Back to top

Image: Bigstock

U.S. Concrete (USCR) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

Read MoreHide Full Article

U.S. Concrete closed at $73.89 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.7% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.13% gain on the day.

Coming into today, shares of the concrete and aggregates producer had gained 0.24% in the past month. In that same time, the Construction sector lost 4.16%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.39%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from USCR as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect USCR to post earnings of $0.69 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 40.82%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $342.33 million, up 6.08% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.54 per share and revenue of $1.4 billion. These totals would mark changes of +19.25% and +2.48%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for USCR. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. USCR currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, USCR currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 29.33. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 16.04, which means USCR is trading at a premium to the group.

The Building Products - Concrete and Aggregates industry is part of the Construction sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 44, putting it in the top 18% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow USCR in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

Published in