Raymond James on Friday upgraded Vulcan Materials Co. VMC, -0.24% and Martin Marietta Inc. [s:mlm] to outperform from market perform as part of a reallocation of its research resources under analyst Patrick Tyler Brown. Brown set a price target of $197 a share for Vulcan Materials and a $410 price target for Martin Marietta. Brown is also assuming coverage of Construction Partners Inc. ROAD, +0.67% with a strong buy rating while raising its price target to $35 from $25. He assigned an outperform rating on Eagle Materials Inc. EXP, +0.40% and set a price target of $145 a share for the stock. Brown said the November passage of the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) by Congress “could provide a once-in-a-generation type infusion for infrastructure projects in coming years.” Despite a slowdown in home construction, most aspects of the heavy construction materials supply chain are levered to non-residential and public projects, he said. “Given the lagged nature of non-resi construction and improved federal (IIJA) and state funded public project work, we believe growth could build in coming years,” he said. Eagle Materials shares are down 19.2% in 2022. Construction Partners shares are ahead by 1.7% in 2022. Martin Marietta stock is down 16.6% and Vulcan Materials is off by 14.4%. By comparison, the S&P 500 SPX, +0.23% has lost 10.1% in 2022.
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