Vulcan Materials (VMC) Competitors

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

Which has more risk and volatility, VMC or CRH?

Vulcan Materials has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CRH has a beta of 1.31, meaning that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is VMC or CRH a better dividend stock?

Vulcan Materials pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. CRH pays an annual dividend of $1.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Vulcan Materials pays out 29.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CRH pays out 21.0% 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 11 consecutive years. CRH is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

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	$7.78B	4.65	$933.20M	$6.34	43.26
CRH	$34.95B	1.93	$3.18B	$5.00	19.83

Does the media refer more to VMC or CRH?

In the previous week, CRH had 4 more articles in the media than Vulcan Materials. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for CRH and 11 mentions for Vulcan Materials. Vulcan Materials' average media sentiment score of 1.54 beat CRH's score of 1.46 indicating that Vulcan Materials is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Vulcan Materials	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
CRH	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor VMC or CRH?

Vulcan Materials received 137 more outperform votes than CRH when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.89% of users gave Vulcan Materials an outperform vote while only 56.86% of users gave CRH an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Vulcan Materials	Outperform Votes 626 65.89%	Underperform Votes 324 34.11%
CRH	Outperform Votes 489 56.86%	Underperform Votes 371 43.14%

Do institutionals & insiders believe 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 endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is VMC or CRH more profitable?

Vulcan Materials has a net margin of 11.43% 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	11.43%	11.88%	6.38%
CRH	9.86%	16.35%	7.25%

Do analysts rate VMC or CRH?

Vulcan Materials currently has a consensus target price of $301.18, indicating a potential upside of 9.82%. CRH has a consensus target price of $107.75, indicating a potential upside of 8.67%. Given Vulcan Materials' higher possible upside, analysts plainly 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)	3 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
CRH	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Summary

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