Vulcan Materials (VMC) Competitors

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

Which has better 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	4.24	$933.20M	$6.85	34.70
CRH	$35.57B	1.64	$3.18B	$5.03	17.20

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%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor VMC or CRH?

Vulcan Materials received 140 more outperform votes than CRH when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.94% of users gave Vulcan Materials an outperform vote while only 56.83% of users gave CRH an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Vulcan Materials	Outperform Votes 631 65.94%	Underperform Votes 326 34.06%
CRH	Outperform Votes 491 56.83%	Underperform Votes 373 43.17%

Do analysts recommend VMC or CRH?

Vulcan Materials currently has a consensus price target of $305.58, suggesting a potential upside of 28.57%. CRH has a consensus price target of $109.64, suggesting a potential upside of 26.74%. Given Vulcan Materials' higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Vulcan Materials is more favorable than CRH.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vulcan Materials	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92
CRH	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do insiders and institutionals believe in VMC or CRH?

90.4% of Vulcan Materials shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.5% of CRH shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Vulcan Materials shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, VMC or CRH?

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

Does the media prefer VMC or CRH?

In the previous week, Vulcan Materials had 3 more articles in the media than CRH. MarketBeat recorded 35 mentions for Vulcan Materials and 32 mentions for CRH. CRH's average media sentiment score of 1.61 beat Vulcan Materials' score of 1.32 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	29 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
CRH	29 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

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 $0.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Vulcan Materials pays out 28.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CRH pays out 15.5% 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 raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. CRH is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Vulcan Materials beats CRH on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.