Vulcan Materials CO — Call Transcript 2025

Good morning everyone. Welcome to the Vulcan Materials Company Third Quarter 2025 earnings call. My name is Bo and I will be your conference call coordinator today. Please be reminded that today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay after today's call later today on the company's website. All lines have been placed in a listen-only mode. After the company's prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Now I will turn the call over to your host, Mr. Mark Warren, Vice President of Investor Relations for Vulcan Materials. Please go ahead, sir. Thank you, operator. Joining me today are Tom Hill, Chairman and CEO, Ronnie Pruitt, Chief Operating Officer, and Mary Andrews Carlile, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Today's call is accompanied by a press release and a supplemental presentation posted to our website, vulcanmaterials.com. Please be advised that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties. These risks, along with other legal disclaimers, are described in detail in the company's earnings release and in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures are defined and reconciled in our earnings release, supplemental presentation, and other SEC filings. During the Q&A, we ask that you limit your participation to one question. This will allow us to accommodate as many as possible during the time we have available. With that, I'll turn the call over to Tom. Thank you, Mark, and thank all of you for joining our call this morning. Mary Andrews and I are happy to have Ronnie joining us today as we discuss the third quarter results and what lies ahead for the remainder of 2025 and moving into 2026. The third quarter financial results clearly demonstrate the consistent, solid execution of our teams across the footprint. Gross margin and unit profitability expanded in each segment, and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 310 basis points. Adjusted EBITDA of $735 million improved 27% compared to the prior year. Thankfully, this year we were not confronted with the same extreme weather events as the prior year. Aggregate shipments increased 12% in the quarter, resulting in 3% higher shipments on a year-to-date basis. Aggregates cash gross profit per ton grew 9% in the quarter through a combination of commercial and operational execution. As anticipated, the prior year acquisitions and a higher percentage of base shipments contributed to 150 basis points of mix. Headwinds in our aggregate freight-adjusted selling price, mix-adjusted pricing improved 5% in the quarter and 7% on a year-to-date basis. Our Vulcan Way of Operating efforts continue to benefit our cost performance. Aggregates freight-adjusted unit cash cost of sales was 2% lower than the prior year in the third quarter. I'm proud of the way our operators are adopting new tools and disciplines to drive plant efficiencies, and I'm excited about the runway ahead for continued profitability improvements, especially as private demand recovers. Currently, strong momentum continues in public construction activity. The private non-residential end use is improving, while residential demand remains weak since there has been little relief in affordability to date. Single-family housing starts and permits continue to decelerate across most U.S. markets. With our leading footprint, we are confident we are in the right markets to benefit from an eventual single-family residential recovery. In multifamily residential end use, current data is more varied across geographies. Some states are already showing growth in starts, which should begin to help offset weakness in single-family activity. Private non-residential construction activity is improving. Overall starts in our markets are positive on a trailing six-month basis. Data center activity remains robust with approximately 60 million sq ft under construction and another 140 million sq ft proposed and in the planning stages. Nearly 80% of data center projects in the planning stage are within 30 miles of a Vulcan operation. For both data centers and large project opportunities like LNG, which are also gaining momentum, Vulcan is in the right markets and well positioned to supply these projects and help create value for our customers. The same is true on the public side. Growth in public contract awards in our markets continues to outpace other markets. Trailing 12-month awards are up 17% year-over-year in our footprint, and importantly, there's a long tail to public strength since approximately 60% of the IIJA funds are still yet to be spent. Given shipment trends Year-to-date, coupled with the demand I just described, we now anticipate full year shipments to increase approximately 3%, yielding full year adjusted EBITDA of $2.35 billion-$2.45 billion, a 17% increase over the prior year at midpoint. Now I'll turn the call over to Ronnie to discuss our continued execution of our aggregates-led two-pronged growth strategy. Ronnie. Thank you, Tom, and good morning. Over the last 24 months as Chief Operating Officer, I've been highly focused on growing the profitability of our existing business in addition to shaping our portfolio for optimal future growth. In the third quarter, our trailing 12 months aggregate cash gross profit per ton was $11.51, 27% higher than just 2 years ago. Our commitment to the Vulcan Way of Selling and the Vulcan Way of Operating has supported this growth. Our organic growth, coupled with disciplined M&A and portfolio management, positions us well to continue compounding results and creating value for shareholders. In early October, we completed the disposition of our asphalt and construction services assets. We believe that these downstream positions that we strategically built over time are now more valuable to the acquirers than to us, and we will redeploy the proceeds into attractive growth opportunities in the future. I'll now pass the call to Mary Andrews to provide some additional details on our financial results and capital allocation before we share some of our preliminary views about next year. Thanks Ronnie and good morning. The aggregates unit profitability improvement that Ronnie and our division teams are driving each day is foundational to our cash generation, overall growth, and return on invested capital. Over the last 12 months our free cash flow has increased by 31% to over $1 billion and our conversion is 94%, complementing our free cash flow with incremental debt of $1 billion. We have grown our franchise through over $2 billion of acquisitions and returned approximately $300 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, all while maintaining our adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio just below our targeted range of 2-2.5x and improving our return on invested capital by 40 basis points. We are poised for additional profitable growth. We also continue to prioritize reinvesting in our franchise. Year-to-date we have deployed $442 million toward maintenance and growth capital expenditures and plan to spend approximately $700 million for the full year. Our trailing 12 months SAG expenses were $566 million and consistent with the prior year's trailing 12 months as a percentage of revenue at 7.2%. We are pleased with the results. Our investments in technology and talent earnings are yielding in the business. I'll now turn the call back over to Ronnie to provide some preliminary thoughts on 2026 before Tom makes some closing remarks. Thank you, Mary Andrews. Tom shared earlier our views on the current demand environment, and we anticipate those trends to continue into next year. Consistent growth in public, improving private non-res, and lingering softness in residential overall. We expect organic shipments to return to growth in 2026 and improve modestly year-over-year. We also anticipate mid-single-digit pricing improvement. We will maintain our focus on efficiency gains and cost discipline through our Vulcan Way of Operating efforts to continue to deliver expansion in aggregate cash gross profit per ton that exceeds historical averages. Before I turn the call back over to Tom, I would like to express my gratitude for the opportunity to lead this organization and leverage the strong foundation Tom has built over the last decade. He has cultivated a culture of continuous improvement and created meaningful value for our shareholders. I'm excited about what lies ahead, and I'm confident Vulcan Materials will continue to deliver. Tom, back over to you. Thank you, Ronnie. I want to thank all the men and women of Vulcan Materials for living out the Vulcan Way each and every day, doing the right thing the right way at the right time. Our safety and financial performance are evidence of their commitment to excellence and to continuous improvement. We are ready to finish the year strong and to continue our long track record of durable growth as we move into 2026. Mary Andrews, Ronnie and I will be happy to take your questions. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one, and you may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing star two. Again, we do ask that you please limit yourself to one question so we can get to as many questions as possible. We'll go first this morning to Trey Grooms with Stephens. Hey, good morning, everyone. Hey, Tom. First, I want to say congratulations, Ronnie, on your new role. Well deserved. It has been a pleasure working with you, Tom. Over the last several years, we. Wish you the best on your next chapter. Thanks, pal. Sure. Ronnie, maybe if you could highlight some of your top priorities that you have for the Vulcan Materials team here as you take the reins and transition into your new position. Sure. Thanks, Trey, for the question. First and foremost, I'm going to continue to build on the culture that Tom has grown through his leadership of Vulcan. Our culture is based on safety, which is our foundation. Our people own and drive our results. Our strategic approach will continue to focus on enhancing our core through Vulcan Way of Operating and Vulcan Way of Selling. Strategically, we'll continue to expand our reach through disciplined aggregate-centric acquisitions, as well as greenfield initiatives that are going to continue to complement our aggregate leading positions in our network. Excellent. Thank you, Ronnie. Thanks, Trey. Thank you. We'll go next now to Tyler Brown with Raymond James. Hey, good morning, guys. Hey, Tyler. Hey. First off, congrats, Ronnie. Congrats, Tom. This quarter's volumes were obviously great, benefited from some pretty calm weather. We have the Wackestone comp, and you guys are guiding kind of towards the low end for the full year. Can you just talk about the trends into Q4? What. What's kind of driving towards the low? End there and then. I appreciate the look on 2026, but when you say modest improvement, can you put a finer point there? Maybe talk about some of the puts and takes in the three, call it the three big end markets. Yeah, I think you got to look back a little bit at the third quarter before we go to Q4. Weather definitely cooperated. Third quarter volumes were up, obviously double digit. The big jump in volume was a combination of pent up demand from the first half of the year, easy comps from last year, and then importantly strong and growing public demand and improving non-residential demand. Now, Q4 weather last year was very good, so tough comps in Q4. We predict 3% volume growth for the full year. With the exception of single family construction, we see demand in other sectors getting better. I would tell you that October supported the full year guide of 3%, but Ronnie, why don't you talk a little bit about 2026. Yeah, Tom, thanks. You know, as Tom said, I think single family will continue to be challenging until we get some of the affordability issues behind us. Public's quite strong, and as we look into public into 2026, we'll continue to see improved funding, and I think the more mature DOT execution from the states to get that money put in play. On the private non-res side, our starts have been positive in our markets for the previous 6 months, and as we look internally, our bidding activity, our bookings, and our backlog really support demand growth as we go into next year. Perfect. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you. We'll go next now to Garik Shmois at Loop Capital. Oh, hi. Thanks. Congratulations to you both on your new roles moving forward. I wanted to ask, just on the pricing, both the growth in the quarter and your confidence in the outlook in 2026, it ticked down sequentially. Is there anything specific driving that? How should we think about pricing a little bit more detail into 2026? Good morning. I would call pricing as expected. 5%, 150 basis points of mix in there, which we talked about last quarter. Obviously acquisitions have been a drag on prices, but pricing in those markets continues to improve. I'd call it as planned. In the quarter we had 20% more base driven by really good highway work and data centers. While base is lower price, it's also lower cost. We kept our unit margin momentum. I'm very pleased with our ability to take that price to the bottom line and then some. As you saw, costs go down in the quarter. If you look, looking forward, I think growing highway demand and improvements in non-res will support higher prices and unit margins in 2026. Ronnie, why don't you talk a little bit about 2026. Yeah, Tom's correct. I mean, improving demand in public and private non-res will definitely support 2026 pricing. We sent out our letters in September for effective January 1st. We're in the middle of having those conversations now. I've been encouraged with those conversations, and that's really around the fixed plants. 40% of our business, you know, on the bid work, our trailing 3-month backlog process is showing acceleration, and most of that work will ship in next year. There is still work to be done. This, coupled with our operating performance, should still provide us with continued superior unit margin growth over historical norms. Thank you. We'll go next now to Brian Brophy at Stifel. Hey, this is Andrew on for Brian. Thank you for taking my call. I had a question about the unit costs. Down 2% in the quarter. How much of that was Vulcan Way of Operating versus lower inflation versus volume benefits? Additionally, as you're looking at next year, do you have any preliminary thoughts on how you're thinking about inflation or the cost piece into 2026 following such a phenomenal year this year? Thanks. Yeah, short answer. We've got no relief on inflation. I mean, things, no prices have come down, they're not going up as fast. I would really point to the Vulcan Way of Operating. If you look at the whole year, I'm very pleased with our operators' performance in our 2025 cost in the quarter and the year. We're seeing improved operating efficiencies, but still early innings of Vulcan Way of Operating. Remember, in the first half of the year we had weather issues, we had volume issues that actually hurt costs. Ronnie and his team were still able to keep the cost down in Q3. We probably had some tailwinds from efficiencies, volume, and more base sales. I think Ronnie and his operators have worked very hard at the Vulcan Way of Operating, and he should be pleased with its performance. Yeah, thanks Tom. I know our operators will appreciate those comments. First and foremost, our safety performance is really good and it's continuing to improve. When I look at our disciplines and our investment in technology, they're working and that's the Vulcan Way of Operating. There's still improvement ahead, so we'll continue to focus on those disciplines as we get into 2026. I've got confidence in our people, our processes, our disciplines, and our technology, and I think it'll be exciting to watch the Vulcan Way of Operating as we continue to go selling as far as growing our margins. I think our margin growth will continue to be even more dependable in the future. Great. Thank you. Thank you. We'll go next to Anthony Pettinari at Citi. Hi, this is Asher Sohnen on for Anthony. Thanks for taking my question and congratulations all around. You guys talked about stronger backlogs, but I was wondering if you could maybe walk through some of your key geographies and what you're seeing there. an individual or regional basis? Yeah, actually it's pretty widespread. I can't think of any that are down at this point. Probably the healthiest is going to be the Southeast, which is a benefit for us because that's probably where the higher unit margins are. We've really seen a turn in the non-res side of the business. Data centers have helped that and really strong growth in public demand. I think that growth continues to accelerate for the next two or 3 years. A good story. Obviously, single family is still a drag for us and probably will be for a while. Hopefully that turns next year, but in the meantime the other sectors are taking up for that. Great, thanks. I'll turn it over. Thank you. We'll go next to Kathryn Thompson with Thompson Research Group. Hi, Kathryn. Hi, good morning and thank you for taking my question today. First off, Tom, it's been a pleasure working with you over the years. I look forward to keeping up with you. Ronnie, we go back a couple of companies and congratulations on starting in the CEO role in January. Thank you. Thank you. Looking forward, you did a great job of shaping a portfolio as was highlighted in the quarter you just reported. How are you thinking about what fits in your portfolio and maybe what may not or who may be a better owner? Can you approach it from thinking about either a product type, which we saw this quarter, or a geographic focus, and just maybe thinking bigger picture about how you're thinking about that portfolio shaping going forward. Thanks very much. Yeah, Kathryn, this is Ronnie. I'll take that question. I'm continuing to be really pleased with the downstream business that we have in the asphalt business. Those businesses are really heavily influenced by the public funding and the strength in public funding. We're going to continue to focus on one safety as well as our financial performance. We talk about the concrete and the divestiture that we announced this week. I mean that's our strategy. We said early on when we bought Superior that we were going to evaluate that business and we would decide whether that was a business that we wanted to be in long term. We continue to see challenges on the private side in California. We thought the acquirers, it was a business that was going to be more valuable to them. I'll remind