Eagle Materials (EXP) vs. The Competition Head to Head Review

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) is one of 74 publicly-traded companies in the “Construction Materials” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Eagle Materials to similar companies based on the strength of its risk, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.1% of Eagle Materials shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.5% of shares of all “Construction Materials” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Eagle Materials shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.0% of shares of all “Construction Materials” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Eagle Materials has a beta of 1.29, meaning that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eagle Materials’ peers have a beta of 0.93, meaning that their average share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Eagle Materials and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eagle Materials	16.11%	25.16%	9.68%
Eagle Materials Competitors	1.47%	7.93%	4.87%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Eagle Materials and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eagle Materials	$2.34 billion	$423.81 million	15.13
Eagle Materials Competitors	$6.77 billion	$651.21 million	23.12

Eagle Materials’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Eagle Materials. Eagle Materials is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Eagle Materials and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eagle Materials	1	10	0	0	1.91
Eagle Materials Competitors	438	2146	2941	87	2.48

Eagle Materials presently has a consensus price target of $193.33, suggesting a potential upside of 6.06%. As a group, “Construction Materials” companies have a potential upside of 437.36%. Given Eagle Materials’ peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Eagle Materials has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Dividends

Eagle Materials pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Eagle Materials pays out 8.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Construction Materials” companies pay a dividend yield of 179.2% and pay out 31.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Eagle Materials peers beat Eagle Materials on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Eagle Materials

Eagle Materials Inc. is a U.S.-based producer of building materials used in residential, commercial and infrastructure construction. Its products include cement, ready-mixed concrete, aggregates, gypsum wallboard and recycled paperboard. The company operates through businesses focused on cement and concrete products, gypsum wallboard, and paperboard. Its gypsum operations also produce materials used in wallboard finishing, while its paperboard business makes recycled paperboard used in packaging and other applications.