Head to Head Survey: Martin Marietta Materials (MLM) and The Competition

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) is one of 74 public companies in the “Construction Materials” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Martin Marietta Materials to similar companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.0% of Martin Marietta Materials shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.5% of shares of all “Construction Materials” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Martin Marietta 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 large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Martin Marietta Materials and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Martin Marietta Materials	2	5	13	0	2.55
Martin Marietta Materials Competitors	434	2129	2910	87	2.48

Martin Marietta Materials presently has a consensus target price of $639.59, suggesting a potential upside of 18.22%. As a group, “Construction Materials” companies have a potential upside of 525.33%. Given Martin Marietta Materials’ peers higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Martin Marietta Materials has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Martin Marietta Materials and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Martin Marietta Materials	$6.15 billion	$1.14 billion	13.29
Martin Marietta Materials Competitors	$6.62 billion	$651.21 million	24.34

Martin Marietta Materials’ peers have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Martin Marietta Materials. Martin Marietta 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.

Dividends

Martin Marietta Materials pays an annual dividend of $3.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Martin Marietta 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 182.6% and pay out 31.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Martin Marietta Materials has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Martin Marietta Materials	36.73%	9.49%	5.11%
Martin Marietta Materials Competitors	1.52%	8.05%	4.94%

Risk and Volatility

Martin Marietta Materials has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Martin Marietta Materials’ peers have a beta of 0.91, meaning that their average share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Martin Marietta Materials beats its peers on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Martin Marietta Materials

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc., a natural resource-based building materials company, supplies aggregates and heavy-side building materials to the construction industry in the United States and internationally. It offers crushed stone, sand, and gravel products; ready mixed concrete and asphalt; paving products and services; and Portland and specialty cement for use in the infrastructure projects, and nonresidential and residential construction markets, as well as in the railroad, agricultural, utility, and environmental industries. The company also produces magnesia-based chemicals products; dolomitic lime primarily to customers for steel production and soil stabilization; and cement treated materials. Its chemical products are used in flame retardants, wastewater treatment, pulp and paper production, and other environmental applications. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.