you that since the acquisition of U.S. Concrete, we now only have a couple of plants left in the Virginia D.C. area that are integrated with a very successful Vulcan Legacy concrete business. We've also retained all those aggregates. It complements our strategy of being aggregate led. We're going to keep the expertise of both the asphalt and the concrete business. If those businesses, as we look in the future and M&A presents those to us, we're not scared of that. It's going to continue to be aggregate led and I think that's our strategy. You'll see us continue to be focused heavily on those aggregate led businesses. Thank you so much, and good luck. Thank you. Thank you. We'll go next now to Phil Ng with Jefferies. Hey, good morning, guys. This is Jesse on for Phil. Congrats to Tom and Ronnie. Just real quick on M&A. Can you just kind of help us? How you're thinking about the pipeline? You obviously will have quite a bit. Of dry powder given where your leverage. Is and post the divestitures. Just any geographies that you're particularly targeting. Thanks. Yeah, this is Ronnie. I would tell you, one, we have a number of greenfields that are still in process. Greenfields for us is a strategy of growth. It takes time. Those will be timed with both market driven as well as the timing of permits. We still have that going when we talk about M&A opportunities. It's been a quiet year. We continue to have a really good list of targets out there. The timing of those targets is really driven twofold, one by the seller and their readiness and then also by the market conditions. I would tell you M&A this year is not surprising to us. We knew through some of the uncertainties with tariffs and other pauses in the interest rates that M&A was going to be paused. I can assure you that we're still very active. We have a really strong list and those M&A opportunities are going to continue to be aggregate led. Great, thanks. I'll turn it over. We'll go next to Keith Hughes with Truist. Thank you. Congratulations, Tom, on a tremendous run here. I do have a question for Ronnie. You had talked about 2026 kind of from a high level of continuing this just wonderful run of cash gross profit per ton. Just from a general level, would we, from what you know today, in the Market, will we see something similar to? The last couple of years. With the numbers you've been putting up? What could potentially take that higher? What was the last part of that, Keith? What would take it higher? What kind of things would you need to see, something that would set, you know, even better what we've seen the last couple of. Years, Look, we're coming off 3 years of muted demand in our markets. What we've been able to accomplish over the last 3 years with growing our cash gross profit has been twofold. One, the inflationary stuff helped our pricing early on. This year we've had some momentum on the cost side of our business. As we said earlier, demand is going to help, some recovery in demand is going to help our pricing story and we look forward to that. The Vulcan Way of Operating, the Vulcan Way of Selling both support that from a cost side as well as a commercial side. I would tell you, as I said earlier in my comments, I think our cash gross profit will continue above historical norms. I think both sides of it, the cost and the commercial efforts, will play a role into that. Some demand will definitely help the pricing side of our story. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. We'll go next to Brent Thielman at D.A. Davidson. Hey, thanks. Congrats to all of the team as well, I guess. Bit of a two part question. Guess just in terms of thinking about that mid-single-digit pricing improvement in 2026. Part of the question is just, is. that consistent with the annual price increases you're planning for next year? The other thing I was wondering is just around that, how much sort of volume do you bring into 2026 from acquisitions that, for lack of a better word, are underpriced? You're pushing towards that Vulcan Way. Of sort of selling. Yeah. I would tell you the 5.5% to mid-single-digit % is a combination of what we're seeing both with our backlog as we go into the year. Our bidding work, which accounts for about 60%, as well as the announced letters that we have out with our fixed plants, which is about 40% of our business. Those conversations, like I said, are happening now. Those letters were sent out in September. Those fixed plant increases will go into effect in January. When I look overall at how that is going to shape up, I think our backlogs, and I said on a trailing 3 months, our bookings prices have been accelerating. It's a combination of that bid work and what opportunities we're seeing, especially around the private non-res side, as well as we still need some help on single family. I feel good about our pricing going into next year. I think there's opportunities on both sides, on the public and private side, but that's where we're at. I think those conversations are going well. As far as acquired volumes, I think it's about 10 million tons of acquired volume coming out of last year, which was both Wake and Superior. As we've said before, it's taken us time. We're on that campaign. It's going as expected as far as North Carolina goes. I would anticipate that gap being made up with our normal Vulcan markets and what we're seeing in Raleigh. That gap will continue to be made up over the next 12 months. Very good, thank you. Thank you. We'll go next now to Steven Fisher with UBS. Thanks. Congrats Tom and Ronnie. Just first, a clarification. Have you changed your pricing expectation for the full year of 2025? Not sure if I missed that. The volume % reduction is. That basically just single family, and within your 2026 outlook, are you starting if. It is single family affecting 25%. You assume that. That's still a drag on the first. Part of 2026 and then a more accelerating part of the second half. I know it's still early, but just curious how you're seeing those dynamics. Yeah, on pricing I would call fourth quarter probably very similar to third quarter as we continue to enjoy the big base volumes. Like I said, while they are at lower price, they're also at lower cost and very good margins. Happy to have that, happy to have that work with the data centers and the big highway work. If you look at non, if you look at non-res going forward, I think it continues to grow. Public is very good. I think we probably see headwinds from res for a while, but it probably starting to bottom sometime in 2026. Okay, thank you. I'll go next now to Angel Castillo at Morgan Stanley. Thanks, and good morning everyone. Ronnie. Tom, I echo everyone's congratulations and well wishes, and looking forward to working with you. Ronnie, thank you. You're welcome. Just regarding your quoting activity and projects pipeline, the acceleration you talked about, I was wondering if you could kind of dive a little deeper into that, maybe just kind of as a starting point, just putting a finer point on the magnitude of what you saw in October versus perhaps the EQ levels I know you've given kind of last few months. If we could kind of. Split that up, and then maybe if you could expand also just on what's driving or what you think is driving kind of the acceleration here in activity. The reason I ask is because I feel like we've kind of heard about project backlogs and quoting activity being robust the last couple of years, and conversion rates and delays, shipments have kind of disappointed a little bit. Trying to understand, I guess, what gives us confidence that, you know, something has changed that will result in kind of the letting of projects moving faster and within private. If you could expand a bit more, like is that data, are you seeing it happen outside of data centers and semiconductors as well, or is it primarily just those two? Yes. Look, we talked some in the first part of the year about projects, U.S. pricing projects and then kind of getting postponed or pushed a pause button. We're not seeing that anymore. In fact, we've seen a lot of those projects actually go at supporting growth in our backlogs. If we put it in our backlogs, we're pretty sure it's going to happen. It's very rare that once we put them in there that projects don't go. I have very good confidence that our backlogs will be shipped and that growth will support growth as we look at 2026. I think that if you look forward, I think the nonresidential continues to grow. Ronnie, why don't you talk a little bit about kind of volume drivers in 2026 and the momentum we carry into that? Yeah, I mean when I look at starts on the private non-res side, as Tom said in Vulcan-served markets in September, on a trailing six months we're up 7%, trailing three, we're up 8%. That momentum continues. As I look at the subsegments of our private non-res, office, data, stores and warehouses, institutional are all up and our quoting activity and our bidding are on the same trajectory. As we look at it, there is a lot of data center work out there. That subcategory itself is up 26%. We've also booked two LNG projects, we've booked a couple of manufacturing projects, we booked some retail and it is a combination. Data centers have definitely been a very good tailwind for us. There are other sectors within the private non-res that also give us confidence as we look in 2026. Yeah, I would tell you that I think that is Ronnie, Mary Andrews, as we all look at 2026, pretty good confidence. We'll see volume growth. The public side, I can't tell you how strong the public side is. It's very, very good. We've seen the turn. We think in non-res, data centers is bigger than what we thought it was going to be. We think warehouses is now probably turning to growth in most of our markets. As we talk a lot about single family, it's still a headwind, but I think it continues to probably it will get better as we march through next year. I think our confidence level, that's pretty good. Very helpful, thank you. We'll go next to David MacGregor at Longbow Research. Hey, good morning, this is Joe Nolan on for David. Congrats on a nice quarter. Thank you. I was just wondering on public infrastructure, slide five shows a nice acceleration in contract awards. I was just hoping you could break it down in some of your key markets and give any detail on how fiscal year 2026 DOT budgets look there. Yeah, I would tell you in our markets it's very widespread. The public side, I can't underscore it. It's good and getting better. Remember we're in year four of IIJA and it took two years to really get that started, which frustrated everyone, including us. To be as expected. Now we're seeing the state DOTs mature into substantially increased federal and state funding. All of our best, our top 10 DOTs are all up for fiscal year 2026. Trucking 12-month highway starts, as we said, are up 17% in Vulcan states and 5% in other states. We are where the DOTs are growing. I think, simply put, the DOTs are putting that money to work now and they continue to get better at it. Remember, only 40% of the IIJA funds have been spent. There's a long tail to this past 2026. Yeah, I think as Tom said, those funds will carry us well into 2026 and 2027 and beyond. I would tell you there's three rules around reauthorization. One, it never happens on time. Two, it will happen. Three, it's historically always been larger than the bill before. We're anticipating that. We think public will continue to remain strong. If you think about the infrastructure of the country, we still got a lot of work to do. We're happy with where we're at on the public side, and we think that's going to continue strong in the future. Okay, very encouraging. Thanks. I'll pass it on. We'll go next now to Michael Dudas at Vertical Research. Michael, we can't hear you. Michael, you might be on mute. We cannot hear you right now. We'll circle back around to Michael. We'll go next now to Adrian Huerta at JPMorgan. Thank you. Hi Tom. Congrats and best wishes. was a pleasure to work with you all these years. Welcome, Ronnie. I know you for a few years since U.S. Concrete, and I'm sure you're going to deliver very good results as well. Thank you. Quick question. On the cost, it's been quite impressive what you guys have been doing on the cost per. Ton side over the last couple of quarters. I think you mentioned that you're still. In the early innings on many. Of these measures that you're taking, can you give us a sense on the action being taken and for how many more quarters we can see very good performance on cost as we have seen in the last few quarters? Yeah, thank you for the question. I would tell you we're still in the early innings and we've talked about, you know, Vulcan Way of Operating. The technology investment is complete within our top 127 plants, which represents over 70% of our production as a company. Where we're at today is really in the final stages of the human behavioral side. We have a lot of training going on with our plant operators using the tools, the process intelligence, the scheduling systems with our labor focus. My anticipation is we've got a long ways to go, but it's really exciting to watch. I would tell you that as I look at what's transpired this year and then what we're forecasting for next year, these tools, these investments we've made and the processes that we go through around our operations and focusing on our critical size, production and the yield on that and the labor side, labor savings, I think we've got a lot of room and I'm excited about it. I think more importantly, our operators are the ones that are driving this and a lot more to come. I would tell you my anticipation is 2026 is going to be even more momentum than it was in 2025. I would say that it's not just a quarter thing. This is years of marching forward with operating efficiency improvements. I think that Ronnie and his team, as I said earlier, should be very proud of their performance this year. They got help from weather and volume in Q3, but they did not in Q1 and Q2. In fact, it's surprising how good the cost was given the conditions. I think they have years of improvement ahead of them. Great. Congrats. Thanks, Tom and Ronnie. Sure. Thank you. We'll go next now to Ivan Yi at Wolfe Research. Yes, good morning. First, congrats to Tom and Ronnie. Just want to go back to the aggregate pricing again. Price per ton in Q3 was the smallest in a few years. I get that there's some negative mix in there, but why has the year-over-year growth decelerated in recent quarters? It had been double digits and now you're guiding to 5% in 2026. Just some color there. Thank you. I think that a couple of things there. Obviously, we had headwinds from acquisitions we had in the first part of the year. We had headwinds from lower volumes in the Southeast driven by weather. That got back more normal in Q3. You're sitting here on 3 years of negative volume, and that does put some pressures on price. I think that's probably at a low point. I believe that the continued acceleration in public and now visibility to the private non-res going up really helps our conversations for pricing and our backlog pricing as we look into 2026. Ronnie called that out that we've put out January 1 price increases. We're having those conversations, and they are going well. Importantly, before that, over the last few months, we're seeing acceleration in our backlog pricing, which is a very good foreshadowing for what's going to happen in 2026. Thank you. Thank you. We'll go next now to Michael Dudas at Vertical Research. Yeah, I hope the mute's off here. Good. Good morning. Mary Andrews and Ronnie and Tom. Good. To hear from you. Yeah, congrats to Tom and Ronnie. Also, congrats to Mary Andrews for the great cash generation and the great cash. Flow numbers you've been putting up here. Congratulations to all. Maybe just as we get close to. Wrap up here for Ronnie. As you look into your. Tenure here for the next several years, maybe even decade or so. As you look out maybe past 2026, how much different or not will Vulcan look like, and is the sense the seeds of the industry fundamentals and where we are, given what you're seeing from competitors and from clients. That this type of growth and sustainability. Volume pricing and certainly profit per. Ton growth is sustainable over the next several years. Yeah, great question. I mean, I think if you look out past 2026, 2027, 2028 in the future, Vulcan is going to look very similar. I would tell you we're going to continue to be led by our strategy around enhancing our core, which is really investing in continuing to invest in the Vulcan Way of Operating and Vulcan Way of Selling, which is going to really complement our margin growth, and it gives us confidence in that margin growth with those tools that we've invested in on the strategic side. When we talk about expanding our reach, we're going to stay aggregate focused, both within the markets that we serve and building the franchise that we have. Also, as we look, geographical expansion is still going to be an aggregate-led company. I wouldn't tell you that as you look in the future, you're going to see anything different than what Vulcan has continued to execute on. Those growth opportunities will be there, and we'll be right in the middle of it. We're going to be very disciplined on what we look like and how we, what those businesses are going to be led by is always going to be aggregates. Thank you, Ronnie. Thank you. Gentlemen, it appears we have no further questions this morning. Mr. Hill, I'll turn things back to you, sir, for any closing comments. Thank you. Thank you all for your time this morning. As I step back and look at Vulcan's future, I feel both pride and excitement. Vulcan has fantastic talent and bench strength throughout the organization and particularly in leadership. Ronnie and Mary Andrews and their teams are seasoned, talented industry experts who are armed with a superior set of tools and disciplines embedded in the Vulcan Way of Selling and the Vulcan Way of Operating. Putting that together with our continuous improvement culture will take Vulcan to remarkable heights. I'm very proud to have represented the men and women of Vulcan, and I look forward to supporting Ronnie and Mary Andrews in the future. Thank you all for your interest in Vulcan and your friendships. Keep you and your family safe and healthy. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Hill. Again, ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today's Vulcan Materials Company earnings conference call. Again, thanks so much for joining us, everyone, and we wish you all a great day. Goodbye.

