Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC)

Whew! Valuation on this is silly.

housing starting to recover

Not profitable, significant debt.

Well managed business - started in Winston-Salem, my home town

Buy at 40, yielding over 2.4% dividend. Favorable market capitalization, and fund management loyalty, may be due to strength of management leadership. VMC belongs in every portfolio for the next five years.

Solid Company with history of performance during construction peaks. Should double within 18 months.

undervalued

Added 5/5/10

VMC will lag the market until we see sustained rebound in the construction industry especially in the SE USA. Wouldn't short it but won't be bullish at least for a few more months. This will be a great play once the economy begins to move upward.

Good earnings.

I dont see Vulcan really bouncing back until new houses are starting to be built in the Gulf Coast Region. Until then, not much, but I hope I'm on board once it turns around!

I enjoy the economics of the aggregate industry due to the low competition environment which they operate(a high weight to value ratio means that transportation from further sources is uneconomical). Pricing historically has gone nowhere but up(this company in particular hasn't had a year where average pricing per ton for the company has went down since the 70's) as they can continuously raise prices to the point where pricing plus transportation is just less than the next closest source. Even in the last year where volume dropped to a level unseen in the last decade or so pricing improved.
The company's customers are roughly 50-50 split between residential/commercial housing and government. Government spending is historically less volitile but recent funding complications have led to less demand from this segment as well as residential/commercial. From this point I see volumes rising significantly in the next 2 years from this unsustainable point and the company should become profitable again. Over the longterm I believe growth from pricing plus acquisitions of new aggregates companies should ensure the company grows faster than the S&P. Also its pricing compared with what I'd consider normalized earnings is either at or below the S&P in general.

just think so

Income from stimulus program will eventually come through. Further access to key quarries will start to pay off eventually when economy and housing recovers

own it

Waiting for stimulus spending to begin on construction projects. This company will be a beneficiary.
-rof

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Stimulus package will impact ashpalt demnad and this is the comparny that will benefit

Long term construction projects will harness this comapnies unique assets