Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of construction materials company Vulcan Materials (VMC -1.18%) popped as high as 12% today after its quarterly results and full-year outlook impressed Wall Street.
So what: The stock has rallied nicely in recent months on signs of rebounding residential construction, and today's Q3 results -- EPS of $0.31 topped estimates by $0.05 on revenue growth of 13% -- coupled with an upbeat full-year view only reinforces that trend. In fact, gross profit margins during the quarter increased 200 basis points over the year-ago period, suggesting that Vulcan's competitive position is strengthening as well.
Now what: Management doesn't expect the momentum to slow anytime soon. "Demand for our products continues to benefit from recovery in private construction activity, particularly residential construction, in many of our key markets," Chairman and CEO Don James said. "Growth in residential construction activity, and its traditional follow-on impact on private nonresidential construction, continues to underpin our expectations for future volume growth and earnings improvement." Of course, with Vulcan shares surging to a new 52-week high today and trading at a lofty price-to-cash flow around 35, those positive expectations might already be baked into the valuation.