Speaker 5: Good morning everyone. Welcome to the Vulcan Materials Company Third Quarter 2025 earnings call. My name is Bo and I will be your conference call coordinator today. Please be reminded that today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay after today's call later today on the company's website. All lines have been placed in a listen-only mode. After the company's prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Now I will turn the call over to your host, Mr. Mark Warren, Vice President of Investor Relations for Vulcan Materials. Please go ahead, sir. Good morning everyone. good morning everyone Welcome to the Vulcan Materials Company Third Quarter 2025 earnings call. welcome to the vulcan materials company third quarter 2025 earnings call My name is Bo and I will be your conference call coordinator today. my name is bo and i will be your conference call coordinator today Please be reminded that today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay after today's call later today on the company's website. please be reminded that today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay after today's call later today on the company's website All lines have been placed in a listen-only mode. all lines have been placed in a listen-only mode After the company's prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. after the company's prepared remarks there will be a question-and-answer session Now I will turn the call over to your host, Mr. Mark Warren, Vice President of Investor Relations for Vulcan Materials. now i will turn the call over to your host mr mark warren vice president of investor relations for vulcan materials Please go ahead, sir. please go ahead sir

Speaker 19: Thank you, operator. Joining me today are Tom Hill, Chairman and CEO, Ronnie Pruitt, Chief Operating Officer, and Mary Andrews Carlile, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Today's call is accompanied by a press release and a supplemental presentation posted to our website, vulcanmaterials.com. Please be advised that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties. These risks, along with other legal disclaimers, are described in detail in the company's earnings release and in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures are defined and reconciled in our earnings release, supplemental presentation, and other SEC filings. During the Q&A, we ask that you limit your participation to one question. This will allow us to accommodate as many as possible during the time we have available. With that, I'll turn the call over to Tom. Thank you, operator. thank you operator Joining me today are Tom Hill, Chairman and CEO, Ronnie Pruitt, Chief Operating Officer, and Mary Andrews Carlile, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. joining me today are tom hill chairman and ceo ronnie pruitt chief operating officer and mary andrews carlile senior vice president and chief financial officer Today's call is accompanied by a press release and a supplemental presentation posted to our website, vulcanmaterials.com. today's call is accompanied by a press release and a supplemental presentation posted to our website vulcanmaterials.com Please be advised that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties. please be advised that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties These risks, along with other legal disclaimers, are described in detail in the company's earnings release and in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. these risks along with other legal disclaimers are described in detail in the company's earnings release and in other filings with the securities and exchange commission Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures are defined and reconciled in our earnings release, supplemental presentation, and other SEC filings. reconciliations of non-gaap financial measures are defined and reconciled in our earnings release supplemental presentation and other sec filings During the Q&A, we ask that you limit your participation to one question. during the q&a we ask that you limit your participation to one question This will allow us to accommodate as many as possible during the time we have available. this will allow us to accommodate as many as possible during the time we have available With that, I'll turn the call over to Tom. with that i'll turn the call over to tom

Speaker 16: Thank you, Mark, and thank all of you for joining our call this morning. Mary Andrews and I are happy to have Ronnie joining us today as we discuss the third quarter results and what lies ahead for the remainder of 2025 and moving into 2026. The third quarter financial results clearly demonstrate the consistent, solid execution of our teams across the footprint. Gross margin and unit profitability expanded in each segment, and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 310 basis points. Adjusted EBITDA of $735 million improved 27% compared to the prior year. Thankfully, this year we were not confronted with the same extreme weather events as the prior year. Aggregate shipments increased 12% in the quarter, resulting in 3% higher shipments on a year-to-date basis. Aggregates cash gross profit per ton grew 9% in the quarter through a combination of commercial and operational execution. Thank you, Mark, and thank all of you for joining our call this morning. thank you mark and thank all of you for joining our call this morning Mary Andrews and I are happy to have Ronnie joining us today as we discuss the third quarter results and what lies ahead for the remainder of 2025 and moving into 2026. mary andrews and i are happy to have ronnie joining us today as we discuss the third quarter results and what lies ahead for the remainder of 2025 and moving into 2026 The third quarter financial results clearly demonstrate the consistent, solid execution of our teams across the footprint. the third quarter financial results clearly demonstrate the consistent solid execution of our teams across the footprint Gross margin and unit profitability expanded in each segment, and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 310 basis points. gross margin and unit profitability expanded in each segment and adjusted ebitda margin expanded 310 basis points Adjusted EBITDA of $735 million improved 27% compared to the prior year. adjusted ebitda of $735 million improved 27% compared to the prior year Thankfully, this year we were not confronted with the same extreme weather events as the prior year. thankfully this year we were not confronted with the same extreme weather events as the prior year Aggregate shipments increased 12% in the quarter, resulting in 3% higher shipments on a year-to-date basis. aggregate shipments increased 12% in the quarter resulting in 3% higher shipments on a year-to-date basis Aggregates cash gross profit per ton grew 9% in the quarter through a combination of commercial and operational execution. aggregates cash gross profit per ton grew 9% in the quarter through a combination of commercial and operational execution As anticipated, the prior year acquisitions and a higher percentage of base shipments contributed to 150 basis points of mix. Headwinds in our aggregate freight-adjusted selling price, mix-adjusted pricing improved 5% in the quarter and 7% on a year-to-date basis. Our Vulcan Way of Operating efforts continue to benefit our cost performance. Aggregates freight-adjusted unit cash cost of sales was 2% lower than the prior year in the third quarter. I'm proud of the way our operators are adopting new tools and disciplines to drive plant efficiencies, and I'm excited about the runway ahead for continued profitability improvements, especially as private demand recovers. Currently, strong momentum continues in public construction activity. The private non-residential end use is improving, while residential demand remains weak since there has been little relief in affordability to date. Single-family housing starts and permits continue to decelerate across most U.S. markets. As anticipated, the prior year acquisitions and a higher percentage of base shipments contributed to 150 basis points of mix. as anticipated the prior year acquisitions and a higher percentage of base shipments contributed to 150 basis points of mix Headwinds in our aggregate freight-adjusted selling price, mix-adjusted pricing improved 5% in the quarter and 7% on a year-to-date basis. headwinds in our aggregate freight-adjusted selling price mix-adjusted pricing improved 5% in the quarter and 7% on a year-to-date basis Our Vulcan Way of Operating efforts continue to benefit our cost performance. our vulcan way of operating efforts continue to benefit our cost performance Aggregates freight-adjusted unit cash cost of sales was 2% lower than the prior year in the third quarter. aggregates freight-adjusted unit cash cost of sales was 2% lower than the prior year in the third quarter I'm proud of the way our operators are adopting new tools and disciplines to drive plant efficiencies, and I'm excited about the runway ahead for continued profitability improvements, especially as private demand recovers. i'm proud of the way our operators are adopting new tools and disciplines to drive plant efficiencies and i'm excited about the runway ahead for continued profitability improvements especially as private demand recovers Currently, strong momentum continues in public construction activity. currently strong momentum continues in public construction activity The private non-residential end use is improving, while residential demand remains weak since there has been little relief in affordability to date. the private non-residential end use is improving while residential demand remains weak since there has been little relief in affordability to date Single-family housing starts and permits continue to decelerate across most U.S. markets. single-family housing starts and permits continue to decelerate across most u.s markets With our leading footprint, we are confident we are in the right markets to benefit from an eventual single-family residential recovery. In multifamily residential end use, current data is more varied across geographies. Some states are already showing growth in starts, which should begin to help offset weakness in single-family activity. Private non-residential construction activity is improving. Overall starts in our markets are positive on a trailing six-month basis. Data center activity remains robust with approximately 60 million sq ft under construction and another 140 million sq ft proposed and in the planning stages. Nearly 80% of data center projects in the planning stage are within 30 miles of a Vulcan operation. For both data centers and large project opportunities like LNG, which are also gaining momentum, Vulcan is in the right markets and well positioned to supply these projects and help create value for our customers. With our leading footprint, we are confident we are in the right markets to benefit from an eventual single-family residential recovery. with our leading footprint we are confident we are in the right markets to benefit from an eventual single-family residential recovery In multifamily residential end use, current data is more varied across geographies. in multifamily residential end use current data is more varied across geographies Some states are already showing growth in starts, which should begin to help offset weakness in single-family activity. some states are already showing growth in starts which should begin to help offset weakness in single-family activity Private non-residential construction activity is improving. private non-residential construction activity is improving Overall starts in our markets are positive on a trailing six-month basis. overall starts in our markets are positive on a trailing six-month basis Data center activity remains robust with approximately 60 million sq ft under construction and another 140 million sq ft proposed and in the planning stages. data center activity remains robust with approximately 60 million sq ft under construction and another 140 million sq ft proposed and in the planning stages Nearly 80% of data center projects in the planning stage are within 30 miles of a Vulcan operation. nearly 80% of data center projects in the planning stage are within 30 miles of a vulcan operation For both data centers and large project opportunities like LNG, which are also gaining momentum, Vulcan is in the right markets and well positioned to supply these projects and help create value for our customers. for both data centers and large project opportunities like lng which are also gaining momentum vulcan is in the right markets and well positioned to supply these projects and help create value for our customers The same is true on the public side. Growth in public contract awards in our markets continues to outpace other markets. Trailing 12-month awards are up 17% year-over-year in our footprint, and importantly, there's a long tail to public strength since approximately 60% of the IIJA funds are still yet to be spent. Given shipment trends Year-to-date, coupled with the demand I just described, we now anticipate full year shipments to increase approximately 3%, yielding full year adjusted EBITDA of $2.35 billion-$2.45 billion, a 17% increase over the prior year at midpoint. Now I'll turn the call over to Ronnie to discuss our continued execution of our aggregates-led two-pronged growth strategy. Ronnie. The same is true on the public side. the same is true on the public side Growth in public contract awards in our markets continues to outpace other markets. growth in public contract awards in our markets continues to outpace other markets Trailing 12-month awards are up 17% year-over-year in our footprint, and importantly, there's a long tail to public strength since approximately 60% of the IIJA funds are still yet to be spent. trailing 12-month awards are up 17% year-over-year in our footprint and importantly there's a long tail to public strength since approximately 60% of the iija funds are still yet to be spent Given shipment trends Year-to-date, coupled with the demand I just described, we now anticipate full year shipments to increase approximately 3%, yielding full year adjusted EBITDA of $2.35 billion- $2.45 billion, a 17% increase over the prior year at midpoint. given shipment trends year-to-date coupled with the demand i just described we now anticipate full year shipments to increase approximately 3% yielding full year adjusted ebitda of $2.35 billion- $2.45 billion a 17% increase over the prior year at midpoint Now I'll turn the call over to Ronnie to discuss our continued execution of our aggregates-led two-pronged growth strategy. now i'll turn the call over to ronnie to discuss our continued execution of our aggregates-led two-pronged growth strategy Ronnie. ronnie

Speaker 13: Thank you, Tom, and good morning. Over the last 24 months as Chief Operating Officer, I've been highly focused on growing the profitability of our existing business in addition to shaping our portfolio for optimal future growth. In the third quarter, our trailing 12 months aggregate cash gross profit per ton was $11.51, 27% higher than just 2 years ago. Our commitment to the Vulcan Way of Selling and the Vulcan Way of Operating has supported this growth. Our organic growth, coupled with disciplined M&A and portfolio management, positions us well to continue compounding results and creating value for shareholders. In early October, we completed the disposition of our asphalt and construction services assets. We believe that these downstream positions that we strategically built over time are now more valuable to the acquirers than to us, and we will redeploy the proceeds into attractive growth opportunities in the future. Thank you, Tom, and good morning. thank you tom and good morning Over the last 24 months as Chief Operating Officer, I've been highly focused on growing the profitability of our existing business in addition to shaping our portfolio for optimal future growth. over the last 24 months as chief operating officer i've been highly focused on growing the profitability of our existing business in addition to shaping our portfolio for optimal future growth In the third quarter, our trailing 12 months aggregate cash gross profit per ton was $11.51, 27% higher than just 2 years ago. in the third quarter our trailing 12 months aggregate cash gross profit per ton was $11.51 27% higher than just 2 years ago Our commitment to the Vulcan Way of Selling and the Vulcan Way of Operating has supported this growth. our commitment to the vulcan way of selling and the vulcan way of operating has supported this growth Our organic growth, coupled with disciplined M&A and portfolio management, positions us well to continue compounding results and creating value for shareholders. our organic growth coupled with disciplined m&a and portfolio management positions us well to continue compounding results and creating value for shareholders In early October, we completed the disposition of our asphalt and construction services assets. in early october we completed the disposition of our asphalt and construction services assets We believe that these downstream positions that we strategically built over time are now more valuable to the acquirers than to us, and we will redeploy the proceeds into attractive growth opportunities in the future. we believe that these downstream positions that we strategically built over time are now more valuable to the acquirers than to us and we will redeploy the proceeds into attractive growth opportunities in the future I'll now pass the call to Mary Andrews to provide some additional details on our financial results and capital allocation before we share some of our preliminary views about next year. I'll now pass the call to Mary Andrews to provide some additional details on our financial results and capital allocation before we share some of our preliminary views about next year. i'll now pass the call to mary andrews to provide some additional details on our financial results and capital allocation before we share some of our preliminary views about next year

