AMERICA MOVIL SAB DE CV

What it is

América Móvil was founded on 25 September 2000 as a spin-off from Teléfonos de México (Telmex), when Carlos Slim Helú’s Grupo Carso restructured Mexico’s telecoms assets and transferred wireless operations — chiefly the Telcel mobile brand — into a new, standalone company.

It now operates as a vertically integrated telecommunications group, owning and expanding its core network infrastructure — fibre-optic cables and mobile towers — to deliver connectivity services across 23 countries, primarily in Latin America. Its Mexican subsidiary Telcel is the largest mobile operator in Mexico, commanding a market share in excess of 70%.

Who owns it

Insiders hold approximately 75% of shares (EODHD), and the ultimate beneficial owner is the Slim family. Carlos Slim Helú and his family are the principal controlling stakeholders, holding an estimated 50–60% of voting shares, managed through various investment entities including Grupo Carso.

Institutional investors — global asset managers trading the liquid B shares — hold roughly 7.7% (EODHD), and the public free float accounts for the rest. Key strategic and capital-allocation decisions are ultimately driven by the long-term vision of the controlling family.

Who runs it

The board is chaired by Carlos Slim Domit, with Patrick Slim Domit as Co-Chairman; both are sons of founder Carlos Slim Helú. Daniel Hajj Aboumrad serves as Chief Executive Officer and Carlos García Moreno Elizondo as Chief Financial Officer.

CEO Hajj Aboumrad has been in post since January 2000 — essentially since the company’s birth — giving him a 25-year tenure that is extraordinarily long even by Latin American standards.

The money, in plain words

Sales grew 8.6% in the latest year to MXN 943.6B (US$54.1B) — our calculation from EODHD data. The company keeps about 9 cents of profit from every peso of sales — a net profit margin of 9.2% — which is solid for a business that must constantly invest in physical network infrastructure.

For every peso shareholders have put in, the company earns back about 21 cents a year — a return on equity of 21.1%, strong for any large industrial company. The stock trades at 15.5 times annual earnings (a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.5×), a modest valuation relative to global telecom peers, and pays a dividend yield of 2.4%.

The balance sheet carries significant net debt — roughly MXN 532.6B (US$30.5B, our calculation) after netting MXN 35.0B (US$2.0B) of cash against borrowings — reflecting the capital-hungry nature of running networks across an entire continent.

What it is doing now

In October 2024, AMX regained control of its Chilean subsidiary Claro Chile, SpA and consolidated its operations, bringing a market it had shared with a partner fully back in-house. The current focus is a large infrastructure upgrade: the board approved capital expenditure of US$6.7 billion for 2025, targeting the accelerated deployment of 5G and fibre-optic networks.

Shareholders approved an ordinary dividend of MXN$0.52 per share in April 2025, payable in two instalments in July and November. The buyback programme for April 2025–April 2026 was set at MXN 19,557 million (US$1.1 bn) in total, combining new authorisation with the prior balance.

What to watch

• Currency drag: revenues are collected in pesos, reais, Colombian pesos and a dozen other local currencies, but debt is largely dollar- and euro-denominated; exchange-rate swings hit reported profits hard, as the 2024 net income dip illustrates.
• 5G rollout pace: the US$6.7B annual capital plan is the engine of future growth, but execution risk and spectrum costs in multiple jurisdictions are real.
• Family succession and governance: with the founding generation transitioning to the second, any shift in capital allocation — less reinvestment, more buybacks or special dividends — would reprice the stock immediately.
• Claro Chile integration: the company achieved full ownership of Claro Chile SpA in 2025, and delivering synergies from that consolidation will be a near-term test of management’s execution.

This is news, not investment advice.