Building material stocks jump after Martin Marietta's upbeat forecast

Eagle Materials

15/02/2023 17:22

** Building materials supplier Martin Marietta Materials'
shares  MLM.N  jump 7.6% to $383.30 - a near 10-month high -
after co posts better-than-expected Q4 revenue, upbeat forecast 
    ** Co reports Q4 revenue of $1.48 bln, adj. EPS of $3.04 vs
analysts' est. of revenue of $1.44 bln and EPS of $3.07, as per
Refintiv IBES data 
    ** "While single-family residential construction is slowing,
we expect a resumption of growth in this end market beyond 2023
as population growth continues and mortgage rates stabilize,"
said CEO Ward Nye
    ** Co sees FY23 adj. EBITDA in the range of $1.8 bln-$1.9
bln vs FY22 adj. EBITDA of $1.6 bln
    ** Jefferies says MLM's strong pricing momentum should be an
even bigger tailwind in 2023
    ** Peers Eagle Materials  EXP.N , Summit Materials  SUM.N 
and Vulcan Materials  VMC.N  up in the range of 1.9%-6.4%
    ** The S&P 1500 construction materials index  .SPCOMCOM 
jumps 6.5%, while benchmark S&P 500  .SPX  down 0.1%
    ** Overall, PHLX Housing index  .HGX  up 1.5% after NAHB
report shows confidence among U.S. single-family homebuilders
improved for a second straight month in February - and by much
more than economists had anticipated
 (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar)
 ((sruthi.shankar@thomsonreuters.com;))