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Here's How Much You'd Have If You Invested $1000 in Martin Marietta a Decade Ago

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For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. This factor can impact your investment portfolio as well as help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

Another thing that can drive investing is the fear of missing out, or FOMO. This particularly applies to tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Martin Marietta (MLM - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to MLM for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Martin Marietta's Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Martin Marietta's main business drivers.

Based in Raleigh, NC, Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. produces and supplies construction aggregates and other heavy building materials, mainly cement, in the United States. The end uses of the company’s aggregates and cement are infrastructure, private residential and private non-residential construction. Railroad, agricultural, utility and environmental industries also use these products. The company supplies aggregates (crushed stone, sand and gravel) through its network of approximately 350 quarries, mines and distribution yards in 28 states, Canada and the Bahamas.

The company’s total revenues include sales of products and services to customers (net of any discounts or allowances) and freight revenues.

Building Materials (accounting for 95.1% of 2022 total revenues): The Building Materials business includes aggregates, cement, ready mixed concrete, asphalt and paving product lines. Within the Building Materials business segment, the company modified the reportable segments to the East Group — previously reported in the Mid-America and Southeast — and West Group, effective Jul 1, 2020.

Magnesia Specialties (4.9%): The segment produces magnesia-based chemicals products used in industrial, agricultural and environmental applications and dolomitic lime sold primarily to customers in the steel industry.

Consistent with its SOAR (Strategic Operating Analysis and Review) 2025 plan, Martin Marietta divested its Colorado and Central Texas ready-mixed concrete businesses and certain West Coast cement and ready-mixed concrete operations in 2022. The move helps MLM in refining its product mix and improving margin profiles, while providing balance sheet flexibility.

Bottom Line

Putting together a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of research, patience, and a little bit of risk. For Martin Marietta, if you bought shares a decade ago, you're likely feeling really good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in January 2014 would be worth $4,801.89, or a gain of 380.19%, as of January 31, 2024, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

In comparison, the S&P 500 gained 174.50% and the price of gold went up 57.04% over the same time frame.

Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for MLM.

Martin Marietta has outperformed the industry in the past three months. The company is gaining strength from long-term strategic plans — markedly SOAR (Strategic Operating Analysis and Review) 2025 initiatives. It is also benefiting from strong demand trends across a coast-to-coast geographic footprint, given its increased infrastructure investment coupled with strength in heavy non-residential construction, large-scale energy projects and domestic manufacturing. A solid inflow of public funds for infrastructure and manufacturing activities is aiding to the bliss. Although softness in private nonresidential and residential construction activities, ongoing economic uncertainties and pricing fluctuations are a concern, earnings estimates for 2024 have increased in the past 30 days.

The stock has jumped 5.39% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 3 higher, for fiscal 2023; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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