United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM) and Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) Financial Survey

United States Lime & Minerals (NASDAQ:USLM) and Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) are both mid-cap construction companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for United States Lime & Minerals and Eagle Materials, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United States Lime & Minerals	0	0	0	0	0.00
Eagle Materials	0	6	3	0	2.33

Eagle Materials has a consensus target price of $255.3333, suggesting a potential upside of 13.99%. Given Eagle Materials’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Eagle Materials is more favorable than United States Lime & Minerals.

Volatility and Risk

United States Lime & Minerals has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eagle Materials has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

United States Lime & Minerals pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Eagle Materials pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. United States Lime & Minerals pays out 5.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Eagle Materials pays out 7.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. United States Lime & Minerals has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

27.1% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of Eagle Materials shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of United States Lime & Minerals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Eagle Materials shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares United States Lime & Minerals and Eagle Materials”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United States Lime & Minerals	$317.72 million	9.58	$108.84 million	$4.36	24.39
Eagle Materials	$2.26 billion	3.22	$463.42 million	$13.58	16.49

Eagle Materials has higher revenue and earnings than United States Lime & Minerals. Eagle Materials is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United States Lime & Minerals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares United States Lime & Minerals and Eagle Materials’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United States Lime & Minerals	35.57%	24.24%	22.20%
Eagle Materials	19.81%	31.21%	14.30%

Summary

Eagle Materials beats United States Lime & Minerals on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United States Lime & Minerals

United States Lime & Minerals, Inc. engages in the manufacture and sale of lime and limestone products. Its products include High Calcium Quicklime, Hydrated Lime, Lime Kiln Dust, Lime Slurry, and High Calcium Limestone. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

About Eagle Materials

Eagle Materials Inc., through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells heavy construction materials and light building materials in the United States. It operates in four segments: Cement, Concrete and Aggregates, Gypsum Wallboard, and Recycled Paperboard. The company engages in the mining of limestone for the manufacture, production, distribution, and sale of Portland cement, including Portland limestone cement; grinding and sale of slag; and mining of gypsum for the manufacture and sale of gypsum wallboards used to finish the interior walls and ceilings in residential, commercial, and industrial structures, as well as well as containerboard and lightweight packaging grades; manufacture and sale of recycled paperboard to the gypsum wallboard industry and other paperboard converters; the sale of readymix concrete; and mining and sale of aggregates, such as crushed stone, sand, and gravel. Its products are used in commercial and residential construction; public construction projects to build, expand, and repair roads and highways; and repair and remodel activities. The company was formerly known as Centex Construction Products, Inc. and changed its name to Eagle Materials, Inc. in January 2004. Eagle Materials Inc. was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.