemex's (NYSE: CX) operations in that country. For some reason the government of Hugo Chavez thinks that stealing all of the private companies in 'his' country will lead to greater prosperity for 'his' people.

While it is a long journey from Venezuela to Zimbabwe, with its exponential inflation rate and a near-total economic breakdown, every journey begins with a first step. Mr. Chavez will move much closer to this inevitable outcome if he continues on his chosen path.

Motley Fool has a good write-up on the subject in which they detail the sour relations between Chavez and foreign businesses. Chavez recently offered to re-open negotiations with Cemex, but since he has already decided to take the company, that offer is suspect -- you can't negotiate with a gun pointing at you. To date, Chavez has nationalized the telecommunications industry, electricity, and oil. How many steps down the road is that? Why would anyone want to invest in Venezuela?

This article is part of a 20 article special report on "Metals, miners and money".

A highlight at the recent New Orleans Investment Conference was a speech by Frank Holmes, CEO of US Global Investors, on "mega-trends" -- with a focus on global infrastructure needs, from the U.S. to China.

Here, we offer excerpts from his speech, as well as some specific stock ideas from Frank Holmes and US Global Investors' Chief Strategist, Jack Dzierwa.

"Megatrends are usually defined by sustainable and substantial growth in capital expenditures in any country or sector. They can be created by governmental policies for infrastructure or a massive technological breakthrough.

"We isolate megatrends through a series of proprietary models, including a top down analysis of such issues as global macroeconomic theme, regional and country trends, technological trends, government policies, and currency effects. As examples of megatrends:

• 1950s -- 1960s Megatrend: Massive growth of infrastructure in the U.S. and Europe leads to post-war prosperity, creating a wealth effect and consumer culture.
• 1990s -- Present Megatrend: Moore's Law and disruptive technologies lead to massive growth in information technology and data communications.
• 2000 and beyond Megatrend: Unprecedented change in global growth driven by globalization, urbanization, and wealth creation leads to a global infrastructure boom on a massive, intractable scale.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to Barron's Online's (subscription required) "Inside Scoop" column, Blockbuster Inc (NYSE: BBI) CEO James Keyes purchased 679,250 class A shares on Monday at an average price of $4.42 per share.
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that Nortel Networks Corporation (NYSE: NT) is open to acquiring companies.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The New York Times reported that British mining company Anglo American plc (NASDAQ: AAUKD) is going to begin the process of selling Tarmac, with possible buyers including Orascom Construction Industries, Lafarge Coppee (NYSE: LR), and Cemex (NYSE: CX).
• From BusinessWeek's "Inside Wall Street" column:
• UAL Corporation's (NASDAQ: UAUA) stock has soared to around $44 from $21 in February 2007, and Daniel McKenzie of Credit Suisse believes UAL is a potential private equity play.
• USA Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: USAT) is the largest maker of the e-port devices that enable vending machines selling soft drinks, snacks, and laundry products to accept plastic, and the company has only begun to penetrate the market, according to CEO George Jensen.
• SemBiosys Genetics, which trades in Toronto under the symbol SBS, is developing a way to make insulin from safflower.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Komag Incorporated (NASDAQ: KOMG), commercial mortgage REITs, Getty Images Inc (NYSE: GYI) and Rural/Metro Corporation (NASDAQ: RURL) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Komag was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Craig-Hallum, to Market Perform from Outperform at Piper Jaffray, to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank and to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W Baird & Co following the announcement it would be acquired by Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC).
  
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Commercial Mortgage REITs to Underweight from Neutral. Specifically, the firm downgraded shares of Capital Trust, Inc (NYSE: CT) to Equal Weight from Underweight and Gramercy Capital Corp (NYSE: GKK) to Underweight from Equal Weight, citing increased credit spreads and subordination levels.
  
• Getty Images was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Matrix as the firm believes margins are declining and sees downside to their $40/share intrinsic value calculation.
  
• Rural/Metro was downgraded by Ferris, Baker Watts to Neutral from Buy on valuation.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• PMI Group Inc (NYSE: PMI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
  
• Deutsche Bank downgraded Palm, Inc (NASDAQ: PALM) to Sell from Hold.
  
• BMO Capital downgraded shares of Carrizo Oil & Gas Incorporated (NASDAQ: CRZO) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Cemex (NYSE: CX) to Equal Weight from Overweight.
  
• Barnes & Noble Inc (NYSE: BKS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Matrix.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Longleaf Funds, a long-term track record of excellent results, was featured in Barron's mutual fund section over the weekend. What is Mason Hawkins investing in? His largest position is in Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) equaling 7.6% of holdings.

Japan was also a big theme with investments in NipponKoa Insurance, Olympus, Nikko Cordial, being all top holdings. Other Asian holdings included Chueng Kong and Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (NYSE: FFH).

Mexico-based Cemex Sab De CV (NYSE: CX) also topped the list along with European holdings Renault and Nestle.

Regarding U.S. holdings, in addition to Dell, Ingersoll-Rand Company Limited (NYSE: IR) was at the top of the list.

One theme was certain, Hawkins is allocating a lot more of his capital outside the United States. Prior to this decade, Longleaf and Hawkins were not big international investors.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC), UAL Corp (UAUA), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Darden Restaurants (DRI) and the food industry were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) to Hold from Sell with a $36 target to reflect the Dolan's bid for the company.

• Credit Suisse upgraded shares of UAL Corp (NASDAQ: UAUA) to Outperform from Neutral citing valuation and capacity reductions.

• Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman Brothers citing valuation and potential upside in the pharma business.

• Bear Stearns raised Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) to Outperform from Peer Perform citing the announcement of the divestiture of Smokey Bones, which takes away a drag on earnings.

• Wachovia upgraded the food industry to Overweight from Equal Weight, saying food companies are beginning to drive higher prices through the supply chain and yields look attractive.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Susquehanna upgraded Healthways, Inc (NASDAQ: HWAY) to Positive from Neutral.

• Matrix USA raised Waste Connections, Inc (NYSE: WCN) to Hold from Sell.

• Buckingham raised DSW Inc (NYSE: DSW) to Accumulate from Neutral with a $46 target.

• Dusa Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ: DUSA) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Roth Capital.

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Cemex ADS (NYSE: CX) to Buy from Hold with a $41 target.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Looking to put new money in the market and trying to build my portfolio on a stable foundation, I find myself thinking about concrete.

The top three cement companies are all headquartered outside of the United States. The number three producer CEMEX S.A. B de C.V. (ADR) (NYSE:CX) is in near by Mexico and the number one producer LaFarge ADS (NYSE:LR) is French owned. The number two producer is a great Swiss company, HOLCIM, but its shares are only traded over-the-counter on the so-called "pink sheets," and those I won't touch.