Vulcan Materials Company
Vulcan Materials Company, a member of the S&P 500 Index with headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama, is the nation's largest supplier of construction aggregates – primarily crushed stone, sand and gravel – and a major producer of aggregates-based construction materials, including asphalt and ready-mixed concrete.
Price sits at 58% of its 52-week range.
Current Price
$297.32
-1.46%GoodMoat Value
$186.33
37.3% overvaluedVulcan Materials Company (VMC) — Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
AI Call Summary AI-generated
The 30-second take
Vulcan Materials had a very strong third quarter, with profits and shipments up significantly. This was helped by good weather and growing demand for public infrastructure and data center projects. The company is optimistic about next year, expecting continued growth despite ongoing weakness in the single-family housing market.
Key numbers mentioned
- Adjusted EBITDA $735 million in the quarter
- Aggregate cash gross profit per ton $11.51 on a trailing 12-month basis
- Free cash flow over $1 billion on a trailing 12-month basis
- Full year adjusted EBITDA guidance $2.35 billion to $2.45 billion
- Data center square footage under construction approximately 60 million
- IIJA funds yet to be spent approximately 60%
What management is worried about
- Single-family housing demand remains weak with little relief in affordability, causing starts and permits to decelerate.
- The mix of shipments, including recent acquisitions and a higher percentage of lower-priced "base" work, created a 150 basis point headwind to pricing.
- Lingering softness in residential construction is expected to continue into next year.
- Uncertainties surrounding tariffs and interest rate fluctuations have slowed the M&A market.
What management is excited about
- Public construction activity is strong, with contract awards in Vulcan's markets up 17% year-over-year and a long runway of federal infrastructure funds still to be spent.
- Private nonresidential construction is improving, with data center activity robust and nearly 80% of projects in planning located near Vulcan operations.
- The company expects organic shipment growth and mid-single-digit pricing improvement in 2026.
- The Vulcan Way of Operating is driving cost efficiencies, with more gains expected as new tools and training are fully adopted.
- The recent divestiture of asphalt and construction services assets allows the company to redeploy capital into attractive, aggregate-focused growth opportunities.
Analyst questions that hit hardest
- Patrick Brown, Raymond James: Q4 volume trends and 2026 "modest improvement" outlook. Management responded by attributing strong Q3 volumes to pent-up demand and easy comparisons, then pivoted to discuss broader 2026 end-market trends without quantifying "modest."
- Garik Shmois, Loop Capital: Sequential deceleration in pricing confidence for 2026. Management gave a long answer attributing the deceleration to acquisition mix and muted demand, while expressing confidence that improving public and private nonresidential demand would support 2026 pricing.
- Ivan Yi, Mizuho: Reason for recent deceleration in price-per-ton growth. Management's response was defensive, citing acquisition headwinds and volume pressure, while insisting they may be at a low point and that improving demand will help.
The quote that matters
We are ready to finish the year strong and to continue our long track record of durable growth as we move into 2026.
Tom Hill — Chairman and CEO
Sentiment vs. last quarter
The tone was more confident and forward-looking, with less emphasis on weather disruptions and more concrete optimism about 2026 demand, particularly in public infrastructure and private nonresidential sectors like data centers.
Original transcript
Operator
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 on the company's website after today's call. 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 Carlisle, 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 1 question. This will allow us to accommodate as many as possible during our time we have available. And 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 nonresidential 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 the 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 nonresidential construction activity is improving. Overall starts in our markets are positive on a trailing 6-month basis. Data center activity remains robust with approximately 60 million square feet under construction and another 140 million square feet proposed and in the planning stages. Nearly 80% of data center projects in the planning stage are within 30 miles of the 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 to $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.
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 to 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 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 nonres 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. And now Mary Andrews, Ronnie and I will be happy to take your questions.
Operator
We'll go first this morning to Trey Grooms with Stephens.
First, I want to say congratulations, Ronnie, on your new role, well deserved. And also to Tom, it's been a pleasure working with you over the last several years, and we wish you the best on your next chapter. And I guess with that, 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 as our foundation and 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 and 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.
First off, congrats, Ronnie. Congrats, Tom. But this quarter's volumes were obviously great, benefited, obviously, from some pretty calm weather. We have the Wake Stone comp. But you guys are guiding kind of towards the low end for the full year. Can you just talk about the trends into Q4? What's kind of driving towards the low end there? And then I appreciate the look on '26. But when you say modest improvement, can you put a finer point there and maybe talk about some of the puts and takes in the 3, call it, the 3 big end markets?
