(RTTNews) - Construction aggregates and materials manufacturer Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC: News ) reported Monday an 8% year-over-year decline in profit for the third quarter, hurt by drop in quarterly revenues due to weak demand amid the slump in the construction industry, despite effective cost management. Earnings per share from continuing operations dropped 29.6%, but topped analysts' expectations by a penny. The company noted that cost management and continued focus on improving margins would help position the company for significant participation in U.S. economic recovery.

The economic stimulus plan was to fund transportation and other infrastructure-related projects that in turn would have benefited the construction industry, hard hit by above-average unemployment and weak demand. Vulcan noted that the economic stimulus funds of $27 billion designated for highway projects are working their way into the U.S. economy. While 73% of these funds had been obligated to specific projects by the end of September, only $2.4 billion of these stimulus funds had been paid to contractors for construction work performed.

In a statement, chairman and chief executive officer, Don James said, "Our employees continue to run the business in a cost-efficient manner. Although sales volumes in the third quarter were 19 to 29 percent lower than the prior year for our key product lines, overall gross profit as a percent of net sales equaled the prior year's third quarter."

Third Quarter Results

The Birmingham, Alabama-based company reported net earnings of $54.23 million or $0.43 per share for the third quarter, down from $59.05 million or $0.53 per share in the prior-year quarter.

The results for the latest quarter include earnings from discontinued operations of $6.31 million or $0.05 per share, compared to loss of $0.77 million or $0.01 per share last year. Earnings from continuing operations for the quarter dropped to $47.92 million or $0.38 per share from $59.82 million or $0.54 per share in the year-ago quarter.
On average, fifteen analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.37 per share for the third quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Cash earnings for the quarter declined to $114.66 million from $155.65 million a year ago.

Total revenues for the quarter declined to $778.19 million from $1.01 billion in the same quarter last year, and missed twelve Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $809.17 billion.

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