Vulcan Materials' third-quarter net income declined as a weather-related shift in the construction season weighed on volumes at its aggregates unit, but the company projected growth in the unit's profitability in 2027.
The producer of construction materials posted earnings of $362.3 million, or $2.80 a share, down from $374.9 million, or $2.82 a share, a year earlier. On average, analysts had anticipated earnings of $2.81 a share, as per FactSet.
Revenue fell 4.7% to $2.18 billion, short of the mean analyst estimate of $2.24 billion, as per FactSet.
In Vulcan's aggregates unit, shipments fell 3% to 62.7 million tons. Weather patterns a year earlier had pushed construction activity in many states from the first half of the year into the second.
Aggregates are the mixture of quarried and crushed rock, sand and gravel often used as in-fill in road building and other projects.
Vulcan said freight-adjusted selling prices for aggregates rose by 4%, or 82 cents a ton. Freight-adjusted cost of sales rose 7%, or 72 cents a ton.
Asphalt and concrete gross profit margin was 17%, despite lower shipments and higher liquid asphalt costs, the company said.
For 2026, the company targeted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about $2.4 billion.
For 2027, the company projected higher cash gross profit per ton in the aggregates unit and mid-to-high single-digit percentage price increases.
"We are actively expanding our reach through strategic, disciplined acquisitions that reinforce our position in attractive, long-term growth markets," Vulcan Chief Executive Ronnie Pruitt said in a statement.
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