Yes. I think you got to look back a little bit at the third quarter before we go to Q4. Weather definitely cooperated in the third quarter. Volumes were up obviously double digit. But 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 nonresidential 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 '26?
Yes, Tom, thanks. As Tom said, I think single-family will continue to be challenging until we get some of the affordability issues behind us. Public is 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.
Congrats 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 '26, it ticked down sequentially. Is there anything specific driving that? And how should we think about pricing in a little bit more detail into 2026?
As anticipated, there was a 5% change, or 150 basis points, which we mentioned last quarter. Acquisitions have negatively impacted prices, but pricing in those markets is steadily improving, aligning with our expectations. This quarter, we experienced a 20% increase in our base due to strong highway work in data centers. Although the base has a lower price, it also comes with lower costs, allowing us to maintain our unit margin momentum. I'm happy with our ability to translate that price into profit while also seeing a decrease in costs this quarter. Looking ahead, I believe that increasing highway demand and enhancements in non-residential projects will drive higher prices and unit margins in 2026. Ronnie, would you like to share more about 2026?
Yes, Tom is correct. I mean improving demand in public and private nonres will definitely support 2026 pricing. We sent out our letters in September for effective January 1. So 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. On the bid work, our trailing 3-month backlog prices are showing acceleration. And most of that work will ship in next year. And so still work to be done, but this, coupled with our operating performance should still provide us with continued superior unit margin growth over historical norms.
This is Andrew on for Brian. I had a question about the unit cost down 2% in the quarter. How much of that was Vulcan Way of Operating versus lower inflation versus volume benefits? And then 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?
Yes. To put it simply, we haven’t seen any relief from inflation. Prices haven’t decreased; they’re just not rising as quickly. I would attribute our performance to the Vulcan Way of Operating, considering the entire year. I'm very satisfied with our operating costs for the quarter and the year, as we are experiencing enhanced operational efficiencies, although we are still in the early stages of implementing the Vulcan Way of Operating. It's important to note that in the first half of the year, we faced weather challenges and volume issues that impacted costs, yet Ronnie and his team managed to keep costs down. In the third quarter, we likely benefited from efficiencies, increased volume, and more base sales. I believe Ronnie and his operations team should feel good about this performance.
Yes. Thanks, Tom, and I know our operators will appreciate those comments. First and foremost, our safety performance is really good and is continuing to improve. Our investment in technology, they're working, and that's the Vulcan Way of Operating. There's still improvement ahead, and so we'll continue to focus on those disciplines as we get into '26. But I've got confidence in our people and our processes and our disciplines and our technology. And I think it will be exciting to watch the Vulcan Way of Operating as we continue to go selling and as far as growing our margins, and I think our margin growth will continue to be even more dependable in the future.
This is Asher Sohnen speaking on behalf of Anthony. Congratulations to everyone. You mentioned stronger backlogs, but could you discuss some of your key geographies and what you're observing in those regions?
Yes. 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. But we've really seen a turn in the nonres side of the business. Data centers have helped that and really strong growth in public demand. And I think that growth continues to accelerate for the next 2 or 3 years. So 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.
First off, Tom, it's been a pleasure working with you over the years. I look forward to staying in touch with you and Ronnie. We go back a couple of companies, and congratulations on starting your CEO role in January. Looking ahead, you did an excellent job of shaping your portfolio, as highlighted in the quarter you just reported. How are you thinking about what fits in your portfolio and what may not or who might be a better owner? Can you approach it from the perspective of product type, as we saw this quarter, or geographic focus? It would be helpful to hear your broader thoughts on shaping your portfolio going forward.
Yes, 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. And so we're going to continue to focus on, one, safety as well as our financial performance. And we talk about the concrete and the divestiture that we announced this week. I mean, that's our strategy. And 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. And so 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, but we've also retained all those aggregates. So it complements our strategy of being aggregate-led, and we're going to keep the expertise of both the asphalt and the concrete business. So if those businesses, as we look in the future and M&A presents those to us, we're not scared of that. But it's going to continue to be aggregate-led. I think that's our strategy, and you'll see us continue to be focused heavily on those aggregate-led businesses.
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?
