ACA vs KNF vs VMC Stock Comparison

Arcosa, Knife River and Vulcan Materials Prices as of Oct 22, 2026 Peers: Industry group
ACA Arcosa, Inc.
$149.18 +1.7% 1M +61.6% 1Y
Market cap
$7.33B
P/E
14.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$2.74B
Div. yield
0.13%
Metal Fabrication Industrials
6 wins
KNF Knife River Corp
$52.89 -3.1% 1M -15.8% 1Y
Market cap
$3.05B
P/E
21.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$3.31B
Div. yield
–
Aggregates Basic Materials
2 wins
VMC Vulcan Materials CO
$261.43 +6.7% 1M -10.7% 1Y
Market cap
$33.98B
P/E
30.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$8.12B
Div. yield
0.01%
Aggregates Basic Materials
4 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Arcosa leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Arcosa 6, Vulcan Materials 4, Knife River 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionACAKNFVMCLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $7.33B $3.05B $33.98B VMC
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 14.9x 21.8x 30.5x ACA
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 33.6x 19.8x 27.8x KNF
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +9.7% +12.1% +6.9% KNF
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 17.9% 4.2% 13.7% ACA
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 6.5% 6.5% 9.9% VMC
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 1.8x 3.1x 1.8x VMC
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.13% 0.00% 0.01% ACA
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +61.6% -15.8% -10.7% ACA
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +23.0%/yr — +7.2%/yr ACA
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 31.7% 51.1% 29.1% VMC
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 56/100 30/100 46/100 ACA

Percentile Scorecard

ACAKNFVMC

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisACAKNFVMC
Valuation 49 #105 of 203 78 #3 of 10 0 #10 of 10
Growth 82 #34 of 187 – –
Profitability 51 #91 of 185 0 #8 of 8 64 #3 of 8
Financial Health 58 #92 of 219 13 #8 of 9 75 #3 of 9
Shareholder Returns 41 #90 of 153 – 43 #5 of 8
Overall 56 30 46
  • ACA ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • KNF ranked among 10 companies in Construction Materials
  • VMC ranked among 10 companies in Construction Materials

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodACAKNFVMCSPY
1 month +1.7%-3.1%+6.7% -0.8%
3 months +2.9%-32.6%-8.1% +3.5%
6 months +24.1%-40.5%-10.3% +7.0%
Year to date +40.3%-24.8%-8.3% +12.2%
1 year +61.6%-15.8%-10.7% +13.0%
3 years +117.4%+10.2%+35.0% +86.3%
3 years, per year +29.6%+3.3%+10.5% +23.1%
5 years +181.9%—+41.3% +68.6%
5 years, per year +23.0%—+7.2% +11.0%
10 years ——+133.0% +258.0%
10 years, per year ——+8.8% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureACAKNFVMCSPY
Volatility, 1Y 31.7%51.1%29.1% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 32.9%51.4%32.0% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.951.300.81 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 1.94-0.31-0.37 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -36.7%-55.3%-32.8% -25.4%
From 52-week high 0.0%-43.7%-20.9% -1.8%
52-week high $149.18$93.97$330.37 $779.14
52-week low $92.25$47.97$240.82 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleACAKNFVMC
P/E now vs peer median 14.9xmedian 26.0x 21.5xmedian 19.6x 30.4xmedian 19.6x
P/S now vs peer median 2.7xmedian 1.9x 0.9xmedian 1.8x 4.2xmedian 1.8x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 15.2xmedian 14.0x 9.2xmedian 9.3x 16.1xmedian 9.3x
P/FCF now vs peer median 54.9xmedian 21.4x 69.7xmedian 31.4x 32.9xmedian 31.4x
P/B now vs peer median 2.5xmedian 2.2x 1.9xmedian 2.3x 4.0xmedian 2.3x
PEG now vs peer median 0.75median 1.26 14.46median 2.78 1.85median 2.78

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsACAKNFVMC
Revenue $2.74B $3.31B $8.12B
Gross profit $632.30M $589.67M $2.23B
Operating income $322.70M $275.33M $1.64B
Net income $491.40M $139.89M $1.12B
Free cash flow $133.40M $43.06M $1.03B
EPS (diluted) $9.99 $2.46 $8.56
Cash & equivalents $432.10M $102.03M $194.20M
Total debt $1.44B $1.62B $4.36B
Shares (diluted) 49.20M 56.88M 130.30M
Enterprise value $6.31B $2.67B $33.28B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricACAKNFVMC
P/E 14.9x 21.5x 30.4x
P/FCF 54.9x 69.7x 32.9x
P/Operating cash flow 21.5x 9.6x 18.7x
P/S 2.7x 0.9x 4.2x
P/B 2.5x 1.9x 4.0x
P/Tangible book 2.7x 1.9x 4.8x
EV/EBITDA 15.2x 9.2x 16.1x
EV/EBIT 25.8x 16.4x 23.1x
EV/Revenue 3.0x 1.4x 4.7x
EV/FCF 62.4x 104.9x 37.0x
EV/Operating cash flow 24.4x 14.4x 21.1x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.75 14.46 1.85