Speaker 3: Thanks Ronnie and good morning. The aggregates unit profitability improvement that Ronnie and our division teams are driving each day is foundational to our cash generation, overall growth, and return on invested capital. Over the last 12 months our free cash flow has increased by 31% to over $1 billion and our conversion is 94%, complementing our free cash flow with incremental debt of $1 billion. We have grown our franchise through over $2 billion of acquisitions and returned approximately $300 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, all while maintaining our adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio just below our targeted range of 2-2.5x and improving our return on invested capital by 40 basis points. We are poised for additional profitable growth. We also continue to prioritize reinvesting in our franchise. Thanks Ronnie and good morning. thanks ronnie and good morning The aggregates unit profitability improvement that Ronnie and our division teams are driving each day is foundational to our cash generation, overall growth, and return on invested capital. the aggregates unit profitability improvement that ronnie and our division teams are driving each day is foundational to our cash generation overall growth and return on invested capital Over the last 12 months our free cash flow has increased by 31% to over $1 billion and our conversion is 94%, complementing our free cash flow with incremental debt of $1 billion. over the last 12 months our free cash flow has increased by 31% to over $1 billion and our conversion is 94% complementing our free cash flow with incremental debt of $1 billion We have grown our franchise through over $2 billion of acquisitions and returned approximately $300 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, all while maintaining our adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio just below our targeted range of 2- 2.5x and improving our return on invested capital by 40 basis points. we have grown our franchise through over $2 billion of acquisitions and returned approximately $300 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases all while maintaining our adjusted ebitda leverage ratio just below our targeted range of 2- 2.5x and improving our return on invested capital by 40 basis points We are poised for additional profitable growth. we are poised for additional profitable growth We also continue to prioritize reinvesting in our franchise. we also continue to prioritize reinvesting in our franchise Year-to-date we have deployed $442 million toward maintenance and growth capital expenditures and plan to spend approximately $700 million for the full year. Our trailing 12 months SAG expenses were $566 million and consistent with the prior year's trailing 12 months as a percentage of revenue at 7.2%. We are pleased with the results. Our investments in technology and talent earnings are yielding in the business. I'll now turn the call back over to Ronnie to provide some preliminary thoughts on 2026 before Tom makes some closing remarks. Year-to-date we have deployed $442 million toward maintenance and growth capital expenditures and plan to spend approximately $700 million for the full year. year-to-date we have deployed $442 million toward maintenance and growth capital expenditures and plan to spend approximately $700 million for the full year Our trailing 12 months SAG expenses were $566 million and consistent with the prior year's trailing 12 months as a percentage of revenue at 7.2%. our trailing 12 months sag expenses were $566 million and consistent with the prior year's trailing 12 months as a percentage of revenue at 7.2% We are pleased with the results. we are pleased with the results Our investments in technology and talent earnings are yielding in the business. our investments in technology and talent earnings are yielding in the business I'll now turn the call back over to Ronnie to provide some preliminary thoughts on 2026 before Tom makes some closing remarks. i'll now turn the call back over to ronnie to provide some preliminary thoughts on 2026 before tom makes some closing remarks

Speaker 13: Thank you, Mary Andrews. Tom shared earlier our views on the current demand environment, and we anticipate those trends to continue into next year. Consistent growth in public, improving private non-res, and lingering softness in residential overall. We expect organic shipments to return to growth in 2026 and improve modestly year-over-year. We also anticipate mid-single-digit pricing improvement. We will maintain our focus on efficiency gains and cost discipline through our Vulcan Way of Operating efforts to continue to deliver expansion in aggregate cash gross profit per ton that exceeds historical averages. Before I turn the call back over to Tom, I would like to express my gratitude for the opportunity to lead this organization and leverage the strong foundation Tom has built over the last decade. He has cultivated a culture of continuous improvement and created meaningful value for our shareholders. Thank you, Mary Andrews . thank you mary andrews Tom shared earlier our views on the current demand environment, and we anticipate those trends to continue into next year. tom shared earlier our views on the current demand environment and we anticipate those trends to continue into next year Consistent growth in public, improving private non-res, and lingering softness in residential overall. consistent growth in public improving private non-res and lingering softness in residential overall We expect organic shipments to return to growth in 2026 and improve modestly year-over-year. we expect organic shipments to return to growth in 2026 and improve modestly year-over-year We also anticipate mid-single-digit pricing improvement. we also anticipate mid-single-digit pricing improvement We will maintain our focus on efficiency gains and cost discipline through our Vulcan Way of Operating efforts to continue to deliver expansion in aggregate cash gross profit per ton that exceeds historical averages. we will maintain our focus on efficiency gains and cost discipline through our vulcan way of operating efforts to continue to deliver expansion in aggregate cash gross profit per ton that exceeds historical averages Before I turn the call back over to Tom, I would like to express my gratitude for the opportunity to lead this organization and leverage the strong foundation Tom has built over the last decade. before i turn the call back over to tom i would like to express my gratitude for the opportunity to lead this organization and leverage the strong foundation tom has built over the last decade He has cultivated a culture of continuous improvement and created meaningful value for our shareholders. he has cultivated a culture of continuous improvement and created meaningful value for our shareholders I'm excited about what lies ahead, and I'm confident Vulcan Materials will continue to deliver. Tom, back over to you. I'm excited about what lies ahead, and I'm confident Vulcan Materials will continue to deliver. i'm excited about what lies ahead and i'm confident vulcan materials will continue to deliver Tom, back over to you. tom back over to you

Speaker 16: Thank you, Ronnie. I want to thank all the men and women of Vulcan Materials for living out the Vulcan Way each and every day, doing the right thing the right way at the right time. Our safety and financial performance are evidence of their commitment to excellence and to continuous improvement. We are ready to finish the year strong and to continue our long track record of durable growth as we move into 2026. Mary Andrews, Ronnie and I will be happy to take your questions. Thank you, Ronnie. thank you ronnie I want to thank all the men and women of Vulcan Materials for living out the Vulcan Way each and every day, doing the right thing the right way at the right time. i want to thank all the men and women of vulcan materials for living out the vulcan way each and every day doing the right thing the right way at the right time Our safety and financial performance are evidence of their commitment to excellence and to continuous improvement. our safety and financial performance are evidence of their commitment to excellence and to continuous improvement We are ready to finish the year strong and to continue our long track record of durable growth as we move into 2026. we are ready to finish the year strong and to continue our long track record of durable growth as we move into 2026 Mary Andrews, Ronnie and I will be happy to take your questions. mary andrews ronnie and i will be happy to take your questions

Speaker 5: Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one, and you may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing star two. Again, we do ask that you please limit yourself to one question so we can get to as many questions as possible. We'll go first this morning to Trey Grooms with Stephens. Thank you very much. thank you very much Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one, and you may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing star two. ladies and gentlemen at this time if you would like to ask a question please press star one and you may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing star two Again, we do ask that you please limit yourself to one question so we can get to as many questions as possible. again we do ask that you please limit yourself to one question so we can get to as many questions as possible We'll go first this morning to Trey Grooms with Stephens . we'll go first this morning to trey grooms with stephens

Speaker 9: Hey, good morning, everyone. Hey, Tom. First, I want to say congratulations, Ronnie, on your new role. Hey, good morning, everyone. hey good morning everyone Hey, Tom. hey tom First, I want to say congratulations, Ronnie, on your new role. first i want to say congratulations ronnie on your new role Well deserved. Well deserved. well deserved It has been a pleasure working with you, Tom. It has been a pleasure working with you, Tom. it has been a pleasure working with you tom Over the last several years, we. Over the last several years, we. over the last several years we Wish you the best on your next chapter. Wish you the best on your next chapter. wish you the best on your next chapter

Speaker 16: Thanks, pal. Thanks, pal. thanks pal

Speaker 9: Sure. Ronnie, maybe if you could highlight some of your top priorities that you have for the Vulcan Materials team here as you take the reins and transition into your new position. Sure. sure Ronnie, maybe if you could highlight some of your top priorities that you have for the Vulcan Materials team here as you take the reins and transition into your new position. ronnie maybe if you could highlight some of your top priorities that you have for the vulcan materials team here as you take the reins and transition into your new position

Speaker 13: Sure. Thanks, Trey, for the question. First and foremost, I'm going to continue to build on the culture that Tom has grown through his leadership of Vulcan. Our culture is based on safety, which is our foundation. Our people own and drive our results. Our strategic approach will continue to focus on enhancing our core through Vulcan Way of Operating and Vulcan Way of Selling. Strategically, we'll continue to expand our reach through disciplined aggregate-centric acquisitions, as well as greenfield initiatives that are going to continue to complement our aggregate leading positions in our network. Sure. sure Thanks, Trey, for the question. thanks trey for the question First and foremost, I'm going to continue to build on the culture that Tom has grown through his leadership of Vulcan. first and foremost i'm going to continue to build on the culture that tom has grown through his leadership of vulcan Our culture is based on safety, which is our foundation. our culture is based on safety which is our foundation Our people own and drive our results. our people own and drive our results Our strategic approach will continue to focus on enhancing our core through Vulcan Way of Operating and Vulcan Way of Selling. our strategic approach will continue to focus on enhancing our core through vulcan way of operating and vulcan way of selling Strategically, we'll continue to expand our reach through disciplined aggregate-centric acquisitions, as well as greenfield initiatives that are going to continue to complement our aggregate leading positions in our network. strategically we'll continue to expand our reach through disciplined aggregate-centric acquisitions as well as greenfield initiatives that are going to continue to complement our aggregate leading positions in our network

Speaker 9: Excellent. Thank you, Ronnie. Excellent. excellent Thank you, Ronnie. thank you ronnie

Speaker 13: Thanks, Trey. Thanks, Trey. thanks trey

Speaker 5: Thank you. We'll go next now to Tyler Brown with Raymond James. Thank you. thank you We'll go next now to Tyler Brown with Raymond James. we'll go next now to tyler brown with raymond james

Speaker 17: Hey, good morning, guys. Hey, good morning, guys. hey good morning guys

Speaker 16: Hey, Tyler. Hey, Tyler. hey tyler

Speaker 17: Hey. Hey. hey First off, congrats, Ronnie. Congrats, Tom. This quarter's volumes were obviously great, benefited from some pretty calm weather. We have the Wackestone comp, and you guys are guiding kind of towards the low end for the full year. Can you just talk about the trends into Q4? First off, congrats, Ronnie. first off congrats ronnie Congrats, Tom. congrats tom This quarter's volumes were obviously great, benefited from some pretty calm weather. this quarter's volumes were obviously great benefited from some pretty calm weather We have the Wackestone comp, and you guys are guiding kind of towards the low end for the full year. we have the wackestone comp and you guys are guiding kind of towards the low end for the full year Can you just talk about the trends into Q4? can you just talk about the trends into q4 What. What. what What's kind of driving towards the low? What's kind of driving towards the low? what's kind of driving towards the low End there and then. End there and then. end there and then I appreciate the look on 2026, but when you say modest improvement, can you put a finer point there? Maybe talk about some of the puts and takes in the three, call it the three big end markets. I appreciate the look on 2026, but when you say modest improvement, can you put a finer point there? i appreciate the look on 2026 but when you say modest improvement can you put a finer point there Maybe talk about some of the puts and takes in the three, call it the three big end markets. maybe talk about some of the puts and takes in the three call it the three big end markets

Speaker 16: Yeah, I think you got to look back a little bit at the third quarter before we go to Q4. Weather definitely cooperated. Third quarter volumes were up, obviously double digit. The big jump in volume was a combination of pent up demand from the first half of the year, easy comps from last year, and then importantly strong and growing public demand and improving non-residential demand. Now, Q4 weather last year was very good, so tough comps in Q4. We predict 3% volume growth for the full year. With the exception of single family construction, we see demand in other sectors getting better. I would tell you that October supported the full year guide of 3%, but Ronnie, why don't you talk a little bit about 2026. Yeah, I think you got to look back a little bit at the third quarter before we go to Q4. yeah i think you got to look back a little bit at the third quarter before we go to q4 Weather definitely cooperated. weather definitely cooperated Third quarter volumes were up, obviously double digit. third quarter volumes were up obviously double digit The big jump in volume was a combination of pent up demand from the first half of the year, easy comps from last year, and then importantly strong and growing public demand and improving non-residential demand. the big jump in volume was a combination of pent up demand from the first half of the year easy comps from last year and then importantly strong and growing public demand and improving non-residential demand Now, Q4 weather last year was very good, so tough comps in Q4. now q4 weather last year was very good so tough comps in q4 We predict 3% volume growth for the full year. we predict 3% volume growth for the full year With the exception of single family construction, we see demand in other sectors getting better. with the exception of single family construction we see demand in other sectors getting better I would tell you that October supported the full year guide of 3%, but Ronnie, why don't you talk a little bit about 2026. i would tell you that october supported the full year guide of 3% but ronnie why don't you talk a little bit about 2026

Speaker 13: Yeah, Tom, thanks. You know, as Tom said, I think single family will continue to be challenging until we get some of the affordability issues behind us. Public's quite strong, and as we look into public into 2026, we'll continue to see improved funding, and I think the more mature DOT execution from the states to get that money put in play. On the private non-res side, our starts have been positive in our markets for the previous 6 months, and as we look internally, our bidding activity, our bookings, and our backlog really support demand growth as we go into next year. Yeah, Tom, thanks. yeah tom thanks You know, as Tom said, I think single family will continue to be challenging until we get some of the affordability issues behind us. you know as tom said i think single family will continue to be challenging until we get some of the affordability issues behind us Public's quite strong, and as we look into public into 2026, we'll continue to see improved funding, and I think the more mature DOT execution from the states to get that money put in play. public's quite strong and as we look into public into 2026 we'll continue to see improved funding and i think the more mature dot execution from the states to get that money put in play On the private non-res side, our starts have been positive in our markets for the previous 6 months, and as we look internally, our bidding activity, our bookings, and our backlog really support demand growth as we go into next year. on the private non-res side our starts have been positive in our markets for the previous 6 months and as we look internally our bidding activity our bookings and our backlog really support demand growth as we go into next year

Speaker 17: Perfect. Thanks, guys. Perfect. perfect Thanks, guys. thanks guys

Speaker 13: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 5: Thank you. Thank you. thank you We'll go next now to Garik Shmois at Loop Capital. We'll go next now to Garik Shmois at Loop Capital . we'll go next now to garik shmois at loop capital