Yes, this is Ronnie. I want to emphasize that we are still in the process. Greenfields represent a growth strategy for us that requires time. The timing will depend on market conditions as well as permit approvals. Regarding M&A opportunities, this year has been relatively quiet. We still have a strong list of potential targets, but the timing for pursuing those is influenced primarily by the seller's readiness and prevailing market conditions. Therefore, the lack of M&A activity this year is not unexpected for us. We anticipated that uncertainties surrounding tariffs and fluctuations in interest rates would slow down M&A activities. However, I assure you that we remain very active in the space, maintaining a solid list of targets, and our focus on M&A will continue to be driven by aggregate factors.
Congratulations, Tom, on a tremendous run here. I have a question for Ronnie. You mentioned, from a high level, that in '26 we might see a continuation of the excellent cash gross profit per ton. Based on what you know about the market today, do you expect to see numbers similar to the last couple of years? What factors could potentially drive those numbers higher?
What was the last part of that, Keith?
And what we get higher? What kind of things would you need to see something that would set even better than what we've seen in the last couple of years?
Look, we're coming off 3 years of muted demand in our markets. And so 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. And this year, we've had some momentum on the cost side of our business. And so as we said earlier, demand is going to help. Some recovery in demand is going to help our pricing story. And when we look forward to that. But the Vulcan Way of Operating and the Vulcan Way of Selling both support that from a cost side as well as the commercial side. And so I would tell you, as I said earlier in my comments, I think our cash gross profit will continue, and I think both sides of it, the cost and the commercial efforts will play a role into that. But some demand will definitely help the pricing side of our story.
Congrats to the team as well. I guess bit of a 2-part question, I guess, just in terms of thinking about that mid-single-digit price growth in 2026. Part of the question is just that, is that consistent with the annual price increases you're planning for next year? And then the other thing I was wondering is just around that, how much sort of volume do you bring into 2026 from acquisitions that sort of lack of a better word, underpriced and you're pushing towards that Vulcan Way of sort of Selling?
Yes. 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. So 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. And so 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. And so it's a combination of that bid work and what opportunity we're seeing, especially around the private nonres side, as well as we still need some help on single-family. And so 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. And 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. And so 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. And so 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.
Congratulations, Tom and Ronnie. First, can you clarify if your pricing expectation for the full year of 2025 has changed? I might have missed that. Regarding the 1% reduction in volumes, is that primarily related to single-family? Looking at your outlook for 2026, if single-family is impacting 2025, do you expect that to continue to affect the beginning of 2026, with a more pronounced improvement in the second half? I know it's early, but I'm interested in your thoughts on these dynamics.
Yes. So 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. So happy to have that work with the data centers and the big highway work. If you look at nonres 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 '26.
Congratulations and best wishes, Ronnie and Tom. I'm looking forward to collaborating with you, Ronnie. Regarding your quoting activity and project pipeline, could you provide more details on the acceleration you've mentioned? Specifically, can you elaborate on the difference in October's figures compared to the third quarter? I know you've provided information for the last three months, but could we break it down further? I would also appreciate it if you could discuss what you believe is driving this acceleration in activity. My interest lies in understanding why we should be confident that things have changed to allow projects to progress more quickly. Additionally, are you observing this acceleration in areas outside of data centers and semiconductors, or is it mainly limited to those sectors?
Yes. Earlier this year, we mentioned delays with some projects and how they were postponed. However, we are no longer seeing that trend. In fact, many of those projects are now contributing positively to our backlogs. When we include a project in our backlogs, we are quite confident it will proceed. It's uncommon for projects to be dropped once they are in our backlogs. I am very optimistic that our backlogs will be fulfilled and that this growth will continue into 2026. Looking ahead, it appears that nonresidential projects will keep growing. Ronnie, could you provide some insights on the volume drivers for 2026 and the momentum we are carrying into that year?
Yes. When I examine the private nonresidential starts, as Thomas mentioned, in the Vulcan-served markets, we saw a 7% increase in September over the past six months. Looking at the last three months, we were up 8%. This momentum is ongoing. In the various segments of our private nonresidential work, such as office buildings, data centers, stores, warehouses, and institutional projects, we are seeing growth across the board. Our quoting and bidding activities are on a similar upward trend. There is a significant amount of data center work available, with that specific area showing a 26% increase. Additionally, we have secured two LNG projects, several manufacturing projects, and some retail work. Therefore, while data centers are a strong driver for us, there are also other sectors within private nonresidential that bolster our confidence as we look ahead to 2026.
