James Hardie Industries (JHX) Competitors

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

Is JHX or VMC a better dividend stock?

James Hardie Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Vulcan Materials pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. James Hardie Industries pays out 21.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Vulcan Materials pays out 27.8% 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. James Hardie Industries is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media favor JHX or VMC?

In the previous week, Vulcan Materials had 1 more articles in the media than James Hardie Industries. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Vulcan Materials and 6 mentions for James Hardie Industries. Vulcan Materials' average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat James Hardie Industries' score of 0.22 indicating that Vulcan Materials is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
James Hardie Industries	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Vulcan Materials	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals believe in JHX or VMC?

8.0% of James Hardie Industries 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 company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate JHX or VMC?

James Hardie Industries presently has a consensus price target of $39.12, suggesting a potential upside of 44.09%. Vulcan Materials has a consensus price target of $302.91, suggesting a potential upside of 16.01%. Given James Hardie Industries' higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe James Hardie Industries is more favorable than Vulcan Materials.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
James Hardie Industries	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83
Vulcan Materials	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is JHX or VMC more profitable?

Vulcan Materials has a net margin of 12.30% compared to James Hardie Industries' net margin of 11.15%. James Hardie Industries' return on equity of 33.65% beat Vulcan Materials' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
James Hardie Industries	11.15%	33.65%	13.44%
Vulcan Materials	12.30%	12.83%	6.74%

Which has more risk & volatility, JHX or VMC?

James Hardie Industries has a beta of 1.73, suggesting that its stock price is 73% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vulcan Materials has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, JHX or VMC?

Vulcan Materials has higher revenue and earnings than James Hardie Industries. James Hardie Industries 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
James Hardie Industries	$3.88B	3.01	$510.20M	$0.98	27.70
Vulcan Materials	$7.51B	4.60	$933.20M	$7.05	37.04

Does the MarketBeat Community favor JHX or VMC?

Vulcan Materials received 383 more outperform votes than James Hardie Industries when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.84% of users gave Vulcan Materials an outperform vote while only 61.11% of users gave James Hardie Industries an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
James Hardie Industries	Outperform Votes 253 61.11%	Underperform Votes 161 38.89%
Vulcan Materials	Outperform Votes 636 65.84%	Underperform Votes 330 34.16%

Summary

Vulcan Materials beats James Hardie Industries on 16 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.