KNF vs ROAD vs VMC Stock Comparison

Knife River, Construction Partners and Vulcan Materials Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
KNF Knife River Corp
$52.89 -3.1% 1M -15.8% 1Y
Market cap
$3.11B
P/E
22.2x
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
$34.10B
P/E
30.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$8.12B
Div. yield
0.01%
Aggregates Basic Materials
6 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Vulcan Materials leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Vulcan Materials 6, Construction Partners 3, Knife River 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionKNFROADVMCLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $3.11B $4.70B $34.10B VMC
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 22.2x 33.0x 30.6x KNF
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 19.8x 26.4x 27.9x KNF
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +12.1% +41.9% +6.9% ROAD
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 4.2% 4.1% 13.7% VMC
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 6.5% 8.1% 9.9% VMC
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 3.1x 3.6x 1.8x VMC
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.01% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -15.8% -30.1% -10.7% VMC
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years — +19.2%/yr +7.2%/yr ROAD
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 51.1% 51.5% 29.1% VMC
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 30/100 63/100 46/100 ROAD

Percentile Scorecard

KNFROADVMC

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

AxisKNFROADVMC
Valuation 78 #3 of 10 69 #17 of 52 0 #10 of 10
Growth – 97 #2 of 37 –
Profitability 0 #8 of 8 69 #12 of 37 64 #3 of 8
Financial Health 13 #8 of 9 21 #45 of 57 75 #3 of 9
Shareholder Returns – 58 #12 of 27 43 #5 of 8
Overall 30 63 46
  • KNF ranked among 10 companies in Construction Materials
  • ROAD ranked among 57 companies in Construction Services
  • 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

PeriodKNFROADVMCSPY
1 month -3.1%-12.0%+6.7% -0.8%
3 months -32.6%-21.5%-8.1% +3.5%
6 months -40.5%-31.7%-10.3% +7.0%
Year to date -24.8%-24.0%-8.3% +12.2%
1 year -15.8%-30.1%-10.7% +13.0%
3 years +10.2%+121.2%+35.0% +86.3%
3 years, per year +3.3%+30.3%+10.5% +23.1%
5 years —+140.7%+41.3% +68.6%
5 years, per year —+19.2%+7.2% +11.0%
10 years ——+133.0% +258.0%
10 years, per year ——+8.8% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureKNFROADVMCSPY
Volatility, 1Y 51.1%51.5%29.1% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 51.4%47.5%32.0% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.301.800.81 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.31-0.58-0.37 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -55.3%-54.5%-32.8% -25.4%
From 52-week high -43.7%-41.3%-20.9% -1.8%
52-week high $93.97$140.48$330.37 $779.14
52-week low $47.97$80.84$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.

MultipleKNFROADVMC
P/E now vs peer median 21.5xmedian 19.6x 32.4xmedian 25.7x 30.4xmedian 19.6x
P/S now vs peer median 0.9xmedian 1.8x 1.1xmedian 0.8x 4.2xmedian 1.8x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 9.2xmedian 9.3x 11.9xmedian 12.9x 16.1xmedian 9.3x
P/FCF now vs peer median 69.7xmedian 31.4x 22.5xmedian 22.5x 32.9xmedian 31.4x
P/B now vs peer median 1.9xmedian 2.3x 3.8xmedian 2.3x 4.0xmedian 2.3x
PEG now vs peer median 14.46median 2.78 0.52median 0.56 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 monthsKNFROADVMC
Revenue $3.31B $3.48B $8.12B
Gross profit $589.67M $548.10M $2.23B
Operating income $275.33M $297.95M $1.64B
Net income $139.89M $142.51M $1.12B
Free cash flow $43.06M $175.56M $1.03B
EPS (diluted) $2.46 $2.53 $8.56
Cash & equivalents $102.03M $94.55M $194.20M
Total debt $1.62B $1.79B $4.36B
Shares (diluted) 56.88M 56.27M 130.30M
Enterprise value $2.73B $4.27B $33.39B

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
MetricKNFROADVMC
P/E 21.5x 32.4x 30.4x
P/FCF 69.7x 22.5x 32.9x
P/Operating cash flow 9.6x 11.2x 18.7x
P/S 0.9x 1.1x 4.2x
P/B 1.9x 3.8x 4.0x
P/Tangible book 1.9x 4.1x 4.8x
EV/EBITDA 9.2x 11.9x 16.1x
EV/EBIT 16.4x 18.9x 23.1x
EV/Revenue 1.4x 1.6x 4.7x
EV/FCF 104.9x 32.2x 37.0x
EV/Operating cash flow 14.4x 16.0x 21.1x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 14.46 0.52 1.85

