Covered, compounding, and yielding under 1% — a growth holding. Vulcan paid $228 million of dividends from $664 million of free cash flow in fiscal 2025, 34.4%, a pass, and net debt of $5,148 million is 2.5x EBITDA of $2,044 million, a pass. The dividend has grown for 12 straight years, and the board declared $0.52 a quarter on October 9, 2026. Every check passes except the yield: 0.78% on the current rate is under 1%, so the card is graded warn as a growth holding under §1, not income.
Key risk: Aggregates volumes follow construction and government spending — a demand lull leaves the dividend covered but the growth record exposed.
Changes if: The yield on the current rate rises above 1%, or the dividend is cut.
- ✓Cash-flow cover 34.4% of FY2025 free cash flow, pass (<60%).
- ✓Leverage 2.5x on GAAP EBITDA, pass (<3x).
- ✓Growth record 12 straight years of increases; no cut in 10 years.
- !Trap screen Yield under 1% on the current rate, no cut, payout under 100%; not a trap pattern — but warn as a growth holding.
What this grade doesn't say: It screens the dividend only — covered, real, compounding. It says nothing about valuation or price: a well-covered payer can still be overpriced, and its price can still fall.