Speaker 7: Oh, hi. Oh, hi. oh hi Thanks. Thanks. thanks Congratulations to you both on your new roles moving forward. I wanted to ask, just on the pricing, both the growth in the quarter and your confidence in the outlook in 2026, it ticked down sequentially. Congratulations to you both on your new roles moving forward. I wanted to ask, just on the pricing, both the growth in the quarter and your confidence in the outlook in 2026, it ticked down sequentially. congratulations to you both on your new roles moving forward. i wanted to ask just on the pricing both the growth in the quarter and your confidence in the outlook in 2026 it ticked down sequentially Is there anything specific driving that? Is there anything specific driving that? is there anything specific driving that How should we think about pricing a little bit more detail into 2026? How should we think about pricing a little bit more detail into 2026? how should we think about pricing a little bit more detail into 2026

Speaker 16: Good morning. I would call pricing as expected. 5%, 150 basis points of mix in there, which we talked about last quarter. Obviously acquisitions have been a drag on prices, but pricing in those markets continues to improve. I'd call it as planned. In the quarter we had 20% more base driven by really good highway work and data centers. While base is lower price, it's also lower cost. We kept our unit margin momentum. I'm very pleased with our ability to take that price to the bottom line and then some. As you saw, costs go down in the quarter. If you look, looking forward, I think growing highway demand and improvements in non-res will support higher prices and unit margins in 2026. Ronnie, why don't you talk a little bit about 2026. Good morning. good morning I would call pricing as expected. 5%, 150 basis points of mix in there, which we talked about last quarter. i would call pricing as expected 5% 150 basis points of mix in there which we talked about last quarter Obviously acquisitions have been a drag on prices, but pricing in those markets continues to improve. obviously acquisitions have been a drag on prices but pricing in those markets continues to improve I'd call it as planned. i'd call it as planned In the quarter we had 20% more base driven by really good highway work and data centers. in the quarter we had 20% more base driven by really good highway work and data centers While base is lower price, it's also lower cost. while base is lower price it's also lower cost We kept our unit margin momentum. we kept our unit margin momentum I'm very pleased with our ability to take that price to the bottom line and then some. i'm very pleased with our ability to take that price to the bottom line and then some As you saw, costs go down in the quarter. as you saw costs go down in the quarter If you look, looking forward, I think growing highway demand and improvements in non-res will support higher prices and unit margins in 2026. if you look looking forward i think growing highway demand and improvements in non-res will support higher prices and unit margins in 2026 Ronnie, why don't you talk a little bit about 2026. ronnie why don't you talk a little bit about 2026

Speaker 13: Yeah, Tom's correct. I mean, improving demand in public and private non-res will definitely support 2026 pricing. We sent out our letters in September for effective January 1st. We're in the middle of having those conversations now. I've been encouraged with those conversations, and that's really around the fixed plants. 40% of our business, you know, on the bid work, our trailing 3-month backlog process is showing acceleration, and most of that work will ship in next year. There is still work to be done. This, coupled with our operating performance, should still provide us with continued superior unit margin growth over historical norms. Yeah, Tom's correct. yeah tom's correct I mean, improving demand in public and private non-res will definitely support 2026 pricing. i mean improving demand in public and private non-res will definitely support 2026 pricing We sent out our letters in September for effective January 1st. we sent out our letters in september for effective january 1st We're in the middle of having those conversations now. we're in the middle of having those conversations now I've been encouraged with those conversations, and that's really around the fixed plants. 40% of our business, you know, on the bid work, our trailing 3-month backlog process is showing acceleration, and most of that work will ship in next year. i've been encouraged with those conversations and that's really around the fixed plants 40% of our business you know on the bid work our trailing 3-month backlog process is showing acceleration and most of that work will ship in next year There is still work to be done. there is still work to be done This, coupled with our operating performance, should still provide us with continued superior unit margin growth over historical norms. this coupled with our operating performance should still provide us with continued superior unit margin growth over historical norms

Speaker 5: Thank you. We'll go next now to Brian Brophy at Stifel. Thank you. thank you We'll go next now to Brian Brophy at Stifel. we'll go next now to brian brophy at stifel

Speaker 1: Hey, this is Andrew on for Brian. Hey, this is Andrew on for Brian. hey this is andrew on for brian Thank you for taking my call. Thank you for taking my call. thank you for taking my call I had a question about the unit costs. I had a question about the unit costs. i had a question about the unit costs Down 2% in the quarter. How much of that was Vulcan Way of Operating versus lower inflation versus volume benefits? Additionally, as you're looking at next year, do you have any preliminary thoughts on how you're thinking about inflation or the cost piece into 2026 following such a phenomenal year this year? Down 2% in the quarter. down 2% in the quarter How much of that was Vulcan Way of Operating versus lower inflation versus volume benefits? how much of that was vulcan way of operating versus lower inflation versus volume benefits Additionally, as you're looking at next year, do you have any preliminary thoughts on how you're thinking about inflation or the cost piece into 2026 following such a phenomenal year this year? additionally as you're looking at next year do you have any preliminary thoughts on how you're thinking about inflation or the cost piece into 2026 following such a phenomenal year this year

Speaker 16: Thanks. Yeah, short answer. We've got no relief on inflation. I mean, things, no prices have come down, they're not going up as fast. I would really point to the Vulcan Way of Operating. If you look at the whole year, I'm very pleased with our operators' performance in our 2025 cost in the quarter and the year. We're seeing improved operating efficiencies, but still early innings of Vulcan Way of Operating. Remember, in the first half of the year we had weather issues, we had volume issues that actually hurt costs. Ronnie and his team were still able to keep the cost down in Q3. We probably had some tailwinds from efficiencies, volume, and more base sales. I think Ronnie and his operators have worked very hard at the Vulcan Way of Operating, and he should be pleased with its performance. Thanks. thanks Yeah, short answer. yeah short answer We've got no relief on inflation. we've got no relief on inflation I mean, things, no prices have come down, they're not going up as fast. i mean things no prices have come down they're not going up as fast I would really point to the Vulcan Way of Operating. i would really point to the vulcan way of operating If you look at the whole year, I'm very pleased with our operators' performance in our 2025 cost in the quarter and the year. if you look at the whole year i'm very pleased with our operators' performance in our 2025 cost in the quarter and the year We're seeing improved operating efficiencies, but still early innings of Vulcan Way of Operating. we're seeing improved operating efficiencies but still early innings of vulcan way of operating Remember, in the first half of the year we had weather issues, we had volume issues that actually hurt costs. remember in the first half of the year we had weather issues we had volume issues that actually hurt costs Ronnie and his team were still able to keep the cost down in Q3. ronnie and his team were still able to keep the cost down in q3 We probably had some tailwinds from efficiencies, volume, and more base sales. we probably had some tailwinds from efficiencies volume and more base sales I think Ronnie and his operators have worked very hard at the Vulcan Way of Operating, and he should be pleased with its performance. i think ronnie and his operators have worked very hard at the vulcan way of operating and he should be pleased with its performance

Speaker 13: Yeah, thanks Tom. I know our operators will appreciate those comments. First and foremost, our safety performance is really good and it's continuing to improve. When I look at our disciplines and our investment in technology, they're working and that's the Vulcan Way of Operating. There's still improvement ahead, so we'll continue to focus on those disciplines as we get into 2026. I've got confidence in our people, our processes, our disciplines, and our technology, and I think it'll be exciting to watch the Vulcan Way of Operating as we continue to go selling as far as growing our margins. I think our margin growth will continue to be even more dependable in the future. Yeah, thanks Tom. yeah thanks tom I know our operators will appreciate those comments. i know our operators will appreciate those comments First and foremost, our safety performance is really good and it's continuing to improve. first and foremost our safety performance is really good and it's continuing to improve When I look at our disciplines and our investment in technology, they're working and that's the Vulcan Way of Operating. when i look at our disciplines and our investment in technology they're working and that's the vulcan way of operating There's still improvement ahead, so we'll continue to focus on those disciplines as we get into 2026. there's still improvement ahead so we'll continue to focus on those disciplines as we get into 2026 I've got confidence in our people, our processes, our disciplines, and our technology, and I think it'll be exciting to watch the Vulcan Way of Operating as we continue to go selling as far as growing our margins. i've got confidence in our people our processes our disciplines and our technology and i think it'll be exciting to watch the vulcan way of operating as we continue to go selling as far as growing our margins I think our margin growth will continue to be even more dependable in the future. i think our margin growth will continue to be even more dependable in the future

Speaker 1: Great. Great. great Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 16: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 5: We'll go next to Anthony Pettinari at Citi. We'll go next to Anthony Pettinari at Citi. we'll go next to anthony pettinari at citi

Speaker 11: Hi, this is Asher Sohnen on for Anthony. Thanks for taking my question and congratulations all around. You guys talked about stronger backlogs, but I was wondering if you could maybe walk through some of your key geographies and what you're seeing there. Hi, this is Asher Sohnen on for Anthony. hi this is asher sohnen on for anthony Thanks for taking my question and congratulations all around. thanks for taking my question and congratulations all around You guys talked about stronger backlogs, but I was wondering if you could maybe walk through some of your key geographies and what you're seeing there. you guys talked about stronger backlogs but i was wondering if you could maybe walk through some of your key geographies and what you're seeing there an individual or regional basis? an individual or regional basis? an individual or regional basis

Speaker 16: Yeah, actually it's pretty widespread. I can't think of any that are down at this point. Probably the healthiest is going to be the Southeast, which is a benefit for us because that's probably where the higher unit margins are. We've really seen a turn in the non-res side of the business. Data centers have helped that and really strong growth in public demand. I think that growth continues to accelerate for the next two or 3 years. A good story. Obviously, single family is still a drag for us and probably will be for a while. Hopefully that turns next year, but in the meantime the other sectors are taking up for that. Yeah, actually it's pretty widespread. yeah actually it's pretty widespread I can't think of any that are down at this point. i can't think of any that are down at this point Probably the healthiest is going to be the Southeast, which is a benefit for us because that's probably where the higher unit margins are. probably the healthiest is going to be the southeast which is a benefit for us because that's probably where the higher unit margins are We've really seen a turn in the non-res side of the business. we've really seen a turn in the non-res side of the business Data centers have helped that and really strong growth in public demand. data centers have helped that and really strong growth in public demand I think that growth continues to accelerate for the next two or 3 years. i think that growth continues to accelerate for the next two or 3 years A good story. a good story Obviously, single family is still a drag for us and probably will be for a while. obviously single family is still a drag for us and probably will be for a while Hopefully that turns next year, but in the meantime the other sectors are taking up for that. hopefully that turns next year but in the meantime the other sectors are taking up for that

Speaker 11: Great, thanks. Great, thanks. great thanks I'll turn it over. I'll turn it over. i'll turn it over

Speaker 16: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 5: We'll go next to Kathryn Thompson with Thompson Research Group. We'll go next to Kathryn Thompson with Thompson Research Group. we'll go next to kathryn thompson with thompson research group

Speaker 16: Hi, Kathryn. Hi, Kathryn. hi kathryn

Speaker 15: Hi, good morning and thank you for taking my question today. First off, Tom, it's been a pleasure working with you over the years. I look forward to keeping up with you. Ronnie, we go back a couple of companies and congratulations on starting in the CEO role in January. Hi, good morning and thank you for taking my question today. hi good morning and thank you for taking my question today First off, Tom, it's been a pleasure working with you over the years. I look forward to keeping up with you. first off tom it's been a pleasure working with you over the years. i look forward to keeping up with you Ronnie, we go back a couple of companies and congratulations on starting in the CEO role in January. ronnie we go back a couple of companies and congratulations on starting in the ceo role in january

Speaker 13: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 16: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 15: Looking forward, you did a great job of shaping a portfolio as was highlighted in the quarter you just reported. How are you thinking about what fits in your portfolio and maybe what may not or who may be a better owner? Can you approach it from thinking about either a product type, which we saw this quarter, or a geographic focus, and just maybe thinking bigger picture about how you're thinking about that portfolio shaping going forward. Thanks very much. Looking forward, you did a great job of shaping a portfolio as was highlighted in the quarter you just reported. looking forward you did a great job of shaping a portfolio as was highlighted in the quarter you just reported How are you thinking about what fits in your portfolio and maybe what may not or who may be a better owner? how are you thinking about what fits in your portfolio and maybe what may not or who may be a better owner Can you approach it from thinking about either a product type, which we saw this quarter, or a geographic focus, and just maybe thinking bigger picture about how you're thinking about that portfolio shaping going forward. can you approach it from thinking about either a product type which we saw this quarter or a geographic focus and just maybe thinking bigger picture about how you're thinking about that portfolio shaping going forward Thanks very much. thanks very much

Speaker 13: Yeah, Kathryn, this is Ronnie. I'll take that question. I'm continuing to be really pleased with the downstream business that we have in the asphalt business. Those businesses are really heavily influenced by the public funding and the strength in public funding. We're going to continue to focus on one safety as well as our financial performance. We talk about the concrete and the divestiture that we announced this week. I mean that's our strategy. We said early on when we bought Superior that we were going to evaluate that business and we would decide whether that was a business that we wanted to be in long term. We continue to see challenges on the private side in California. We thought the acquirers, it was a business that was going to be more valuable to them. I'll remind you that since the acquisition of U.S. Yeah, Kathryn, this is Ronnie. yeah kathryn this is ronnie I'll take that question. i'll take that question I'm continuing to be really pleased with the downstream business that we have in the asphalt business. i'm continuing to be really pleased with the downstream business that we have in the asphalt business Those businesses are really heavily influenced by the public funding and the strength in public funding. those businesses are really heavily influenced by the public funding and the strength in public funding We're going to continue to focus on one safety as well as our financial performance. we're going to continue to focus on one safety as well as our financial performance We talk about the concrete and the divestiture that we announced this week. we talk about the concrete and the divestiture that we announced this week I mean that's our strategy. i mean that's our strategy We said early on when we bought Superior that we were going to evaluate that business and we would decide whether that was a business that we wanted to be in long term. we said early on when we bought superior that we were going to evaluate that business and we would decide whether that was a business that we wanted to be in long term We continue to see challenges on the private side in California. we continue to see challenges on the private side in california We thought the acquirers, it was a business that was going to be more valuable to them. we thought the acquirers it was a business that was going to be more valuable to them I'll remind you that since the acquisition of U.S. i'll remind you that since the acquisition of u.s Concrete, we now only have a couple of plants left in the Virginia D.C. area that are integrated with a very successful Vulcan Legacy concrete business. We've also retained all those aggregates. It complements our strategy of being aggregate led. We're going to keep the expertise of both the asphalt and the concrete business. If those businesses, as we look in the future and M&A presents those to us, we're not scared of that. It's going to continue to be aggregate led and I think that's our strategy. You'll see us continue to be focused heavily on those aggregate led businesses. Concrete, we now only have a couple of plants left in the Virginia D.C. area that are integrated with a very successful Vulcan Legacy concrete business. concrete we now only have a couple of plants left in the virginia d.c area that are integrated with a very successful vulcan legacy concrete business We've also retained all those aggregates. we've also retained all those aggregates It complements our strategy of being aggregate led. it complements our strategy of being aggregate led We're going to keep the expertise of both the asphalt and the concrete business. we're going to keep the expertise of both the asphalt and the concrete business If those businesses, as we look in the future and M&A presents those to us, we're not scared of that. if those businesses as we look in the future and m&a presents those to us we're not scared of that It's going to continue to be aggregate led and I think that's our strategy. it's going to continue to be aggregate led and i think that's our strategy You'll see us continue to be focused heavily on those aggregate led businesses. you'll see us continue to be focused heavily on those aggregate led businesses