I believe we can be quite confident about seeing volume growth on the public side in 2026. While I can't specify how strong the public side will be, it appears to be very good. We have noted a positive shift from what we initially expected. Currently, warehouses seem to be turning towards growth in most of our markets. Although single-family remains a challenge, we expect it to improve as we progress through next year. Overall, our confidence is fairly strong.
This is Joe Nolan on for David. Congrats on a nice quarter. I was just wondering on public infrastructure, Slide 5 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 '26 DOT budgets look there.
Yes, in our markets, the situation is very positive and improving. We're currently in year 4 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which took 2 years to fully take off, causing some frustration. However, it's now progressing as anticipated, resulting in state departments of transportation significantly increasing their federal and state funding. All of our top 10 departments of transportation are set for fiscal year '26. Over the past year, highway starts in states with Vulcan have risen by 17%, while other states have seen a 5% increase. Essentially, the departments of transportation are now effectively utilizing those funds, and their performance is continuously improving. It's important to note that only 40% of the IIJA funds have been allocated so far, indicating that there is still a lengthy process ahead through fiscal year '26.
Yes. As Tom mentioned, those funds will sustain us well into 2026 and 2027 and beyond. There are three key points regarding reauthorization: first, it never occurs on schedule; second, it will take place; and third, it has historically been larger than the previous bill. We expect that trend to continue. We believe public funding will remain robust. Considering the country's infrastructure needs, there is still much work to be done. We are pleased with our current position in the public sector, and we forecast continued strength in the future.
Michael, we cannot hear you right now.
Thank you, Tom, congratulations and best wishes. It has been a pleasure working with you over the years. Welcome, Ronnie. I've known you for a few years since U.S. Concrete, and I'm confident you will deliver excellent results as well. I have a quick question regarding costs. What you have accomplished in terms of cost per ton over the last couple of quarters has been impressive. I believe you mentioned that you are still in the early stages of many of the measures you're implementing. Can you provide insights into the actions you are taking and how many more quarters we can expect strong performance on costs, similar to what we've seen recently?
Yes. Thank you for the question. I would tell you, we're still in the early innings, and we've talked about 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. And so 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. And so my anticipation is we've got a long ways to go, but it's really exciting to watch. And 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. And I think more importantly, our operators are the ones that are driving this. And so a lot more to come, but I would tell you, my anticipation is '26 is going to be even more momentum than it was in '25.
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. And they got help from weather and volume in Q3, but they did not in Q1 and Q2. In fact, surprisingly, how good the cost was given the conditions. But I think they have years of improvement ahead of them.
First congrats to Tom and Ronnie. I just want to go back to the aggregate pricing again. Price per ton in 3Q was the smallest in a few years. And I get that there's some negative mix in there. But why is the year-over-year growth decelerated in recent quarters? It had been double digits, and now you're guiding to 5% in '26. Just some color there.
Yes, there are a couple of points to consider. We faced challenges from acquisitions, and in the early part of the year, we also dealt with lower volumes in the Southeast due to weather. However, things returned to more normal levels in Q3. With three years of negative volume, there's been some pressure on pricing, and I believe we might be at a low point. The ongoing growth in public and the visible increase in private nonresidential projects is beneficial for our pricing discussions and backlog pricing as we approach 2026. Ronnie mentioned that we are implementing price increases starting January 1, and those discussions are progressing positively. Importantly, over the past few months, we have observed an increase in our backlog pricing, which bodes well for what we can expect in 2026.
Yes. I hope the mute is off here. Congrats to Tom and Ronnie. Also congrats, Mary Andrews for the great cash generation and the great cash flow numbers. 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 a decade or so, as you look out maybe past 2026, how much different or not will Vulcan look like? And do you see the sense of the industry fundamentals and where we are and given what you're seeing from competitors and from clients that this type of growth and sustainability in volume, pricing and certainly profit per ton growth is sustainable over the next several years?
Yes, that's a great question. Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, I believe Vulcan will remain quite similar. Our focus will continue to be on enhancing our core operations, specifically by investing in the Vulcan Way of Operating and the Vulcan Way of Selling. This will support our margin growth and boost our confidence in that growth through the tools we've developed. Strategically, we will maintain an aggregate focus as we expand our reach within our markets and build on our existing franchise while also pursuing geographical expansion. The essence of Vulcan will remain unchanged, and while we will pursue growth opportunities, we will exercise discipline in how we approach those opportunities, always driven by aggregates.
Thank you, and 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's 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 families safe and healthy. Thank you.
Operator
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.