CRH (CRH) Competitors

Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC) and CRH (NYSE:CRH) are both large-cap construction companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, media sentiment, community ranking, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer VMC or CRH?

Vulcan Materials received 139 more outperform votes than CRH when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.90% of users gave Vulcan Materials an outperform vote while only 56.93% of users gave CRH an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Vulcan Materials	Outperform Votes 632 65.90%	Underperform Votes 327 34.10%
CRH	Outperform Votes 493 56.93%	Underperform Votes 373 43.07%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, VMC or CRH?

CRH has higher revenue and earnings than Vulcan Materials. CRH is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vulcan Materials, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vulcan Materials	$7.42B	4.38	$933.20M	$6.85	35.86
CRH	$35.57B	1.64	$3.18B	$5.03	17.17

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in VMC or CRH?

90.4% of Vulcan Materials shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.5% of CRH shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Vulcan Materials shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is VMC or CRH more profitable?

Vulcan Materials has a net margin of 12.30% compared to CRH's net margin of 9.86%. CRH's return on equity of 16.35% beat Vulcan Materials' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vulcan Materials	12.30%	12.83%	6.74%
CRH	9.86%	16.35%	7.25%

Do analysts prefer VMC or CRH?

Vulcan Materials currently has a consensus price target of $298.00, indicating a potential upside of 21.32%. CRH has a consensus price target of $112.36, indicating a potential upside of 30.07%. Given CRH's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe CRH is more favorable than Vulcan Materials.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vulcan Materials	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
CRH	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.09

Is VMC or CRH a better dividend stock?

Vulcan Materials pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. CRH pays an annual dividend of $1.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Vulcan Materials pays out 28.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CRH pays out 22.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Vulcan Materials has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. CRH is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more volatility and risk, VMC or CRH?

Vulcan Materials has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CRH has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to VMC or CRH?

In the previous week, Vulcan Materials had 2 more articles in the media than CRH. MarketBeat recorded 32 mentions for Vulcan Materials and 30 mentions for CRH. CRH's average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat Vulcan Materials' score of 1.00 indicating that CRH is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Vulcan Materials	20 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
CRH	22 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Vulcan Materials and CRH tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.