The Chart of the Day belongs to the building materials company Vulcan Materials (VMC) I found the stock by using Barchart's powerful screening functions to find stocks with the highest technical buy signals, highest Weighted Alpha, superior current momentum and having a Trend Seeker buy signal then used the Flipchart feature to review the charts for consistent price appreciation. Since the Trend Seeker signaled a buy on 5/1 the stock gained 26.26%.
Vulcan Materials Company, together with its subsidiaries, produces and supplies construction aggregates primarily in the United States. It operates through four segments: Aggregates, Asphalt, Concrete, and Calcium. The Aggregates segment provides crushed stones, sand and gravel, sand, and other aggregates; and related products and services that are applied in construction and maintenance of highways, streets, and other public works, as well as in the construction of housing and commercial, industrial, and other nonresidential facilities. The Asphalt Mix segment offers asphalt mix in Alabama, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Texas, as well as engages in the asphalt construction paving activity in Alabama, Tennessee, and Texas. The Concrete segment provides ready-mixed concrete in California, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia, and Washington D.C. The Calcium segment mines, produces, and sells calcium products for the animal feed, plastics, and water treatment industries. The company was formerly known as Virginia Holdco, Inc. and changed its name to Vulcan Materials Company. Vulcan Materials Company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.
Barchart's Opinion Trading systems are listed below. Please note that the Barchart Opinion indicators are updated live during the session every 20 minutes and can therefore change during the day as the market fluctuates. The indicator numbers shown below therefore may not match what you see live on the Barchart.com website when you read this report.
Barchart Technical Indicators:
- 100% technical buy signals
- 61.64 Weighted Alpha
- 56.92% gain in the last year
- Trend Seeker buy signal
- Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
- 17 new highs and up 14.71% in the last month
- Relative Strength Index 88.05%
- Technical support level at $221.80
- Recently traded at $224.84 with 50 day moving average of $196.10
Fundamental Factors:
- Market Cap $29.39 billion
- P/E 41.28
- Dividend yield .78%
- Revenue projected to grow 5.20% this year and another 7.20% next year
- Earnings estimated to increase 27.20% this year, an additional 19.40% next year and continue to compound at an annual rate of 16.83% for the next 5 years
Analysts and Investor Sentiment -- I don't buy stocks because everyone else is buying but I do realize that if major firms and investors are dumping a stock it's hard to make money swimming against the tide:
- Wall Street analyst gave 12 strong buy, 5 buy, 5 hold and 1 sell opinions on the stock
- Analysts price targets are between $146 and $250 - despite the number of strong buy and buy opinions the price target consensus is $223 - slightly below today's close
- The individual investors on Motley Fool voted 431 to 48 for the stock to beat the market with the more experienced investors voting 90 to 6 for the same result
- Value Line rates the stock an above average rating of 2 with an 18 month price target of $208 which is below today's close - confusing
- CFRAs MarketScope rates it a 3 star hold with a 12 month price target of only $208 - also below todays close
- 17,510 investors monitor the stock on Seeking Alpha
Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, but may initiate a beneficial Long position through a purchase of the stock, or the purchase of call options or similar derivatives in the next 72 hours.
Additional disclosure: The Barchart Chart of the Day highlights stocks that are experiencing exceptional current price appreciation. They are not intended to be buy recommendations as these stocks are extremely volatile and speculative. Should you decide to add one of these stocks to your investment portfolio it is highly suggested you follow a predetermined diversification and moving stop loss discipline that is consistent with your personal investment risk tolerance and reevaluate your stop losses at least on a weekly basis.
On the date of publication, Jim Van Meerten did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
