Dallas-based building materials manufacturer and distributor Eagle Materials reported big sales and earnings gains for the fiscal year ended March 31.

The maker and distributor of cement, gypsum wallboard and other materials reported full year revenues of $642.6 million, an increase of 30%. Net earnings for the year were $57.7 million, up from $18.7 million a year ago.

Ron Beal, president and CEO of Memphis, Tenn.-based Orgill, presented his views on hardware distribution during the President's Council meeting in Las Vegas. Here are the highlights.

"I've been at this a long time. One of the things that always impressed me is how simple distribution is to conceptualize, but how complex and how difficult it can be to actually execute. … It's pretty easy to understand why companies are not exactly standing in line to get in the business of distributing hardware products."

For stock market advice, I always turn to my dad. He's not a stockbroker. But he has watched almost every episode of "Wall Street Week" since the mid-1970s. Now that he's retired, he sometimes watches the same episode of "Mad Money" twice in the same day. (The hands-down superiority of Louis Rukeyser over Jim Cramer will be discussed in a future editorial.)

Here's what my dad said about newly public Boise Cascade: "I like companies with tangible products — like building materials."

US LBM Holdings has acquired H & H Lumber Co. of Superior, Wis., which will become part of the Lyman Lumber Co. 

H&H serves the northern Wisconsin and greater Duluth, Minn., markets, providing home builders, specialty contractors and professional remodelers with a full-suite of building materials and services. The company joins Lyman Lumber Co., a US LBM division that is one of the largest building material suppliers in Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

Style Crest, the Fremont, Ohio-based distributor of building materials and manufacturer of vinyl siding, has appointed Jeff Buckley as president, Residential Housing Group.

Buckley spent his career in building products and distribution, most recently with Weyerhauser, where he held the position of general manager of the Eastern Division since 2006. 

Meek’s Lumber and Hardware has been involved in some really big jobs in its 93 years, but its work with the Pensmore Estate in Springfield, Mo. — which, at 72,000 sq. ft. will be the fourth-largest structure in the United States when completed — is the granddaddy of them all.

It’s a relatively simple script: A large, publicly traded company finds itself over-leveraged. It enters and exits bankruptcy protection, reorganizes and emerges as a leaner, more focused company.

It’s a story that has played out many times in corporate America. But don’t be fooled by the simplicity of the plot. It’s never easy.

Scranton, Pa.-based AZEK Building Products signed a distribution deal with OrePac Building Products, a building materials wholesaler serving the West and Pacific Northwest.   

Under the agreement, OrePac’s Denver, Colo., and Salt Lake City, Utah, branches will offer the full line of premium, exterior AZEK products.  OrePac’s Denver branch covers Colorado, Eastern Wyoming, Northern New Mexico and the Scottsbluff area of Nebraska, while the Salt Lake City branch covers Utah, Southwestern Wyoming, Eastern Nevada and Southeastern Idaho.

Building Material Distributors (BMD), a wholesale distributor of specialty building materials, has announced an agreement with Evolution Window & Door Co. for the exclusive northern California distribution rights of Marvin’s Integrity brand windows and doors. This transaction is effective Nov. 5.

In an Oct. 15 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Boise Cascade Holdings posted an estimate of the results for its third fiscal quarter, which ended Sept. 30, 2012.

Segment sales in the building materials distribution division were between $595 million and $615 million, with wood products accounting for another $255 million to $265 million. Net income was reported at $21.5 million to $25.1 million.