Vulcan Materials Company VMC reported mixed first-quarter 2025 results, with adjusted earnings surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate but revenues missing the same.

Vulcan shares rose 1.5% in Wednesday’s pre-market trading following its earnings release, likely reflecting improved investor sentiment driven by the company’s reaffirmed outlook despite ongoing macroeconomic headwinds.

Vulcan’s aggregates-driven business model, combined with its disciplined execution of the Vulcan Way of Selling and Operating, drove robust earnings growth and margin expansion in the first quarter. Adjusted EBITDA rose 27%, while the Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded by 420 basis points (bps) year over year. Aggregates cash gross profit per ton increased 20% year over year, reflecting broad-based improvements across the company’s footprint. Strong commercial and operational performance underpins confidence in achieving another year of earnings growth in 2025.

Vulcan’s Q1 Earnings & Revenues

The quarter’s adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.00 topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 79 cents by 26.6%. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported an adjusted EPS of 80 cents.

Total revenues of $1.64 billion, however, missed the consensus mark of $1.68 billion by 2.5% but grew 5.8% year over year.

Vulcan Materials Company Price, Consensus and EPS SurpriseVulcan Materials Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Vulcan Materials Company price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Vulcan Materials Company Quote

Vulcan’s Segments in Detail

Aggregates

Revenues from the segment increased to $1.34 billion from $1.29 billion in the year-ago period. Aggregates shipments (volumes) declined 1% year over year to 47.8 million tons. Our model expected Aggregates revenues of $1.43 billion on 50 million tons of shipments.

Freight-adjusted average sales price rose to $22.03 per ton from the prior-year level of $20.59. Our estimate for the same was pegged at $21.99 per ton. Freight-adjusted revenues were up 6.1% from the prior-year quarter’s level to $1.05 billion.

Gross profit of $357.3 million increased from the prior-year figure of $303.3 million, with the gross margin expanding 320 basis points (bps). Cash gross profit per ton improved 20% to $10.63, driven by favorable pricing and operational efficiencies.

Asphalt and Concrete

Revenues in the Asphalt segment were $208.7 million (ahead of our expectation of $195.5 million), up 12.1% year over year. The segment generated a gross profit of $4.8 million compared with $4.7 million a year ago. Volumes were up slightly to 2.2 million tons from 2.1 million tons a year ago, while the prices improved 4.5%.

Revenues from the Concrete segment were up 19.4% year over year to $177 million (compared with our expectation of $132.1 million). Gross profit totaled $3.2 million against a loss of $3.1 million in the year-ago period. Shipments grew to 0.9 million cubic yards from 0.8 million cubic yards on a year-over-year basis. Average selling prices increased to $189.38 from $182.73 in the prior-year quarter.

Story Continues

Operating Highlights of Vulcan

Selling, administrative and general (SAG) expenses — as a percentage of total revenues — expanded 10 bps to 8.5% from a year ago.

Adjusted EBITDA margin was up 420 bps year over year to 25.1%.

VMC’s Financials

As of March 31, 2025, Vulcan’s cash and cash equivalents were $181.3 million, down from $559.7 million at 2024-end. Long-term debt was $4.91 billion at March-end, the same as the 2024 level of $4.91 billion.

As of March-end, total debt to trailing-12-month adjusted EBITDA was 2.3x, down from 2.6x at the end of 2024.

In the first quarter, net cash provided by operating activities was $251.5 million compared with $173.4 million a year ago.

Vulcan Reiterates 2025 Guidance

As unveiled earlier during the fourth-quarter earnings call, Vulcan expects double-digit year-over-year growth in the cash gross profit per ton compared with $10.61 in 2024 for the Aggregates segment. Shipment growth is expected to be between 3% and 5% year over year. Freight-adjusted price improvement is projected to be between 5% and 7% (including more than 100 bps of negative mix impact from recent acquisitions). The freight-adjusted unit cash cost is expected to increase in the low to mid-single digits.

The total Asphalt and Concrete segment’s cash gross profit is expected to be about $360 million compared with $272 million in 2024.

Vulcan expects SAG expenses between $550 million and $560 million compared with $531 million in 2024. Interest expenses are expected to be approximately $245 million.

Adjusted EBITDA for the full year is projected to be between $2.35 billion and $2.55 billion (including a $150 million contribution from acquisitions) compared with $2.06 billion in 2024.
 
The company expects capital expenditures between $750 million and $800 million for maintenance and growth projects. The effective tax rate is expected to be in the range of 22-23%.

VMC’s Zacks Rank & Recent Construction Releases

Vulcan currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Masco Corporation MAS posted weaker-than-expected results for the first quarter of 2025, with both earnings and revenues falling short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 87 cents, down from 93 cents a year ago. Net sales of $1.8 billion declined 6% from the prior-year period. Excluding divestitures, net sales of Masco declined 3% year over year in local currency.

Citing ongoing uncertainty around how these external developments will affect industry-wide demand, pricing dynamics and input costs, Masco management has refrained from providing full-year 2025 financial guidance.

UFP Industries, Inc. UFPI reported tepid results for the first quarter of 2025. Both earnings and net sales missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate and declined year over year.

The quarterly results of UFP Industries were affected by softer demand and broad-based pricing pressures. While economic challenges are expected to persist in 2025, UFP Industries noted sequential improvement in business activity throughout the quarter, which continued into April.

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. MLM reported mixed results for first-quarter 2025, with earnings missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate and revenues beating the same. On a year-over-year basis, the top line increased but the bottom line declined.

Martin Marietta expects total revenues of $6.830-$7.230 billion, up from $6.54 billion in 2024.
Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be between $2.150 billion and $2.350 billion, up from $2.07 billion reported in 2024.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

UFP Industries, Inc. (UFPI):Free Stock Analysis Report

Masco Corporation (MAS):Free Stock Analysis Report

Vulcan Materials Company (VMC):Free Stock Analysis Report

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (MLM):Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research

View Comments