Eagle Materials (EXP) Risk Factors

Our operations rely on information technology systems and the secure processing, storage, and transmission of confidential, sensitive, proprietary, and other types of information relating to our business operations. We also rely on confidential and sensitive information about our customers and employees, which is maintained both in our computer systems and networks, and in the computer systems and networks of our third-party vendors. Any significant breakdown, invasion, destruction, outage, disruption or interruption of our systems could negatively affect operations. Cyber threats are rapidly evolving as data thieves and hackers have become increasingly sophisticated and carry out direct large-scale, complex automated attacks against a company or through vendor software supply chain compromises. We are not able to anticipate or prevent all such breakdowns, invasions, destructions, outages, disruptions, interruptions, and attacks and could be held liable for any resulting material security breach or data loss. Additionally, it is not always possible to foresee or prevent internal issues, such as human error, or malicious acts or misconduct by employees or third-party vendors. There are also significant risks related to the use of remote networking services and technologies that enable remote work. Any breaches of our technology systems, or those of our vendors and customers, whether from circumvention of security systems, denial-of-service attacks or other cyber-attacks, hacking, "phishing" attacks, computer viruses, ransomware or malware, employee or insider error, malfeasance, social engineering, vendor software supply chain compromises, physical breaches or other actions, may result in manipulation or corruption of sensitive data, material interruptions or malfunctions in our or such vendors' and customers' websites, applications, data processing and certain products and services, or disruption of other business operations. Furthermore, any such breaches could compromise the confidentiality and integrity of material information held by us (including information about our business, employees, or customers), as well as sensitive personally identifiable information, the disclosure of which could lead to identity theft. Any measures that we take to avoid, detect, mitigate or recover from material incidents, may be insufficient, circumvented, or may become ineffective. We have invested and continue to invest in risk management and information security and data privacy measures in order to protect our systems and data, including employee training, organizational investments, incident response plans, tabletop exercises and technical defenses. The cost and operational consequences of implementing, maintaining, and enhancing further data or system safeguards could increase significantly to keep pace with increasingly frequent, complex, and sophisticated global cyber threats. Although we believe we have taken adequate measures to protect against data breaches and system disruptions, we are not able to anticipate or prevent all such risks. Any material breaches of cybersecurity, including the accidental loss, inadvertent disclosure or unapproved dissemination of proprietary information or sensitive or confidential data, or media reports of perceived security vulnerabilities to our systems, products, and services or those of our third parties could cause us to experience reputational harm, loss of customers and revenue, fines, regulatory actions and scrutiny, sanctions or other statutory penalties, litigation, liability for failure to safeguard our customers' information, or financial losses that are either not insured against or not fully covered through any insurance maintained by us. The report, rumor, or assumption regarding a potential breach may have similar results, even if no breach has been attempted or occurred. Any of the foregoing may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. In addition, laws and regulations governing cybersecurity, data privacy and protection, and the unauthorized disclosure of confidential or protected information pose increasingly complex compliance challenges and potentially elevate costs, and any failure to comply with these laws and regulations could result in significant penalties and legal liability.

A number of factors may increase our future effective income tax rate, including: - governmental authorities increasing taxes or eliminating deductions, particularly the depletion deduction;- the mix of earnings from depletable versus non-depletable businesses;- the jurisdictions in which earnings are taxed;- the resolution of issues arising from tax audits with various tax authorities;- changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities;- adjustments to estimated taxes upon finalization of various tax returns;- changes in available tax credits;- changes in stock-based compensation;- other changes in tax laws; and - the interpretation of tax laws and/or administrative practices. Any significant increase in our future effective income tax rate could reduce net earnings and free cash flow for future periods.

Instability in the global economy or negative conditions in the credit markets that limit or impair our access to credit may adversely affect our business. In general, we often rely upon banks and, in some cases, the capital markets to fund our growth strategy. Any downgrades in our credit ratings may make raising capital more difficult, increase the cost and affect the terms of future borrowings and limit our ability to take advantage of potential business opportunities. If we are unable to secure financing on acceptable terms, our other sources of funds, including available cash and cash flow from operations, may not be adequate to fund our operations and contractual commitments and refinance existing debt. We are also exposed to risks associated with the creditworthiness of our customers and suppliers. A number of our customers or suppliers have been and may continue to be adversely affected by unsettled conditions in capital and credit markets, which in some cases have made it more difficult or costly for them to finance their business operations. These unsettled conditions have the potential to reduce the sources of liquidity for the Company, and our customers and our suppliers, which could negatively impact our business.