Speaker 15: Thank you so much, and good luck. Thank you so much, and good luck. thank you so much and good luck

Speaker 13: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 5: Thank you. We'll go next now to Phil Ng with Jefferies. Thank you. thank you We'll go next now to Phil Ng with Jefferies. we'll go next now to phil ng with jefferies

Speaker 20: Hey, good morning, guys. This is Jesse on for Phil. Hey, good morning, guys. hey good morning guys This is Jesse on for Phil. this is jesse on for phil Congrats to Tom and Ronnie. Congrats to Tom and Ronnie. congrats to tom and ronnie Just real quick on M&A. Just real quick on M&A. just real quick on m&a Can you just kind of help us? Can you just kind of help us? can you just kind of help us How you're thinking about the pipeline? You obviously will have quite a bit. How you're thinking about the pipeline? how you're thinking about the pipeline You obviously will have quite a bit. you obviously will have quite a bit Of dry powder given where your leverage. Of dry powder given where your leverage. of dry powder given where your leverage Is and post the divestitures. Just any geographies that you're particularly targeting. Thanks. Is and post the divestitures. is and post the divestitures Just any geographies that you're particularly targeting. just any geographies that you're particularly targeting Thanks. thanks

Speaker 13: Yeah, this is Ronnie. I would tell you, one, we have a number of greenfields that are still in process. Greenfields for us is a strategy of growth. It takes time. Those will be timed with both market driven as well as the timing of permits. We still have that going when we talk about M&A opportunities. It's been a quiet year. We continue to have a really good list of targets out there. The timing of those targets is really driven twofold, one by the seller and their readiness and then also by the market conditions. I would tell you M&A this year is not surprising to us. We knew through some of the uncertainties with tariffs and other pauses in the interest rates that M&A was going to be paused. I can assure you that we're still very active. Yeah, this is Ronnie. yeah this is ronnie I would tell you, one, we have a number of greenfields that are still in process. i would tell you one we have a number of greenfields that are still in process Greenfields for us is a strategy of growth. greenfields for us is a strategy of growth It takes time. it takes time Those will be timed with both market driven as well as the timing of permits. those will be timed with both market driven as well as the timing of permits We still have that going when we talk about M&A opportunities. we still have that going when we talk about m&a opportunities It's been a quiet year. it's been a quiet year We continue to have a really good list of targets out there. we continue to have a really good list of targets out there The timing of those targets is really driven twofold, one by the seller and their readiness and then also by the market conditions. the timing of those targets is really driven twofold one by the seller and their readiness and then also by the market conditions I would tell you M&A this year is not surprising to us. i would tell you m&a this year is not surprising to us We knew through some of the uncertainties with tariffs and other pauses in the interest rates that M&A was going to be paused. we knew through some of the uncertainties with tariffs and other pauses in the interest rates that m&a was going to be paused I can assure you that we're still very active. i can assure you that we're still very active We have a really strong list and those M&A opportunities are going to continue to be aggregate led. We have a really strong list and those M&A opportunities are going to continue to be aggregate led. we have a really strong list and those m&a opportunities are going to continue to be aggregate led

Speaker 20: Great, thanks. I'll turn it over. Great, thanks. great thanks I'll turn it over. i'll turn it over

Speaker 5: We'll go next to Keith Hughes with Truist. We'll go next to Keith Hughes with Truist . we'll go next to keith hughes with truist

Speaker 4: Thank you. Congratulations, Tom, on a tremendous run here. I do have a question for Ronnie. You had talked about 2026 kind of from a high level of continuing this just wonderful run of cash gross profit per ton. Just from a general level, would we, from what you know today, in the Thank you. thank you Congratulations, Tom, on a tremendous run here. congratulations tom on a tremendous run here I do have a question for Ronnie. i do have a question for ronnie You had talked about 2026 kind of from a high level of continuing this just wonderful run of cash gross profit per ton. you had talked about 2026 kind of from a high level of continuing this just wonderful run of cash gross profit per ton Just from a general level, would we, from what you know today, in the just from a general level would we from what you know today in the Market, will we see something similar to? Market, will we see something similar to? market will we see something similar to The last couple of years. The last couple of years. the last couple of years With the numbers you've been putting up? With the numbers you've been putting up? with the numbers you've been putting up What could potentially take that higher? What could potentially take that higher? what could potentially take that higher

Speaker 13: What was the last part of that, Keith? What was the last part of that, Keith? what was the last part of that keith

Speaker 4: What would take it higher? What kind of things would you need to see, something that would set, you know, even better what we've seen the last couple of. What would take it higher? what would take it higher What kind of things would you need to see, something that would set, you know, even better what we've seen the last couple of. what kind of things would you need to see something that would set you know even better what we've seen the last couple of Years, Years, years

Speaker 13: Look, we're coming off 3 years of muted demand in our markets. What we've been able to accomplish over the last 3 years with growing our cash gross profit has been twofold. One, the inflationary stuff helped our pricing early on. This year we've had some momentum on the cost side of our business. As we said earlier, demand is going to help, some recovery in demand is going to help our pricing story and we look forward to that. The Vulcan Way of Operating, the Vulcan Way of Selling both support that from a cost side as well as a commercial side. I would tell you, as I said earlier in my comments, I think our cash gross profit will continue above historical norms. I think both sides of it, the cost and the commercial efforts, will play a role into that. Look, we're coming off 3 years of muted demand in our markets. look we're coming off 3 years of muted demand in our markets What we've been able to accomplish over the last 3 years with growing our cash gross profit has been twofold. what we've been able to accomplish over the last 3 years with growing our cash gross profit has been twofold One, the inflationary stuff helped our pricing early on. one the inflationary stuff helped our pricing early on This year we've had some momentum on the cost side of our business. this year we've had some momentum on the cost side of our business As we said earlier, demand is going to help, some recovery in demand is going to help our pricing story and we look forward to that. as we said earlier demand is going to help some recovery in demand is going to help our pricing story and we look forward to that The Vulcan Way of Operating, the Vulcan Way of Selling both support that from a cost side as well as a commercial side. the vulcan way of operating the vulcan way of selling both support that from a cost side as well as a commercial side I would tell you, as I said earlier in my comments, I think our cash gross profit will continue above historical norms. i would tell you as i said earlier in my comments i think our cash gross profit will continue above historical norms I think both sides of it, the cost and the commercial efforts, will play a role into that. i think both sides of it the cost and the commercial efforts will play a role into that Some demand will definitely help the pricing side of our story. Some demand will definitely help the pricing side of our story. some demand will definitely help the pricing side of our story

Speaker 4: Okay, great. Okay, great. okay great Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 13: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 5: We'll go next to Brent Thielman at D.A. Davidson. We'll go next to Brent Thielman at D.A. Davidson . we'll go next to brent thielman at d.a. davidson

Speaker 10: Hey, thanks. Hey, thanks. hey thanks Congrats to all of the team as well, I guess. Congrats to all of the team as well, I guess. congrats to all of the team as well i guess Bit of a two part question. Bit of a two part question. bit of a two part question Guess just in terms of thinking about that mid-single-digit pricing improvement in 2026. Guess just in terms of thinking about that mid-single-digit pricing improvement in 2026. guess just in terms of thinking about that mid-single-digit pricing improvement in 2026 Part of the question is just, is. Part of the question is just, is. part of the question is just is that consistent with the annual price increases you're planning for next year? The other thing I was wondering is just around that, how much sort of volume do you bring into 2026 from acquisitions that, for lack of a better word, are underpriced? You're pushing towards that Vulcan Way. that consistent with the annual price increases you're planning for next year? that consistent with the annual price increases you're planning for next year The other thing I was wondering is just around that, how much sort of volume do you bring into 2026 from acquisitions that, for lack of a better word, are underpriced? the other thing i was wondering is just around that how much sort of volume do you bring into 2026 from acquisitions that for lack of a better word are underpriced You're pushing towards that Vulcan Way. you're pushing towards that vulcan way Of sort of selling. Of sort of selling. of sort of selling

Speaker 13: Yeah. I would tell you the 5.5% to mid-single-digit % is a combination of what we're seeing both with our backlog as we go into the year. Our bidding work, which accounts for about 60%, as well as the announced letters that we have out with our fixed plants, which is about 40% of our business. Those conversations, like I said, are happening now. Those letters were sent out in September. Those fixed plant increases will go into effect in January. When I look overall at how that is going to shape up, I think our backlogs, and I said on a trailing 3 months, our bookings prices have been accelerating. It's a combination of that bid work and what opportunities we're seeing, especially around the private non-res side, as well as we still need some help on single family. I feel good about our pricing going into next year. Yeah. yeah I would tell you the 5.5% to mid-single-digit % is a combination of what we're seeing both with our backlog as we go into the year. i would tell you the 5.5% to mid-single-digit % is a combination of what we're seeing both with our backlog as we go into the year Our bidding work, which accounts for about 60%, as well as the announced letters that we have out with our fixed plants, which is about 40% of our business. our bidding work which accounts for about 60% as well as the announced letters that we have out with our fixed plants which is about 40% of our business Those conversations, like I said, are happening now. those conversations like i said are happening now Those letters were sent out in September. those letters were sent out in september Those fixed plant increases will go into effect in January. those fixed plant increases will go into effect in january When I look overall at how that is going to shape up, I think our backlogs, and I said on a trailing 3 mo nths, our bookings prices have been accelerating. when i look overall at how that is going to shape up i think our backlogs and i said on a trailing 3 mo nths our bookings prices have been accelerating It's a combination of that bid work and what opportunities we're seeing, especially around the private non-res side, as well as we still need some help on single family. it's a combination of that bid work and what opportunities we're seeing especially around the private non-res side as well as we still need some help on single family I feel good about our pricing going into next year. i feel good about our pricing going into next year I think there's opportunities on both sides, on the public and private side, but that's where we're at. I think those conversations are going well. As far as acquired volumes, I think it's about 10 million tons of acquired volume coming out of last year, which was both Wake and Superior. As we've said before, it's taken us time. We're on that campaign. It's going as expected as far as North Carolina goes. I would anticipate that gap being made up with our normal Vulcan markets and what we're seeing in Raleigh. That gap will continue to be made up over the next 12 months. I think there's opportunities on both sides, on the public and private side, but that's where we're at. i think there's opportunities on both sides on the public and private side but that's where we're at I think those conversations are going well. i think those conversations are going well As far as acquired volumes, I think it's about 10 million tons of acquired volume coming out of last year, which was both Wake and Superior. as far as acquired volumes i think it's about 10 million tons of acquired volume coming out of last year which was both wake and superior As we've said before, it's taken us time. as we've said before it's taken us time We're on that campaign. we're on that campaign It's going as expected as far as North Carolina goes. it's going as expected as far as north carolina goes I would anticipate that gap being made up with our normal Vulcan markets and what we're seeing in Raleigh. i would anticipate that gap being made up with our normal vulcan markets and what we're seeing in raleigh That gap will continue to be made up over the next 12 months. that gap will continue to be made up over the next 12 months

Speaker 10: Very good, thank you. Very good, thank you. very good thank you

Speaker 13: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 5: We'll go next now to Steven Fisher with UBS. We'll go next now to Steven Fisher with UBS. we'll go next now to steven fisher with ubs

Speaker 6: Thanks. Congrats Tom and Ronnie. Thanks. thanks Congrats Tom and Ronnie. congrats tom and ronnie Just first, a clarification. Just first, a clarification. just first a clarification Have you changed your pricing expectation for the full year of 2025? Have you changed your pricing expectation for the full year of 2025? have you changed your pricing expectation for the full year of 2025 Not sure if I missed that. Not sure if I missed that. not sure if i missed that The volume % reduction is. The volume % reduction is. the volume % reduction is That basically just single family, and within your 2026 outlook, are you starting if. That basically just single family, and within your 2026 outlook, are you starting if. that basically just single family and within your 2026 outlook are you starting if It is single family affecting 25%. It is single family affecting 25%. it is single family affecting 25% You assume that. You assume that. you assume that That's still a drag on the first. That's still a drag on the first. that's still a drag on the first Part of 2026 and then a more accelerating part of the second half. I know it's still early, but just curious how you're seeing those dynamics. Part of 2026 and then a more accelerating part of the second half. part of 2026 and then a more accelerating part of the second half I know it's still early, but just curious how you're seeing those dynamics. i know it's still early but just curious how you're seeing those dynamics

Speaker 16: Yeah, on pricing I would call fourth quarter probably very similar to third quarter as we continue to enjoy the big base volumes. Like I said, while they are at lower price, they're also at lower cost and very good margins. Happy to have that, happy to have that work with the data centers and the big highway work. If you look at non, if you look at non-res going forward, I think it continues to grow. Public is very good. I think we probably see headwinds from res for a while, but it probably starting to bottom sometime in 2026. Yeah, on pricing I would call fourth quarter probably very similar to third quarter as we continue to enjoy the big base volumes. yeah on pricing i would call fourth quarter probably very similar to third quarter as we continue to enjoy the big base volumes Like I said, while they are at lower price, they're also at lower cost and very good margins. like i said while they are at lower price they're also at lower cost and very good margins Happy to have that, happy to have that work with the data centers and the big highway work. happy to have that happy to have that work with the data centers and the big highway work If you look at non, if you look at non- res going forward, I think it continues to grow. if you look at non if you look at non- res going forward i think it continues to grow Public is very good. public is very good I think we probably see headwinds from res for a while, but it probably starting to bottom sometime in 2026. i think we probably see headwinds from res for a while but it probably starting to bottom sometime in 2026

