Construction materials update

摘要

The first quarter of 2015 brought four areas of interest to the construction materials sector: year-end earnings reports; the first initial public offering in the sector in more than a decade; continued anticipation of the industry's merger of its two largest players; and the continued ineptitude of Congress to act on federal funding for highways. The Construction Materials Index (CMI) in Figure 1 for a 10-year period, Figure 2 for the 12 months ended March 31, 2015, and Figure 3 for 2015 year-to-date shows the performance of CMI versus the market as a whole for the relative period. The CMI underperformed the market as a whole over the 10-year and 12-month periods, but significantly outperformed the overall market in the first quarter of 2015. The sector is coming off modest improvements in 2014 and a sense of improved optimism for 2015.