CluenexKnife River KNF
Knife River scores weak on business quality (4.3 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Knife River does
Knife River produces construction materials, supplying aggregates, asphalt, and ready-mix concrete for infrastructure projects across the United States. Revenue flows primarily from public and private contractors paying for essential building blocks. Activist pressure and margin recovery efforts frame the company's current push to optimize operations and improve pricing power.
- What it does best
Knife River extracts local aggregate reserves near high-growth regional markets, locking in a geographic advantage that lowers transit costs. Its gross margin sits at 17.8%, lagging peer EXP at 27.0%, but regional scarcity protects core pricing in its specific operating territories.
- The main risk
Net debt climbed to $1.09 billion from $441 million in 2024, squeezing financial flexibility as interest coverage hovers at 3.1x. Higher debt servicing leaves less room for error if regional construction demand softens.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin of 8.6% and FCF margin of 1.3% leave slim room for error. ROE stands at 8.7% with a net margin of 4.2%. Profitability remains pressured by high capital intensity as capital expenditures reached $270 million.
Aggregate reserves create a localized geographic barrier, locking out distant competitors due to high transport costs. Gross margin sits in the bottom quartile of its sector at the 19th percentile, reflecting heavy local cost pressures.
Revenue reached $3.3 billion with growth at 8.5%, placing it in the top quartile of its sector at the 74th percentile. This marks an acceleration from past annual summaries, driven by heavy construction demand.
Total debt of $1.17 billion outweighs cash of $74 million, while interest coverage of 3.1x leaves little buffer. Free cash flow recovered to $43 million from a negative $70 million prior period, turning softer on higher capex.
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.
No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Our sealed record on KNF
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
Knife River scores weak on the Cluenex quality check (4.3 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat fair, growth steady and financial health fair.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Nov 2, 2026.
See KNF today
- Today's verdict on KNF, 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
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Knife River (KNF)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/knf/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.