Vulcan Materials (VMC) Competitors

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

Do institutionals & insiders believe in STRL or VMC?

80.9% of Sterling Infrastructure shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.4% of Vulcan Materials shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Sterling Infrastructure shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Vulcan Materials shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts recommend STRL or VMC?

Sterling Infrastructure currently has a consensus target price of $355.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.69%. Vulcan Materials has a consensus target price of $308.58, indicating a potential downside of 0.04%. Given Vulcan Materials' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Vulcan Materials is more favorable than Sterling Infrastructure.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sterling Infrastructure	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.25
Vulcan Materials	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.94

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, STRL or VMC?

Vulcan Materials has higher revenue and earnings than Sterling Infrastructure. Sterling Infrastructure 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
Sterling Infrastructure	$2.14B	5.30	$257.46M	$9.20	40.48
Vulcan Materials	$7.42B	5.50	$911.90M	$7.16	43.12

Is STRL or VMC more profitable?

Sterling Infrastructure has a net margin of 13.33% compared to Vulcan Materials' net margin of 12.52%. Sterling Infrastructure's return on equity of 27.93% beat Vulcan Materials' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sterling Infrastructure	13.33%	27.93%	11.18%
Vulcan Materials	12.52%	12.81%	6.41%

Which has more volatility and risk, STRL or VMC?

Sterling Infrastructure has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vulcan Materials has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor STRL or VMC?

In the previous week, Vulcan Materials had 24 more articles in the media than Sterling Infrastructure. MarketBeat recorded 32 mentions for Vulcan Materials and 8 mentions for Sterling Infrastructure. Sterling Infrastructure's average media sentiment score of 0.92 beat Vulcan Materials' score of 0.89 indicating that Sterling Infrastructure is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Sterling Infrastructure	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Vulcan Materials	12 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Vulcan Materials beats Sterling Infrastructure on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.