Capital Stock

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2012

Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]

Capital stock

NOTE 15. CAPITAL STOCK

Treasury Stock CMC did not purchase any shares during the year ended August 31, 2012 and had remaining authorization to purchase 8,259,647 shares of its common stock at August 31, 2012.

Preferred Stock Preferred stock has a par value of $1.00 a share, with 2,000,000 shares authorized. It may be issued in series, and the shares of each series have such rights and preferences as may be fixed by CMC's Board of Directors when authorizing the issuance of that particular series. There are no shares of preferred stock outstanding.

Stockholder Rights Plan On July 30, 2011, CMC's Board of Directors adopted a stockholder rights plan (“Rights Plan”) pursuant to which the Board declared a dividend to stockholders of record as of August 11, 2011, of one Preferred Stock Purchase Right (“Right”) on each outstanding share of CMC common stock. The Rights initially are represented by and trade with shares of CMC common stock. The Rights will not become exercisable or trade separately from shares of CMC common stock unless one or both of the following conditions are met: a public announcement that a person or group has acquired 10% or more of CMC common stock (including in the form of synthetic ownership through derivative positions), or a tender or exchange offer is made for 10% or more of CMC common stock. If either of these conditions is satisfied and the Rights become exercisable, each Right will entitle the holder to buy one one-thousandth of a share of CMC's Series B Junior Participating Preferred Stock at an exercise price of $70. Each such fractional share of Series B Junior Participating Preferred Stock will have economic and voting terms similar to those of one share of common stock. In addition, under certain circumstances, the Rights will entitle the holders to buy shares of CMC common stock or shares of an acquirer's stock at a 50% discount.

The Rights may be redeemed by CMC for $0.001 per Right at any time until the tenth day following the first public announcement of the acquisition of beneficial ownership of 10% of CMC common stock. The Rights Plan exempts any person or group owning 10% or more of CMC common stock as of the announcement of the Rights Plan. However, the Rights also will be exercisable if a person or group that owns 10% or more of CMC common stock as of such announcement acquires any additional shares (including through derivatives, but other than pursuant to a dividend or distribution paid or made by CMC or pursuant to a stock split or reclassification). The Rights Plan expires on August 1, 2014.