Cemex (CX) Competitors

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

Is VMC or CX more profitable?

Vulcan Materials has a net margin of 12.50% compared to Cemex's net margin of 8.84%. Vulcan Materials' return on equity of 12.91% beat Cemex's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vulcan Materials	12.50%	12.91%	6.61%
Cemex	8.84%	6.47%	2.92%

Is VMC or CX a better dividend stock?

Vulcan Materials pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Cemex pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Vulcan Materials pays out 27.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cemex pays out 8.3% 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. Cemex is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of VMC or CX?

90.4% of Vulcan Materials shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Cemex shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Vulcan Materials shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Cemex shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts prefer VMC or CX?

Vulcan Materials currently has a consensus price target of $302.91, suggesting a potential upside of 13.44%. Cemex has a consensus price target of $7.58, suggesting a potential upside of 6.09%. Given Vulcan Materials' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Vulcan Materials is more favorable than Cemex.

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)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Cemex	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Does the media prefer VMC or CX?

In the previous week, Vulcan Materials had 17 more articles in the media than Cemex. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Vulcan Materials and 1 mentions for Cemex. Vulcan Materials' average media sentiment score of 1.47 beat Cemex's score of 0.00 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	15 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cemex	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, VMC or CX?

Cemex has higher revenue and earnings than Vulcan Materials. Cemex 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	4.76	$911.90M	$7.05	37.88
Cemex	$16.20B	0.64	$939M	$0.96	7.44

Which has more risk and volatility, VMC or CX?

Vulcan Materials has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cemex has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Vulcan Materials beats Cemex on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.