Speaker 6: Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. okay thank you

Speaker 5: I'll go next now to Angel Castillo at Morgan Stanley. I'll go next now to Angel Castillo at Morgan Stanley. i'll go next now to angel castillo at morgan stanley

Speaker 8: Thanks, and good morning everyone. Thanks, and good morning everyone. thanks and good morning everyone Ronnie. Ronnie. ronnie Tom, I echo everyone's congratulations and well wishes, and looking forward to working with you. Tom, I echo everyone's congratulations and well wishes, and looking forward to working with you. tom i echo everyone's congratulations and well wishes and looking forward to working with you Ronnie, Ronnie, ronnie

Speaker 13: thank you. thank you. thank you

Speaker 8: You're welcome. Just regarding your quoting activity and projects pipeline, the acceleration you talked about, I was wondering if you could kind of dive a little deeper into that, maybe just kind of as a starting point, just putting a finer point on the magnitude of what you saw in October versus perhaps the EQ levels I know you've given kind of last few months. You're welcome. you're welcome Just regarding your quoting activity and projects pipeline, the acceleration you talked about, I was wondering if you could kind of dive a little deeper into that, maybe just kind of as a starting point, just putting a finer point on the magnitude of what you saw in October versus perhaps the EQ levels I know you've given kind of last few months. just regarding your quoting activity and projects pipeline the acceleration you talked about i was wondering if you could kind of dive a little deeper into that maybe just kind of as a starting point just putting a finer point on the magnitude of what you saw in october versus perhaps the eq levels i know you've given kind of last few months If we could kind of. If we could kind of. if we could kind of Split that up, and then maybe if you could expand also just on what's driving or what you think is driving kind of the acceleration here in activity. The reason I ask is because I feel like we've kind of heard about project backlogs and quoting activity being robust the last couple of years, and conversion rates and delays, shipments have kind of disappointed a little bit. Trying to understand, I guess, what gives us confidence that, you know, something has changed that will result in kind of the letting of projects moving faster and within private. If you could expand a bit more, like is that data, are you seeing it happen outside of data centers and semiconductors as well, or is it primarily just those two? Split that up, and then maybe if you could expand also just on what's driving or what you think is driving kind of the acceleration here in activity. split that up and then maybe if you could expand also just on what's driving or what you think is driving kind of the acceleration here in activity The reason I ask is because I feel like we've kind of heard about project backlogs and quoting activity being robust the last couple of years, and conversion rates and delays, shipments have kind of disappointed a little bit. the reason i ask is because i feel like we've kind of heard about project backlogs and quoting activity being robust the last couple of years and conversion rates and delays shipments have kind of disappointed a little bit Trying to understand, I guess, what gives us confidence that, you know, something has changed that will result in kind of the letting of projects moving faster and within private. trying to understand i guess what gives us confidence that you know something has changed that will result in kind of the letting of projects moving faster and within private If you could expand a bit more, like is that data, are you seeing it happen outside of data centers and semiconductors as well, or is it primarily just those two? if you could expand a bit more like is that data are you seeing it happen outside of data centers and semiconductors as well or is it primarily just those two

Speaker 16: Yes. Look, we talked some in the first part of the year about projects, U.S. pricing projects and then kind of getting postponed or pushed a pause button. We're not seeing that anymore. In fact, we've seen a lot of those projects actually go at supporting growth in our backlogs. If we put it in our backlogs, we're pretty sure it's going to happen. It's very rare that once we put them in there that projects don't go. I have very good confidence that our backlogs will be shipped and that growth will support growth as we look at 2026. I think that if you look forward, I think the nonresidential continues to grow. Ronnie, why don't you talk a little bit about kind of volume drivers in 2026 and the momentum we carry into that? Yes. yes Look, we talked some in the first part of the year about projects, U.S. pricing projects and then kind of getting postponed or pushed a pause button. look we talked some in the first part of the year about projects u.s pricing projects and then kind of getting postponed or pushed a pause button We're not seeing that anymore. we're not seeing that anymore In fact, we've seen a lot of those projects actually go at supporting growth in our backlogs. in fact we've seen a lot of those projects actually go at supporting growth in our backlogs If we put it in our backlogs, we're pretty sure it's going to happen. if we put it in our backlogs we're pretty sure it's going to happen It's very rare that once we put them in there that projects don't go. it's very rare that once we put them in there that projects don't go I have very good confidence that our backlogs will be shipped and that growth will support growth as we look at 2026. i have very good confidence that our backlogs will be shipped and that growth will support growth as we look at 2026 I think that if you look forward, I think the nonresidential continues to grow. i think that if you look forward i think the nonresidential continues to grow Ronnie, why don't you talk a little bit about kind of volume drivers in 2026 and the momentum we carry into that? ronnie why don't you talk a little bit about kind of volume drivers in 2026 and the momentum we carry into that

Speaker 13: Yeah, I mean when I look at starts on the private non-res side, as Tom said in Vulcan-served markets in September, on a trailing six months we're up 7%, trailing three, we're up 8%. That momentum continues. As I look at the subsegments of our private non-res, office, data, stores and warehouses, institutional are all up and our quoting activity and our bidding are on the same trajectory. As we look at it, there is a lot of data center work out there. That subcategory itself is up 26%. We've also booked two LNG projects, we've booked a couple of manufacturing projects, we booked some retail and it is a combination. Data centers have definitely been a very good tailwind for us. There are other sectors within the private non-res that also give us confidence as we look in 2026. Yeah, I mean when I look at starts on the private non-res side, as Tom said in Vulcan-served markets in September, on a trailing six months we're up 7%, trailing three, we're up 8%. yeah i mean when i look at starts on the private non-res side as tom said in vulcan-served markets in september on a trailing six months we're up 7% trailing three we're up 8% That momentum continues. that momentum continues As I look at the subsegments of our private non-res, office, data, stores and warehouses, institutional are all up and our quoting activity and our bidding are on the same trajectory. as i look at the subsegments of our private non-res office data stores and warehouses institutional are all up and our quoting activity and our bidding are on the same trajectory As we look at it, there is a lot of data center work out there. as we look at it there is a lot of data center work out there That subcategory itself is up 26%. that subcategory itself is up 26% We've also booked two LNG projects, we've booked a couple of manufacturing projects, we booked some retail and it is a combination. we've also booked two lng projects we've booked a couple of manufacturing projects we booked some retail and it is a combination Data centers have definitely been a very good tailwind for us. data centers have definitely been a very good tailwind for us There are other sectors within the private non-res that also give us confidence as we look in 2026. there are other sectors within the private non-res that also give us confidence as we look in 2026

Speaker 16: Yeah, I would tell you that I think that is Ronnie, Mary Andrews, as we all look at 2026, pretty good confidence. We'll see volume growth. The public side, I can't tell you how strong the public side is. It's very, very good. We've seen the turn. We think in non-res, data centers is bigger than what we thought it was going to be. We think warehouses is now probably turning to growth in most of our markets. As we talk a lot about single family, it's still a headwind, but I think it continues to probably it will get better as we march through next year. I think our confidence level, that's pretty good. Yeah, I would tell you that I think that is Ronnie, Mary Andrews, as we all look at 2026, pretty good confidence. yeah i would tell you that i think that is ronnie mary andrews as we all look at 2026 pretty good confidence We'll see volume growth. we'll see volume growth The public side, I can't tell you how strong the public side is. the public side i can't tell you how strong the public side is It's very, very good. it's very very good We've seen the turn. we've seen the turn We think in non-res, data centers is bigger than what we thought it was going to be. we think in non-res data centers is bigger than what we thought it was going to be We think warehouses is now probably turning to growth in most of our markets. we think warehouses is now probably turning to growth in most of our markets As we talk a lot about single family, it's still a headwind, but I think it continues to probably it will get better as we march through next year. as we talk a lot about single family it's still a headwind but i think it continues to probably it will get better as we march through next year I think our confidence level, that's pretty good. i think our confidence level that's pretty good

Speaker 8: Very helpful, thank you. Very helpful, thank you. very helpful thank you

Speaker 5: We'll go next to David MacGregor at Longbow Research. We'll go next to David MacGregor at Longbow Research. we'll go next to david macgregor at longbow research

Speaker 12: Hey, good morning, this is Joe Nolan on for David. Congrats on a nice quarter. Hey, good morning, this is Joe Nolan on for David. hey good morning this is joe nolan on for david Congrats on a nice quarter. congrats on a nice quarter

Speaker 16: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 12: I was just wondering on public infrastructure, slide five shows a nice acceleration in contract awards. I was just hoping you could break it down in some of your key markets and give any detail on how fiscal year 2026 DOT budgets look there. I was just wondering on public infrastructure, slide five shows a nice acceleration in contract awards. i was just wondering on public infrastructure slide five shows a nice acceleration in contract awards I was just hoping you could break it down in some of your key markets and give any detail on how fiscal year 2026 DOT budgets look there. i was just hoping you could break it down in some of your key markets and give any detail on how fiscal year 2026 dot budgets look there

Speaker 16: Yeah, I would tell you in our markets it's very widespread. The public side, I can't underscore it. It's good and getting better. Remember we're in year four of IIJA and it took two years to really get that started, which frustrated everyone, including us. To be as expected. Now we're seeing the state DOTs mature into substantially increased federal and state funding. All of our best, our top 10 DOTs are all up for fiscal year 2026. Trucking 12-month highway starts, as we said, are up 17% in Vulcan states and 5% in other states. We are where the DOTs are growing. I think, simply put, the DOTs are putting that money to work now and they continue to get better at it. Remember, only 40% of the IIJA funds have been spent. There's a long tail to this past 2026. Yeah, I would tell you in our markets it's very widespread. yeah i would tell you in our markets it's very widespread The public side, I can't underscore it. the public side i can't underscore it It's good and getting better. it's good and getting better Remember we're in year four of IIJA and it took two years to really get that started, which frustrated everyone, including us. remember we're in year four of iija and it took two years to really get that started which frustrated everyone including us To be as expected. to be as expected Now we're seeing the state DOTs mature into substantially increased federal and state funding. now we're seeing the state dots mature into substantially increased federal and state funding All of our best, our top 10 DOTs are all up for fiscal year 2026. all of our best our top 10 dots are all up for fiscal year 2026 Trucking 12-month highway starts, as we said, are up 17% in Vulcan states and 5% in other states. trucking 12-month highway starts as we said are up 17% in vulcan states and 5% in other states We are where the DOTs are growing. we are where the dots are growing I think, simply put, the DOTs are putting that money to work now and they continue to get better at it. i think simply put the dots are putting that money to work now and they continue to get better at it Remember, only 40% of the IIJA funds have been spent. remember only 40% of the iija funds have been spent There's a long tail to this past 2026. there's a long tail to this past 2026

Speaker 13: Yeah, I think as Tom said, those funds will carry us well into 2026 and 2027 and beyond. I would tell you there's three rules around reauthorization. One, it never happens on time. Two, it will happen. Three, it's historically always been larger than the bill before. We're anticipating that. We think public will continue to remain strong. If you think about the infrastructure of the country, we still got a lot of work to do. We're happy with where we're at on the public side, and we think that's going to continue strong in the future. Yeah, I think as Tom said, those funds will carry us well into 2026 and 2027 and beyond. yeah i think as tom said those funds will carry us well into 2026 and 2027 and beyond I would tell you there's three rules around reauthorization. i would tell you there's three rules around reauthorization One, it never happens on time. one it never happens on time Two, it will happen. two it will happen Three, it's historically always been larger than the bill before. three it's historically always been larger than the bill before We're anticipating that. we're anticipating that We think public will continue to remain strong. we think public will continue to remain strong If you think about the infrastructure of the country, we still got a lot of work to do. if you think about the infrastructure of the country we still got a lot of work to do We're happy with where we're at on the public side, and we think that's going to continue strong in the future. we're happy with where we're at on the public side and we think that's going to continue strong in the future

Speaker 12: Okay, very encouraging. Thanks. I'll pass it on. Okay, very encouraging. okay very encouraging Thanks. thanks I'll pass it on. i'll pass it on

Speaker 5: We'll go next now to Michael Dudas at Vertical Research. We'll go next now to Michael Dudas at Vertical Research. we'll go next now to michael dudas at vertical research

Speaker 16: Michael, we can't hear you. Michael, we can't hear you. michael we can't hear you

Speaker 5: Michael, you might be on mute. We cannot hear you right now. We'll circle back around to Michael. We'll go next now to Adrian Huerta at JPMorgan. Michael, you might be on mute. michael you might be on mute We cannot hear you right now. we cannot hear you right now We'll circle back around to Michael. we'll circle back around to michael We'll go next now to Adrian Huerta at JPMorgan. we'll go next now to adrian huerta at jpmorgan

Speaker 14: Thank you. Hi Tom. Thank you. thank you Hi Tom. hi tom Congrats and best wishes. Congrats and best wishes. congrats and best wishes was a pleasure to work with you all these years. Welcome, Ronnie. I know you for a few years since U.S. Concrete, and I'm sure you're going to deliver very good results as well. was a pleasure to work with you all these years. was a pleasure to work with you all these years Welcome, Ronnie. welcome ronnie I know you for a few years since U.S. i know you for a few years since u.s Concrete, and I'm sure you're going to deliver very good results as well. concrete and i'm sure you're going to deliver very good results as well

Speaker 13: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 14: Quick question. Quick question. quick question On the cost, it's been quite impressive what you guys have been doing on the cost per. On the cost, it's been quite impressive what you guys have been doing on the cost per. on the cost it's been quite impressive what you guys have been doing on the cost per Ton side over the last couple of quarters. Ton side over the last couple of quarters. ton side over the last couple of quarters I think you mentioned that you're still. I think you mentioned that you're still. i think you mentioned that you're still In the early innings on many. In the early innings on many. in the early innings on many Of these measures that you're taking, can you give us a sense on the action being taken and for how many more quarters we can see very good performance on cost as we have seen in the last few quarters? Of these measures that you're taking, can you give us a sense on the action being taken and for how many more quarters we can see very good performance on cost as we have seen in the last few quarters? of these measures that you're taking can you give us a sense on the action being taken and for how many more quarters we can see very good performance on cost as we have seen in the last few quarters

