Dust and Cement: A Quiet Bet on Cycles

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Black Creek Investment Management, a firm not given to shouting from rooftops, has taken a position in Eagle Materials. Five hundred and two thousand, one hundred and twenty shares, to be precise. A sum—roughly $103.78 million—that feels less like a declaration of bullishness and more like a quiet acknowledgement of the inevitable. The market, after all, turns. It always does. And someone, somewhere, must supply the dust and cement when it does.

The filing, dated February 13th, 2026, is a small thing, really. A ripple in the vast, indifferent ocean of capital. Yet, it’s a ripple worth noting. Not because of its size—many larger bets are made and forgotten daily—but because of what it suggests about the observer’s patience. A willingness to position oneself for a future that feels…distant, perhaps. A future where things are built again.

This 5.1% allocation within Black Creek’s portfolio, a collection that includes names like Elanco, Booz Allen, and PayPal, isn’t a grand gesture. It’s a measured one. A sigh, almost. As if to say, “Well, someone must provide the materials.” The firm’s holdings—$250.32 million in Elanco, $211.34 million in Booz Allen, and so on—speak of a diversified caution. A hedging of bets against a world that rarely delivers on its promises.

Eagle Materials, for its part, is a company that simply is. It produces cement, aggregates, wallboard, and paperboard. It mines, manufactures, and distributes. It serves the construction and packaging industries. A functional existence, devoid of fanfare. The stock, however, has been…uncooperative. Down 5.1% over the past year, lagging the S&P 500 by a disheartening 18.0 percentage points. A small tragedy, really. A quiet failure to capture the prevailing optimism. But then, optimism is a fickle thing.

Metric Value
Price (as of market close February 12, 2026) $232.67
Market capitalization $7.60 billion
Revenue (TTM) $2.30 billion
Net income (TTM) $430.13 million

The company speaks of serving commercial and residential builders, public construction entities, and manufacturers. A broad base, they claim. A diversified approach. But even diversification offers no guarantee against the slow erosion of time. The numbers—$2.30 billion in revenue, $430.13 million in net income—are merely facts. They tell us nothing of the quiet desperation that must surely reside within the walls of any company striving to maintain its position in a relentlessly competitive world.

There’s a certain…resilience, however, in these numbers. Cement volumes are up 9% year over year, aggregates by a remarkable 34%. Gypsum wallboard, predictably, is down 14%. Infrastructure, it seems, is holding up better than housing. A small victory, perhaps. A temporary reprieve. The company also repurchased 648,000 shares, a gesture that feels less like confidence and more like…tidying up. A smoothing of the edges before the inevitable storm.

Net debt of $1.37 billion and a net leverage ratio of 1.8x. Disciplined, they say. Prudent. But what is prudence in a world that rewards recklessness? A slowing of the decline, perhaps. A postponement of the inevitable reckoning. The question isn’t whether housing is soft today. It’s whether the slow, steady accumulation of infrastructure projects, combined with disciplined financial management and a willingness to buy back shares, can somehow…compound value. A faint hope, flickering in the gathering darkness. And the market, as always, remains silent.

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2026-02-14 20:34