Growth

14 metrics
MetricKNFROADVMC
Revenue growth (1Y) 12.1% 41.9% 6.9%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 8.3% 32.9% 2.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 10.3% 50.7% 6.7%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 12.6% 47.6% 8.9%
Operating income growth (1Y) 6.5% 75.5% 14.5%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 6.6% 73.0% 13.1%
Net income growth (1Y) -8.7% 91.2% 17.4%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 1.7% 65.9% 15.5%
EPS growth (1Y) -8.7% 89.1% 19.7%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 1.5% 61.9% 16.4%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 28.0% 28.2% 10.8%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 3.2% 43.0% 10.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 181.0% 14.9% -6.5%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -29.0% 91.2% 16.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricKNFROADVMC
Gross margin 17.8% 15.8% 27.5%
EBITDA margin 14.9% 13.7% 29.2%
Operating margin 8.3% 8.6% 20.2%
Pretax margin 5.8% 5.4% 17.6%
Net margin 4.2% 4.1% 13.7%
FCF margin 1.3% 5.0% 12.7%
Operating cash flow margin 9.5% 10.1% 22.2%
Return on equity 8.8% 14.1% 13.2%
Return on assets 3.5% 4.0% 6.8%
Return on invested capital 6.5% 8.1% 9.9%
Return on capital employed 7.8% 10.2% 10.7%
Asset turnover 0.8x 1.0x 0.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 2.2x 2.5x 1.6x
Stock comp / revenue 0.3% 1.2% 0.7%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricKNFROADVMC
Debt / assets 38.7% 49.5% 26.5%
Debt / equity 1.0x 1.7x 0.5x
Net debt / EBITDA 3.1x 3.6x 1.8x
Debt / FCF 37.6x 10.2x 4.2x
Liabilities / assets 61.6% 71.2% 48.4%
Equity / assets 38.4% 28.8% 51.6%
Interest coverage 3.1x 2.7x 7.2x
Current ratio 2.7x 1.6x 1.8x
Quick ratio 1.5x 0.2x 1.1x
Cash ratio 0.2x 0.2x 0.2x
Altman Z-score 2.27 2.47 3.92

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricKNFROADVMC
Dividend yield – – 0.8%
Net buyback yield – 0.8% 2.4%
Shareholder yield – 0.8% 3.1%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – 23.7%
Payout ratio (FCF) – – 25.7%
Dividend growth (1Y) – – 4.8%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – 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.

ConsensusKNFROADVMC
Forward P/E 19.8xFY2026 26.4xFY2026 27.9xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $2.67FY2026 $3.12FY2026 $9.37FY2026
EPS growth, next FY -3.3%FY2026 +41.2%FY2026 +17.1%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +10.5% +17.3% +11.5%
Revenue, next fiscal year $3.66BFY2026 $3.58BFY2026 $8.31BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +16.2%FY2026 +27.4%FY2026 +4.6%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +3.1% +10.4% -1.9%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersKNFROADVMC
Held by institutions 96.7% 87.7% 98.5%
Institutions holding 391 360 1,060
Change in shares held, QoQ +1.0% +2.3% +3.6%
Institutions buying 168 190 526
Institutions selling 137 111 363
Buyers to sellers 1.23 1.71 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.

KNFROADVMC
KNF 1.00 0.49 0.42
ROAD 0.49 1.00 0.43
VMC 0.42 0.43 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, KNF, ROAD and VMC?

Vulcan Materials (VMC) is the largest by market capitalisation: Knife River (KNF) $3.11B, Construction Partners (ROAD) $4.70B, Vulcan Materials (VMC) $34.10B.

Which stock is cheaper, KNF, ROAD and VMC?

Knife River (KNF) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Knife River (KNF) 22.2x, Construction Partners (ROAD) 33.0x, Vulcan Materials (VMC) 30.6x). On next year's consensus earnings, Knife River (KNF) is cheapest (Knife River (KNF) 19.8x, Construction Partners (ROAD) 26.4x, Vulcan Materials (VMC) 27.9x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Construction Partners (ROAD) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Knife River (KNF) +12.1%, Construction Partners (ROAD) +41.9%, Vulcan Materials (VMC) +6.9%.

Which company is more profitable?

Vulcan Materials (VMC) has the highest net margin (Knife River (KNF) 4.2%, Construction Partners (ROAD) 4.1%, Vulcan Materials (VMC) 13.7%). On return on invested capital, Vulcan Materials (VMC) leads (Knife River (KNF) 6.5%, Construction Partners (ROAD) 8.1%, Vulcan Materials (VMC) 9.9%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Vulcan Materials (VMC) returned the most: Knife River (KNF) -15.8%, Construction Partners (ROAD) -30.1%, Vulcan Materials (VMC) -10.7%. Over five years, Construction Partners (ROAD) compounded fastest (Construction Partners (ROAD) +19.2%/yr, Vulcan Materials (VMC) +7.2%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Knife River (KNF) 0.00%, Construction Partners (ROAD) 0.00%, Vulcan Materials (VMC) 0.01%. Knife River (KNF) and Construction Partners (ROAD) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Vulcan Materials (VMC) has been the steadiest (Knife River (KNF) 51.1%, Construction Partners (ROAD) 51.5%, Vulcan Materials (VMC) 29.1%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, KNF, ROAD 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, Vulcan Materials (VMC) 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.