Speaker 13: Yeah, thank you for the question. I would tell you we're still in the early innings and we've talked about, you know, Vulcan Way of Operating. The technology investment is complete within our top 127 plants, which represents over 70% of our production as a company. Where we're at today is really in the final stages of the human behavioral side. We have a lot of training going on with our plant operators using the tools, the process intelligence, the scheduling systems with our labor focus. My anticipation is we've got a long ways to go, but it's really exciting to watch. Yeah, thank you for the question. yeah thank you for the question I would tell you we're still in the early innings and we've talked about, you know, Vulcan Way of Operating. i would tell you we're still in the early innings and we've talked about you know vulcan way of operating The technology investment is complete within our top 127 plants, which represents over 70% of our production as a company. the technology investment is complete within our top 127 plants which represents over 70% of our production as a company Where we're at today is really in the final stages of the human behavioral side. where we're at today is really in the final stages of the human behavioral side We have a lot of training going on with our plant operators using the tools, the process intelligence, the scheduling systems with our labor focus. we have a lot of training going on with our plant operators using the tools the process intelligence the scheduling systems with our labor focus My anticipation is we've got a long ways to go, but it's really exciting to watch. my anticipation is we've got a long ways to go but it's really exciting to watch I would tell you that as I look at what's transpired this year and then what we're forecasting for next year, these tools, these investments we've made and the processes that we go through around our operations and focusing on our critical size, production and the yield on that and the labor side, labor savings, I think we've got a lot of room and I'm excited about it. I think more importantly, our operators are the ones that are driving this and a lot more to come. I would tell you my anticipation is 2026 is going to be even more momentum than it was in 2025. I would tell you that as I look at what's transpired this year and then what we're forecasting for next year, these tools, these investments we've made and the processes that we go through around our operations and focusing on our critical size, production and the yield on that and the labor side, labor savings, I think we've got a lot of room and I'm excited about it. i would tell you that as i look at what's transpired this year and then what we're forecasting for next year these tools these investments we've made and the processes that we go through around our operations and focusing on our critical size production and the yield on that and the labor side labor savings i think we've got a lot of room and i'm excited about it I think more importantly, our operators are the ones that are driving this and a lot more to come. i think more importantly our operators are the ones that are driving this and a lot more to come I would tell you my anticipation is 2026 is going to be even more momentum than it was in 2025. i would tell you my anticipation is 2026 is going to be even more momentum than it was in 2025

Speaker 16: I would say that it's not just a quarter thing. This is years of marching forward with operating efficiency improvements. I think that Ronnie and his team, as I said earlier, should be very proud of their performance this year. They got help from weather and volume in Q3, but they did not in Q1 and Q2. In fact, it's surprising how good the cost was given the conditions. I think they have years of improvement ahead of them. I would say that it's not just a quarter thing. i would say that it's not just a quarter thing This is years of marching forward with operating efficiency improvements. this is years of marching forward with operating efficiency improvements I think that Ronnie and his team, as I said earlier, should be very proud of their performance this year. i think that ronnie and his team as i said earlier should be very proud of their performance this year They got help from weather and volume in Q3, but they did not in Q1 and Q2. they got help from weather and volume in q3 but they did not in q1 and q2 In fact, it's surprising how good the cost was given the conditions. in fact it's surprising how good the cost was given the conditions I think they have years of improvement ahead of them. i think they have years of improvement ahead of them

Speaker 14: Great. Great. great Congrats. Thanks, Tom and Ronnie. Congrats. congrats Thanks, Tom and Ronnie. thanks tom and ronnie

Speaker 16: Sure. Sure. sure

Speaker 5: Thank you. We'll go next now to Ivan Yi at Wolfe Research. Thank you. thank you We'll go next now to Ivan Yi at Wolfe Research. we'll go next now to ivan yi at wolfe research

Speaker 2: Yes, good morning. First, congrats to Tom and Ronnie. Just want to go back to the aggregate pricing again. Price per ton in Q3 was the smallest in a few years. I get that there's some negative mix in there, but why has the year-over-year growth decelerated in recent quarters? It had been double digits and now you're guiding to 5% in 2026. Just some color there. Yes, good morning. yes good morning First, congrats to Tom and Ronnie. first congrats to tom and ronnie Just want to go back to the aggregate pricing again. just want to go back to the aggregate pricing again Price per ton in Q3 was the smallest in a few years. price per ton in q3 was the smallest in a few years I get that there's some negative mix in there, but why has the year-over-year growth decelerated in recent quarters? i get that there's some negative mix in there but why has the year-over-year growth decelerated in recent quarters It had been double digits and now you're guiding to 5% in 2026. it had been double digits and now you're guiding to 5% in 2026 Just some color there. just some color there

Speaker 16: Thank you. I think that a couple of things there. Obviously, we had headwinds from acquisitions we had in the first part of the year. We had headwinds from lower volumes in the Southeast driven by weather. That got back more normal in Q3. You're sitting here on 3 years of negative volume, and that does put some pressures on price. I think that's probably at a low point. I believe that the continued acceleration in public and now visibility to the private non-res going up really helps our conversations for pricing and our backlog pricing as we look into 2026. Ronnie called that out that we've put out January 1 price increases. We're having those conversations, and they are going well. Importantly, before that, over the last few months, we're seeing acceleration in our backlog pricing, which is a very good foreshadowing for what's going to happen in 2026. Thank you. thank you I think that a couple of things there. i think that a couple of things there Obviously, we had headwinds from acquisitions we had in the first part of the year. obviously we had headwinds from acquisitions we had in the first part of the year We had headwinds from lower volumes in the Southeast driven by weather. we had headwinds from lower volumes in the southeast driven by weather That got back more normal in Q3. that got back more normal in q3 You're sitting here on 3 years of negative volume, and that does put some pressures on price. you're sitting here on 3 years of negative volume and that does put some pressures on price I think that's probably at a low point. i think that's probably at a low point I believe that the continued acceleration in public and now visibility to the private non-res going up really helps our conversations for pricing and our backlog pricing as we look into 2026. i believe that the continued acceleration in public and now visibility to the private non-res going up really helps our conversations for pricing and our backlog pricing as we look into 2026 Ronnie called that out that we've put out January 1 price increases. ronnie called that out that we've put out january 1 price increases We're having those conversations, and they are going well. we're having those conversations and they are going well Importantly, before that, over the last few months, we're seeing acceleration in our backlog pricing, which is a very good foreshadowing for what's going to happen in 2026. importantly before that over the last few months we're seeing acceleration in our backlog pricing which is a very good foreshadowing for what's going to happen in 2026

Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 16: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 5: We'll go next now to Michael Dudas at Vertical Research. We'll go next now to Michael Dudas at Vertical Research. we'll go next now to michael dudas at vertical research

Speaker 18: Yeah, I hope the mute's off here. Yeah, I hope the mute's off here. yeah i hope the mute's off here Good. Good. good Good morning. Mary Andrews and Ronnie and Tom. Good morning. good morning Mary Andrews and Ronnie and Tom. mary andrews and ronnie and tom

Speaker 16: Good. Good. good To hear from you. To hear from you. to hear from you

Speaker 18: Yeah, congrats to Tom and Ronnie. Also, congrats to Mary Andrews for the great cash generation and the great cash. Yeah, congrats to Tom and Ronnie. yeah congrats to tom and ronnie Also, congrats to Mary Andrews for the great cash generation and the great cash. also congrats to mary andrews for the great cash generation and the great cash Flow numbers you've been putting up here. Flow numbers you've been putting up here. flow numbers you've been putting up here Congratulations to all. Congratulations to all. congratulations to all Maybe just as we get close to. Maybe just as we get close to. maybe just as we get close to Wrap up here for Ronnie. As you look into your. Wrap up here for Ronnie. wrap up here for ronnie As you look into your. as you look into your Tenure here for the next several years, maybe even decade or so. Tenure here for the next several years, maybe even decade or so. tenure here for the next several years maybe even decade or so As you look out maybe past 2026, how much different or not will Vulcan look like, and is the sense the seeds of the industry fundamentals and where we are, given what you're seeing from competitors and from clients. As you look out maybe past 2026, how much different or not will Vulcan look like, and is the sense the seeds of the industry fundamentals and where we are, given what you're seeing from competitors and from clients. as you look out maybe past 2026 how much different or not will vulcan look like and is the sense the seeds of the industry fundamentals and where we are given what you're seeing from competitors and from clients That this type of growth and sustainability. That this type of growth and sustainability. that this type of growth and sustainability Volume pricing and certainly profit per. Volume pricing and certainly profit per. volume pricing and certainly profit per Ton growth is sustainable over the next several years. Ton growth is sustainable over the next several years. ton growth is sustainable over the next several years

Speaker 13: Yeah, great question. I mean, I think if you look out past 2026, 2027, 2028 in the future, Vulcan is going to look very similar. I would tell you we're going to continue to be led by our strategy around enhancing our core, which is really investing in continuing to invest in the Vulcan Way of Operating and Vulcan Way of Selling, which is going to really complement our margin growth, and it gives us confidence in that margin growth with those tools that we've invested in on the strategic side. When we talk about expanding our reach, we're going to stay aggregate focused, both within the markets that we serve and building the franchise that we have. Also, as we look, geographical expansion is still going to be an aggregate-led company. Yeah, great question. yeah great question I mean, I think if you look out past 2026, 2027, 2028 in the future, Vulcan is going to look very similar. i mean i think if you look out past 2026 2027 2028 in the future, vulcan is going to look very similar I would tell you we're going to continue to be led by our strategy around enhancing our core, which is really investing in continuing to invest in the Vulcan Way of Operating and Vulcan Way of Selling, which is going to really complement our margin growth, and it gives us confidence in that margin growth with those tools that we've invested in on the strategic side. i would tell you we're going to continue to be led by our strategy around enhancing our core which is really investing in continuing to invest in the vulcan way of operating and vulcan way of selling which is going to really complement our margin growth and it gives us confidence in that margin growth with those tools that we've invested in on the strategic side When we talk about expanding our reach, we're going to stay aggregate focused, both within the markets that we serve and building the franchise that we have. when we talk about expanding our reach we're going to stay aggregate focused both within the markets that we serve and building the franchise that we have Also, as we look, geographical expansion is still going to be an aggregate-led company. also as we look geographical expansion is still going to be an aggregate-led company I wouldn't tell you that as you look in the future, you're going to see anything different than what Vulcan has continued to execute on. Those growth opportunities will be there, and we'll be right in the middle of it. We're going to be very disciplined on what we look like and how we, what those businesses are going to be led by is always going to be aggregates. I wouldn't tell you that as you look in the future, you're going to see anything different than what Vulcan has continued to execute on. i wouldn't tell you that as you look in the future you're going to see anything different than what vulcan has continued to execute on Those growth opportunities will be there, and we'll be right in the middle of it. those growth opportunities will be there and we'll be right in the middle of it We're going to be very disciplined on what we look like and how we, what those businesses are going to be led by is always going to be aggregates. we're going to be very disciplined on what we look like and how we what those businesses are going to be led by is always going to be aggregates

Speaker 18: Thank you, Ronnie. Thank you, Ronnie. thank you ronnie

Speaker 5: Thank you. Gentlemen, it appears we have no further questions this morning. Mr. Hill, I'll turn things back to you, sir, for any closing comments. Thank you. thank you Gentlemen, it appears we have no further questions this morning. gentlemen it appears we have no further questions this morning Mr. Hill, I'll turn things back to you, sir, for any closing comments. mr hill i'll turn things back to you sir for any closing comments

Speaker 16: Thank you. Thank you all for your time this morning. As I step back and look at Vulcan's future, I feel both pride and excitement. Vulcan has fantastic talent and bench strength throughout the organization and particularly in leadership. Ronnie and Mary Andrews and their teams are seasoned, talented industry experts who are armed with a superior set of tools and disciplines embedded in the Vulcan Way of Selling and the Vulcan Way of Operating. Putting that together with our continuous improvement culture will take Vulcan to remarkable heights. I'm very proud to have represented the men and women of Vulcan, and I look forward to supporting Ronnie and Mary Andrews in the future. Thank you all for your interest in Vulcan and your friendships. Keep you and your family safe and healthy. Thank you. thank you Thank you all for your time this morning. thank you all for your time this morning As I step back and look at Vulcan's future, I feel both pride and excitement. as i step back and look at vulcan's future i feel both pride and excitement Vulcan has fantastic talent and bench strength throughout the organization and particularly in leadership. vulcan has fantastic talent and bench strength throughout the organization and particularly in leadership Ronnie and Mary Andrews and their teams are seasoned, talented industry experts who are armed with a superior set of tools and disciplines embedded in the Vulcan Way of Selling and the Vulcan Way of Operating. ronnie and mary andrews and their teams are seasoned talented industry experts who are armed with a superior set of tools and disciplines embedded in the vulcan way of selling and the vulcan way of operating Putting that together with our continuous improvement culture will take Vulcan to remarkable heights. putting that together with our continuous improvement culture will take vulcan to remarkable heights I'm very proud to have represented the men and women of Vulcan, and I look forward to supporting Ronnie and Mary Andrews in the future. i'm very proud to have represented the men and women of vulcan and i look forward to supporting ronnie and mary andrews in the future Thank you all for your interest in Vulcan and your friendships. thank you all for your interest in vulcan and your friendships Keep you and your family safe and healthy. keep you and your family safe and healthy Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 5: Thank you very much, Mr. Hill. Again, ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today's Vulcan Materials Company earnings conference call. Again, thanks so much for joining us, everyone, and we wish you all a great day. Goodbye. Thank you very much, Mr. Hill. thank you very much mr hill Again, ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today's Vulcan Materials Company earnings conference call. again ladies and gentlemen that will conclude today's vulcan materials company earnings conference call Again, thanks so much for joining us, everyone, and we wish you all a great day. again thanks so much for joining us everyone and we wish you all a great day Goodbye. goodbye