CRH (CRH) Competitors

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

Is CRH or VMC a better dividend stock?

CRH pays an annual dividend of $1.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Vulcan Materials pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. CRH pays out 21.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Vulcan Materials pays out 26.9% 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 & risk, CRH or VMC?

CRH has a beta of 1.3, indicating that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vulcan Materials has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CRH or VMC 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
CRH	9.86%	16.35%	7.25%
Vulcan Materials	12.30%	12.83%	6.74%

Does the media prefer CRH or VMC?

In the previous week, Vulcan Materials had 13 more articles in the media than CRH. MarketBeat recorded 37 mentions for Vulcan Materials and 24 mentions for CRH. CRH's average media sentiment score of 1.31 beat Vulcan Materials' score of 0.87 indicating that CRH is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
CRH	19 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Vulcan Materials	18 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	16 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in CRH or VMC?

Vulcan Materials received 137 more outperform votes than CRH when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.83% of users gave Vulcan Materials an outperform vote while only 56.79% of users gave CRH an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
CRH	Outperform Votes 489 56.79%	Underperform Votes 372 43.21%
Vulcan Materials	Outperform Votes 626 65.83%	Underperform Votes 325 34.17%

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, CRH or VMC?

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
CRH	$34.95B	1.95	$3.18B	$5.00	20.05
Vulcan Materials	$7.42B	4.50	$933.20M	$6.85	36.89

Do analysts recommend CRH or VMC?

CRH currently has a consensus target price of $107.75, suggesting a potential upside of 7.48%. Vulcan Materials has a consensus target price of $305.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.71%. Given Vulcan Materials' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Vulcan Materials is more favorable than CRH.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CRH	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Vulcan Materials	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73

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

62.5% of CRH shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.4% of Vulcan Materials 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 company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

CRH and Vulcan Materials tied by winning 11 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.