KNF vs ACA Stock Comparison

Knife River and Arcosa Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
KNF Knife River Corp
$53.14 +3.4% 1M -15.7% 1Y
Market cap
$3.00B
P/E
21.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$3.31B
Div. yield
–
Aggregates Basic Materials
2 wins
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
8 wins

Head to Head

10 decided of 12

Arcosa leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (Arcosa 8, Knife River 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionKNFACALeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $3.00B $7.33B ACA
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 21.5x 14.9x ACA
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 19.9x 33.6x KNF
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +12.1% +9.7% KNF
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 4.2% 17.9% ACA
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 6.5% 6.5% ACA
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 3.1x 1.8x ACA
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.13% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -15.7% +61.6% ACA
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years — +23.0%/yr –
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 51.0% 31.7% ACA
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 26/100 56/100 ACA

Percentile Scorecard

KNFACA

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

AxisKNFACA
Valuation 67 #4 of 10 48 #106 of 203
Growth – 82 #34 of 188
Profitability 0 #8 of 8 53 #89 of 187
Financial Health 13 #8 of 9 58 #94 of 222
Shareholder Returns – 41 #91 of 153
Overall 26 56
  • KNF ranked among 10 companies in Construction Materials
  • ACA ranked among 222 companies in Machinery

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodKNFACASPY
1 month +3.4%+1.7% -1.0%
3 months -31.9%+2.9% +2.9%
6 months -40.4%+24.1% +6.4%
Year to date -24.5%+40.3% +11.4%
1 year -15.7%+61.6% +13.1%
3 years +6.8%+117.4% +79.4%
3 years, per year +2.2%+29.6% +21.5%
5 years —+181.9% +67.7%
5 years, per year —+23.0% +10.9%

Risk

MeasureKNFACASPY
Volatility, 1Y 51.0%31.7% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 51.2%32.9% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.280.95 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.311.94 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -55.3%-36.7% -25.4%
From 52-week high -43.5%0.0% -2.5%
52-week high $93.97$149.18 $779.14
52-week low $47.97$92.25 $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.

MultipleKNFACA
P/E now vs peer median 21.6xmedian 19.7x 14.9xmedian 25.9x
P/S now vs peer median 0.9xmedian 1.8x 2.7xmedian 1.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 9.2xmedian 9.3x 15.2xmedian 13.7x
P/FCF now vs peer median 70.0xmedian 31.6x 54.9xmedian 21.1x
P/B now vs peer median 1.9xmedian 2.3x 2.5xmedian 2.3x
PEG now vs peer median 14.53median 1.85 0.75median 1.19

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 monthsKNFACA
Revenue $3.31B $2.74B
Gross profit $589.67M $632.30M
Operating income $275.33M $322.70M
Net income $139.89M $491.40M
Free cash flow $43.06M $133.40M
EPS (diluted) $2.46 $9.99
Cash & equivalents $102.03M $432.10M
Total debt $1.62B $1.44B
Shares (diluted) 56.88M 49.20M
Enterprise value $2.62B $6.31B

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
MetricKNFACA
P/E 21.6x 14.9x
P/FCF 70.0x 54.9x
P/Operating cash flow 9.6x 21.5x
P/S 0.9x 2.7x
P/B 1.9x 2.5x
P/Tangible book 1.9x 2.7x
EV/EBITDA 9.2x 15.2x
EV/EBIT 16.5x 25.8x
EV/Revenue 1.4x 3.0x
EV/FCF 105.2x 62.4x
EV/Operating cash flow 14.5x 24.4x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 14.53 0.75

Growth

14 metrics
MetricKNFACA
Revenue growth (1Y) 12.1% 9.7%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 8.3% 7.0%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 10.3% 20.7%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 12.6% 14.2%
Operating income growth (1Y) 6.5% 61.3%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 6.6% -5.6%
Net income growth (1Y) -8.7% 433.0%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 1.7% 20.2%
EPS growth (1Y) -8.7% 430.8%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 1.5% 19.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 28.0% -23.1%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 3.2% 16.1%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 181.0% -54.9%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -29.0% 54.7%

Profitability

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

Financial Health

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

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricKNFACA
Dividend yield – 0.1%
Net buyback yield – 0.2%
Shareholder yield – 0.4%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 2.0%
Payout ratio (FCF) – 7.4%
Dividend growth (1Y) – 1.0%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – 1.0%

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.

ConsensusKNFACA
Forward P/E 19.9xFY2026 33.6xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $2.67FY2026 $4.44FY2026
EPS growth, next FY -3.3%FY2026 -0.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +10.5% +7.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $3.66BFY2026 $2.45BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +16.2%FY2026 -14.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +3.1% +12.5%

Institutional Ownership

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

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.

KNFACA
KNF 1.00 0.30
ACA 0.30 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, KNF and ACA?

Arcosa (ACA) is the largest by market capitalisation: Knife River (KNF) $3.00B, Arcosa (ACA) $7.33B.

Which stock is cheaper, KNF and ACA?

Arcosa (ACA) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Knife River (KNF) 21.5x, Arcosa (ACA) 14.9x). On next year's consensus earnings, Knife River (KNF) is cheapest (Knife River (KNF) 19.9x, Arcosa (ACA) 33.6x). 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: Knife River (KNF) +12.1%, Arcosa (ACA) +9.7%.

Which company is more profitable?

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

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Arcosa (ACA) returned the most: Knife River (KNF) -15.7%, Arcosa (ACA) +61.6%. Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Knife River (KNF) 0.00%, Arcosa (ACA) 0.13%. Knife River (KNF) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Arcosa (ACA) has been the steadiest (Knife River (KNF) 51.0%, Arcosa (ACA) 31.7%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do KNF and ACA move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of 0.30, a weak relationship. Holding both diversifies more than two closely linked stocks would.

Which is the better stock, KNF and ACA?

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 8. 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.