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Vulcan Materials (VMC) Q2 Earnings: What's in the Cards?

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Vulcan Materials Company (VMC - Free Report) is scheduled to report second-quarter 2016 results on Aug 1, before the opening bell.

Last quarter, Vulcan Materials posted a massive 333.3% positive earnings surprise.

In-fact, the producer of constructionaggregates and other construction materials surpassed earnings estimates in all the last four quarters with an average surprise of 89.17%.

VULCAN MATLS CO Price and EPS Surprise

VULCAN MATLS CO Price and EPS Surprise | VULCAN MATLS CO Quote

Let’s see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.

Factors at Play

Strong volumes as well as continued pricing momentum in the Aggregates segment drove strong sales and profits for Vulcan Materials in the first quarter. Backed by robust first-quarter results, the company raised its adjusted EBITDA and aggregates shipments guidance for 2016at the first-quarter conference call.

Construction activity and demand for aggregates continue to recover across all the markets in both private and public sector which coupled with strong pricing momentum, should support revenues further in the second quarter and forward.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Vulcan Materials is likely to beat earnings this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, stands at -4.00%. This is because the Most Accurate estimate is 96 cents, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged higher at $1.00.  

Zacks Rank: Vulcan Materials’ carries a Zacks Rank #3 which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, we need to have a positive ESP to be confident about an earnings surprise.

Note that we caution against stocks with Zacks Rank #4 and 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into an earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies in the construction sector that can be considered as our proven model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

CalAtlantic Group, Inc. , with an Earnings ESP of +9.21% and a Zacks Rank #3.

Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (LPX - Free Report) , with an Earnings ESP of +4.00% and a Zacks Rank #1.

Owens Corning (OC - Free Report) , with an Earnings ESP of +9.41% and a Zacks Rank #1.

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