Knife River
KNF · Construction Materials
$53.12
1.4%Vulcan Materials
VMC · Construction Materials
$261.69
2.6%The short version
- Vulcan Materials is the larger business, with $7.9B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $3.1B for Knife River, about 2.5 times as much.
- Knife River grew revenue faster (8.5%, against 7.1%).
- Vulcan Materials kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (20.4% operating margin, against 9.1% operating margin).
- Vulcan Materials turned more of its sales into free cash flow (14.3% FCF margin, against −2.2% FCF margin).
- Vulcan Materials earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (9.8%, against 9.1%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Vulcan Materials’s earnings: a P/E of 31.2x against 21.7x for Knife River.
| Latest fiscal year | KNF · FY25 | VMC · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $3.0B | $34.3B |
| Revenue | $3.1B | $7.9B |
| Free cash flow | −$69.6M | $1.1B |
| Net income | $157M | $1.1B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 8.5% | 7.1% |
| 5-year growth | — | 10.3% |
| Share count change | 0.1% | −0.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 18.4% | 27.4% |
| Operating margin | 9.1% | 20.4% |
| Net margin | 5.0% | 13.6% |
| FCF margin | −2.2% | 14.3% |
| Return on capital | 9.1% | 9.8% |
| Return on equity | 10.1% | 12.9% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $1.1B | $4.2B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.3x | 1.8x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $0.0M | $698M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 21.7x | 31.2x |
| Piotroski F-score | 3 | 8 |
FY16
KNF —
VMC $3.6B
FY17
KNF —
VMC $3.9B
FY18
KNF —
VMC $4.4B
FY19
KNF —
VMC $4.9B
FY20
KNF —
VMC $4.9B
FY21
KNF $2.2B
VMC $5.6B
FY22
KNF $2.5B
VMC $7.3B
FY23
KNF $2.8B
VMC $7.8B
FY24
KNF $2.9B
VMC $7.4B
FY25
KNF $3.1B
VMC $7.9B
KNF
VMC
FY16
KNF —
VMC 18.5%
FY17
KNF —
VMC 16.4%
FY18
KNF —
VMC 17.1%
FY19
KNF —
VMC 17.8%
FY20
KNF —
VMC 18.4%
FY21
KNF 8.6%
VMC 18.2%
FY22
KNF 7.7%
VMC 13.0%
FY23
KNF 10.5%
VMC 18.3%
FY24
KNF 10.9%
VMC 18.4%
FY25
KNF 9.1%
VMC 20.4%
KNF
VMC
FY16
KNF —
VMC $294M
FY17
KNF —
VMC $185M
FY18
KNF —
VMC $364M
FY19
KNF —
VMC $600M
FY20
KNF —
VMC $708M
FY21
KNF $7.0M
VMC $561M
FY22
KNF $29.3M
VMC $536M
FY23
KNF $211M
VMC $664M
FY24
KNF $150M
VMC $806M
FY25
KNF −$69.6M
VMC $1.1B
KNF
VMC
FY16
KNF —
VMC 8.3%
FY17
KNF —
VMC 9.1%
FY18
KNF —
VMC 7.9%
FY19
KNF —
VMC 8.9%
FY20
KNF —
VMC 8.7%
FY21
KNF —
VMC 8.5%
FY22
KNF —
VMC 6.8%
FY23
KNF 16.1%
VMC 10.2%
FY24
KNF 12.9%
VMC 9.2%
FY25
KNF 9.1%
VMC 9.8%
KNF
VMC
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Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.