Growth

14 metrics
MetricACAKNFVMC
Revenue growth (1Y) 9.7% 12.1% 6.9%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 7.0% 8.3% 2.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 20.7% 10.3% 6.7%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 14.2% 12.6% 8.9%
Operating income growth (1Y) 61.3% 6.5% 14.5%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -5.6% 6.6% 13.1%
Net income growth (1Y) 433.0% -8.7% 17.4%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 20.2% 1.7% 15.5%
EPS growth (1Y) 430.8% -8.7% 19.7%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 19.8% 1.5% 16.4%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -23.1% 28.0% 10.8%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 16.1% 3.2% 10.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -54.9% 181.0% -6.5%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 54.7% -29.0% 16.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricACAKNFVMC
Gross margin 23.0% 17.8% 27.5%
EBITDA margin 19.9% 14.9% 29.2%
Operating margin 11.8% 8.3% 20.2%
Pretax margin 8.4% 5.8% 17.6%
Net margin 17.9% 4.2% 13.7%
FCF margin 4.9% 1.3% 12.7%
Operating cash flow margin 12.4% 9.5% 22.2%
Return on equity 17.4% 8.8% 13.2%
Return on assets 9.5% 3.5% 6.8%
Return on invested capital 6.5% 6.5% 9.9%
Return on capital employed 6.9% 7.8% 10.7%
Asset turnover 0.5x 0.8x 0.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 0.7x 2.2x 1.6x
Stock comp / revenue 0.9% 0.3% 0.7%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricACAKNFVMC
Debt / assets 27.1% 38.7% 26.5%
Debt / equity 0.5x 1.0x 0.5x
Net debt / EBITDA 1.8x 3.1x 1.8x
Debt / FCF 10.8x 37.6x 4.2x
Liabilities / assets 43.7% 61.6% 48.4%
Equity / assets 56.3% 38.4% 51.6%
Interest coverage 3.3x 3.1x 7.2x
Current ratio 3.1x 2.7x 1.8x
Quick ratio 2.2x 1.5x 1.1x
Cash ratio 1.0x 0.2x 0.2x
Altman Z-score 3.18 2.27 3.92

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricACAKNFVMC
Dividend yield 0.1% – 0.8%
Net buyback yield 0.2% – 2.4%
Shareholder yield 0.4% – 3.1%
Payout ratio (earnings) 2.0% – 23.7%
Payout ratio (FCF) 7.4% – 25.7%
Dividend growth (1Y) 1.0% – 4.8%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 1.0% – 6.2%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusACAKNFVMC
Forward P/E 33.6xFY2026 19.8xFY2026 27.8xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $4.44FY2026 $2.67FY2026 $9.39FY2026
EPS growth, next FY -0.7%FY2026 -3.3%FY2026 +17.4%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +7.0% +10.5% +11.6%
Revenue, next fiscal year $2.45BFY2026 $3.66BFY2026 $8.31BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY -14.9%FY2026 +16.2%FY2026 +4.6%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +12.5% +3.1% -1.8%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersACAKNFVMC
Held by institutions 91.8% 96.7% 98.5%
Institutions holding 426 391 1,060
Change in shares held, QoQ -1.1% +1.0% +3.6%
Institutions buying 230 168 526
Institutions selling 114 137 363
Buyers to sellers 2.02 1.23 1.45

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

ACAKNFVMC
ACA 1.00 0.30 0.29
KNF 0.30 1.00 0.42
VMC 0.29 0.42 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ACA, KNF and VMC?

Vulcan Materials (VMC) is the largest by market capitalisation: Arcosa (ACA) $7.33B, Knife River (KNF) $3.05B, Vulcan Materials (VMC) $33.98B.

Which stock is cheaper, ACA, KNF and VMC?

Arcosa (ACA) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Arcosa (ACA) 14.9x, Knife River (KNF) 21.8x, Vulcan Materials (VMC) 30.5x). On next year's consensus earnings, Knife River (KNF) is cheapest (Arcosa (ACA) 33.6x, Knife River (KNF) 19.8x, Vulcan Materials (VMC) 27.8x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Knife River (KNF) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Arcosa (ACA) +9.7%, Knife River (KNF) +12.1%, Vulcan Materials (VMC) +6.9%.

Which company is more profitable?

Arcosa (ACA) has the highest net margin (Arcosa (ACA) 17.9%, Knife River (KNF) 4.2%, Vulcan Materials (VMC) 13.7%). On return on invested capital, Vulcan Materials (VMC) leads (Arcosa (ACA) 6.5%, Knife River (KNF) 6.5%, Vulcan Materials (VMC) 9.9%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Arcosa (ACA) returned the most: Arcosa (ACA) +61.6%, Knife River (KNF) -15.8%, Vulcan Materials (VMC) -10.7%. Over five years, Arcosa (ACA) compounded fastest (Arcosa (ACA) +23.0%/yr, Vulcan Materials (VMC) +7.2%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Arcosa (ACA) has the highest dividend yield: Arcosa (ACA) 0.13%, Knife River (KNF) 0.00%, Vulcan Materials (VMC) 0.01%. Knife River (KNF) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Vulcan Materials (VMC) has been the steadiest (Arcosa (ACA) 31.7%, Knife River (KNF) 51.1%, Vulcan Materials (VMC) 29.1%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, ACA, KNF and VMC?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Arcosa (ACA) leads on 6. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.