Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. CRH scored 53.9, KNF scored 49.2 — CRH leads.
Compare another set
CRH
CRH plc
Building Materials · Quality-Growth
53.9
$81.54 · $54.2B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
4.7
CRH leads
KNF
Knife River Corporation
Building Materials · Quality-Growth
49.2
$49.84 · $2.8B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
CheapestCRH14.5x
Fastest growthKNF+12.1%
Strongest balance sheetCRH0.78
Highest qualityCRH65 / 100
Side by side · every name on one set of axes
Growth against the P/E multiple. Up and to the right is cheaper and faster — the quality-growth idea in one picture. Points beyond the axis are pinned to the edge and marked off-scale rather than allowed to compress everything else.
The model, pillar by pillar (0–100 each)
CRH
stronger →← stronger
KNF
65
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
45
50
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
50
48
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
53
CRH and KNF split the three pillars evenly.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
CRH
KNF
$2.8bB
FCF
$43mC-
+5.3%C+
Rev
+12.1%B+
0.78C
D/E
1.04C
14.5xB+
P/E
20.3xB
1.59C+
PEG
1.62C+
Winner per row is the stronger grade; where grades tie, the better figure breaks it. A true tie or a missing value shows no highlight.
Valuation · DCF cross-check
CRH
KNF
43% above
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
170% above
~14%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~31%/yr
-33%
1-yr DCF upside
-65%
-30%
5-yr DCF upside
-63%
-27%
10-yr DCF upside
-59%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
CRH
Why this score
Raising its dividend
Cyclical growth
KNF
Why this score
Cyclical growth
The companies
CRHCRH plc
Building Materials · $81.54 · beta 1.19
Why now
Building Materials · market cap $54.2b. Down 38% from 52-week high of $131.55 — deep drawdown territory. 24 sell-side analysts rate this a Strong Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $127.96 (implying +57% upside).
Moat
ROE 16% is above 15% — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately. $54.2b market cap gives the company enough scale to absorb fixed costs that subscale competitors can't, without yet being so large that growth has to come from acquisition. Mining moat is reserve quality + extraction cost per unit — top-quartile cost producers generate cash through the commodity cycle while marginal producers burn it.
Risk
Down 38% from the 52-week high — the market is pricing in something the screen can't see; verify the bear case before sizing up. Commodity exposure — earnings power tracks the price of the underlying commodity, not management execution. A 15-20% move in the commodity reprices the equity well before fundamentals catch up.
KNFKnife River Corporation
Building Materials · $49.84 · beta 0.60
Why now
Building Materials · market cap $2.8b. Down 48% from 52-week high of $96.28 — deep drawdown territory. Revenue growing +12%, comfortably above the S&P median. 8 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $78.75 (implying +58% upside).
Moat
Mining moat is reserve quality + extraction cost per unit — top-quartile cost producers generate cash through the commodity cycle while marginal producers burn it.
Risk
Down 48% from the 52-week high — the market is pricing in something the screen can't see; verify the bear case before sizing up. Net margin 4.2% is thin — operating leverage cuts both ways; input-cost inflation or pricing pressure hits the bottom line first. Hedge-book exposure — many commodity producers hedge forward production; if the hedge book is concentrated at prices well below spot, the upside the market expects is already locked away.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
Generating verdict… typically 5–10 seconds
Not investment advice. The Bull Rankings publishes a quantitative ranking model and accompanying analysis for general informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security; nothing is personalized to your circumstances, risk tolerance, or tax situation. Investing carries the risk of loss — invest at your own risk and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you read here. See terms and methodology for full disclosures.
Where CRH and KNF diverge
On the headline score the gap is 4.7 points in favor of CRH. They get there differently, though — each leads on a different pillar, so the better pick depends on which you weight.
QualityCRH 64.7 · KNF 44.9CRH +19.8
ValueCRH 48.4 · KNF 52.9KNF +4.5
GrowthCRH 50.0 · KNF 50.0level
Pillars run 0–100. Value is judged against each company's own sector, so a Value score is a statement about a company relative to its own industry rather than to the other name here. A wide Value gap usually means the market already prices the difference in quality or growth — which is the trade-off this comparison comes down to.
Common questions
Is CRH or KNF the better stock?
CRH scores higher: CRH 53.9, KNF 49.2 out of 100 on the Bull Rankings quality-growth score, which blends business quality, growth and valuation into one number. A higher score means a stronger business at a more reasonable price — it is not a price target or a recommendation.
Where do CRH and KNF differ most?
The widest gap is quality, where CRH leads by 20 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. Neither name sweeps: they trade the lead across the three pillars, so the comparison is a trade-off rather than one being better on every measure.
How are CRH and KNF scored?
Each carries the same 0–100 quality-growth score used everywhere on the site, built from three pillars — quality (profitability and returns on capital), growth (revenue and earnings), and value (what you pay for them) — combined as a geometric mean, so a weak pillar cannot be papered over by a strong one.
How current is this comparison?
The whole universe is re-scored every trading day after the US market close, so the scores and fundamentals here reflect the latest published edition.