Knife River vs Martin Marietta Materials
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The short version
- Martin Marietta Materials is the larger business, with $6.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $3.1B for Knife River, about 2.0 times as much.
- Martin Marietta Materials kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (23.4% operating margin, against 9.1%).
- Martin Marietta Materials turned more of its sales into free cash flow (15.9% FCF margin, against −2.2%).
- Knife River earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (9.1%, against 7.7%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Knife River’s earnings: a P/E of 21.7x against 12.5x for Martin Marietta Materials.
| Latest fiscal year | KNF · FY25 | MLM · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $3.0B | $30.5B |
| Revenue | $3.1B | $6.2B |
| Free cash flow | −$69.6M | $978M |
| Net income | $157M | $1.1B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 8.5% | 8.6% |
| 5-year growth | — | 5.4% |
| Share count change | 0.1% | −1.6% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 18.4% | 30.7% |
| Operating margin | 9.1% | 23.4% |
| Net margin | 5.0% | 18.5% |
| FCF margin | −2.2% | 15.9% |
| Return on capital | 9.1% | 7.7% |
| Return on equity | 10.1% | 11.7% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $1.1B | $5.6B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.3x | 2.7x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $0.0M | $647M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 21.7x | 12.5x |
| Piotroski F-score | 3 | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
KNF —
MLM $3.8B
FY17
KNF —
MLM $4.0B
FY18
KNF —
MLM $4.2B
FY19
KNF —
MLM $4.7B
FY20
KNF —
MLM $4.7B
FY21
KNF $2.2B
MLM $5.4B
FY22
KNF $2.5B
MLM $6.2B
FY23
KNF $2.8B
MLM $5.9B
FY24
KNF $2.9B
MLM $5.7B
FY25
KNF $3.1B
MLM $6.2B
KNF
MLM
Operating margin
FY16
KNF —
MLM 17.7%
FY17
KNF —
MLM 17.7%
FY18
KNF —
MLM 16.3%
FY19
KNF —
MLM 18.7%
FY20
KNF —
MLM 21.3%
FY21
KNF 8.6%
MLM 18.0%
FY22
KNF 7.7%
MLM 19.6%
FY23
KNF 10.5%
MLM 22.8%
FY24
KNF 10.9%
MLM 43.8%
FY25
KNF 9.1%
MLM 23.4%
KNF
MLM
Free cash flow
FY16
KNF —
MLM $302M
FY17
KNF —
MLM $247M
FY18
KNF —
MLM $329M
FY19
KNF —
MLM $573M
FY20
KNF —
MLM $690M
FY21
KNF $7.0M
MLM $715M
FY22
KNF $29.3M
MLM $509M
FY23
KNF $211M
MLM $878M
FY24
KNF $150M
MLM $604M
FY25
KNF −$69.6M
MLM $978M
KNF
MLM
Return on capital
FY16
KNF —
MLM 8.5%
FY17
KNF —
MLM 11.6%
FY18
KNF —
MLM 7.9%
FY19
KNF —
MLM 9.0%
FY20
KNF —
MLM 9.9%
FY21
KNF —
MLM 8.0%
FY22
KNF —
MLM 8.0%
FY23
KNF 16.1%
MLM 9.2%
FY24
KNF 12.9%
MLM 14.8%
FY25
KNF 9.1%
MLM 7.7%
KNF
MLM
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.