Cluenex
Log inStart free
All stocks · Basic Materials · Construction

James Hardie Industries JHX

James Hardie Industries scores good on business quality (6.3 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.

Last price$25.12Oct 9, 2026
Business qualityGood
Next earningsNov 16, 2026
Insiders, 90 daysSelling

Why it matters

  1. What James Hardie Industries does

    James Hardie Industries manufactures fiber cement building products, selling siding and exterior solutions directly to contractors and builders for residential construction.

  2. What it does best

    James Hardie dominates fiber cement siding through proprietary manufacturing techniques, yielding a gross margin of 35.9% compared to peer CRH at 36.2% on heavier building aggregates. This scale creates a distribution moat that regional competitors struggle to match.

  3. The main risk

    Debt climbed sharply to $4.6 billion as net debt ballooned from $560 million to $4.3 billion, leaving the balance sheet exposed if North American housing volumes stall and cash generation fails to cover obligations.

Quality, check by check

Scored against its own industry, from company filings.

ProfitabilityWeak

Operating margin sits at 14.6% while net margin compresses down to 2.7%, showing that higher revenue is not translating efficiently to the bottom line.

MoatFair

Its distribution network locks in professional builders and contractors, earning a top quartile sector rank of 69 for gross margin that protects pricing power against substitutes.

GrowthFast

Revenue surged 24.7% to $5.4 billion, accelerating sharply past its historical range of flat-to-modest gains seen in prior years.

Financial healthFair

Net debt sits at $4.3 billion against $269 million in cash, while free cash flow dropped to $357 million: balance-sheet leverage is expanding rapidly and getting softer.

Insiders

Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.

2 sold $28.3M outside pre-planned sales.

Our sealed record on JHX

Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.

The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.

Questions

Is JHX a good business?

James Hardie Industries scores good on the Cluenex quality check (6.3 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat fair, growth fast and financial health fair.

Are insiders buying JHX?

In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 2 sold $28.3M outside pre-planned sales.

When does JHX report earnings?

Nov 16, 2026.

For members

See JHX today

  • Today's verdict on JHX, and why
  • Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
  • The exact price that would change the verdict
  • Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Open in Cluenex Free to start. First month of Core free.

Cite this page: Cluenex, “James Hardie Industries (JHX)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/jhx/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.