ValuEngine cut Brazilian steel makers Gerdau (GGB) and CSN (SID) from the buy list this week.
Five of the 16 fifth-generation offspring are now working at Gerdau, some for 15 years.
In the 1980s, Gerdau played an active role in the privatization of state-owned Brazilian steel companies.
They are the fourth generation of their family to run Gerdau S.A. and run it splendidly.
"We made the traditional mistake of sending Brazilians to run it, " explains Osvaldo Schirmer, Gerdau's CFO.
Another plus is that Gerdau's Canadian and U.S. operations can shift production to respond to market demands.
They had learned a valuable lesson in 1981, when Gerdau acquired a small steel mill in Uruguay.
Lesson No. 1: Where possible, keep or hire local management, which is what Gerdau has done ever since.
Others are private firms, like Gerdau, a steelmaker, or JBS, soon to be the world's biggest meat producer.
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Gerdau Ameristeel does pay a dividend, and the stock currently yields 3.9%, and it sells for 0.43 times sales.
He passed the business to his son Hugo Gerdau, who passed it to his son-in-law Curt Johannpeter in 1946.
This will fuel Brazilian GDP growth of a likely 4.5% next year, which in turn will boost demand for Gerdau's steel.
Gerdau S.A. shares are currently trading up about 1.5% on the day.
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Gerdau S.A. shares are currently trading down about 5.4% on the day.
Gerdau Ameristeel owns and operates 15 steel mini mills in North America.
Gerdau S.A. shares are currently trading off about 0.2% on the day.
Gerdau S.A. shares are currently trading off about 2.5% on the day.
Gerdau S.A. shares are currently trading up about 5.7% on the day.
In 1989 Gerdau acquired Courtice Steel, an ailing long-steel maker in Canada.
And the U.S. presence gives Gerdau access to cheaper capital: It can borrow dollars in the U.S. for 7.5%, versus 14.5% in Brazil.
Based in the southern Brazilian city of Prto Alegre, Gerdau is Brazil's largest producer of long steel (which is used primarily in construction).
And then there are Brazil's Gerdau brothers--Jorge, Klaus, Germano and Frederico.
Gerdau S.A . ( GGB) is a Brazilian-based steel manufacturing company.
Joo Gerdau, a German who immigrated to southern Brazil in 1869, got the ball rolling when he bought a nail factory in Prto Alegre in 1901.
"We need to consolidate our holdings and work on our cash flow to bring down the debt, " says Frederico, the youngest sibling, sitting in the Gerdau boardroom.
Gerdau, for instance, has mills in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Canada, and this week said it plans to buy control of AmeriSteel, an American maker of steel bars.
The acquisitions have taken a toll on Gerdau's balance sheet.
CSN, like Gerdau, another Brazilian steel firm, had been heading in the opposite direction, and buying mills in America so it could send its steel to them for finishing.
In Brazil, Constantini is neutral weight big names like Petrobras (PBR), overweight Vale and Bradesco (BBD) and underweight all of the steel companies like Gerdau (GGB) and CSN (SID) .
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