Aggregates producers don’t usually get to raise price into a soft volume quarter. Vulcan Materials did.
The Birmingham-based producer reported freight-adjusted selling price of $22.97 per ton for the second quarter, up 5% on a mix-adjusted basis and 4%, or $0.86 a ton, as reported. Cash gross profit per ton reached a record $12.02, up from $11.88. Total aggregates cash gross profit was $720 million, and segment gross profit was $567 million, or $9.47 a ton.
Shipments came in at 59.9 million tons, up 1%. That’s the number the weather held down. Heavy rainfall in May and June hit Texas and parts of the Southeast, two of the volume engines in Vulcan’s footprint.
What the cost line says about diesel
Freight-adjusted unit cash cost of sales rose 7%, or $0.72 a ton. Strip out diesel and it rose 3%. That gap is the entire energy inflation story for anyone hauling rock this year, and it’s why pricing discipline mattered more than tonnage.
CEO Ronnie Pruitt: “Commercial and operational execution drove solid results in the second quarter. Our industry-leading aggregates cash gross profit per ton grew to over $12 per ton, despite significant energy inflation and disruptive weather.”
The non-aggregates side was flatter. Asphalt and concrete gross profit was $58 million with $73 million of cash gross profit, and asphalt held a 15% gross margin on lower shipments and higher liquid asphalt costs.
Portfolio reshuffling continues
Vulcan closed the divestiture of its California ready-mixed concrete operations in early June and bought a quarry in southern Colorado plus a rail yard in Dallas-Fort Worth from Brannan Sand & Gravel. The rail yard is the more interesting purchase: distribution terminals are how aggregates producers reach metros where permitting a new quarry is effectively impossible.
Total revenue was $2.156 billion against $2.102 billion a year ago, with net earnings of $323 million and adjusted EPS of $2.59. Adjusted EBITDA was $654 million at a 30.3% margin, down from 31.4%. Trailing-twelve-month ROIC improved 20 basis points to 16.1%, and leverage sits at 1.9 times EBITDA, below the company’s 2.0-2.5 target band.
Pruitt’s read on demand: “The construction environment remains supportive of continued aggregates price growth, and large projects and public construction activity continue to support our expectation for volume growth in 2026.” He added that “the pipeline for strategic acquisitions remains active.”
Full-year Adjusted EBITDA guidance held at $2.4-$2.6 billion. For estimators pricing highway work with heavy borrow and asphalt quantities, the message is that base rock is not getting cheaper.