Stocks · Basic Materials · Construction Materials
Knife River Corporation KNF
$50.33 -0.57% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $2.86B
Weak trend
Next earnings report: Nov 3, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- At 20.5× trailing earnings, the shares trade at the lowest P/E of the company's past five years.
- Net debt is 3.7× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Basic Materials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 29%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 40%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 21%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 38%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 49%
- Gross marginBottom 31%
- Operating marginBottom 50%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 26%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 38%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 21%
- Interest coverBottom 40%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 28%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 36%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 26%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 35%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 6%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 21%
- 6-month returnBottom 18%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 14%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 24%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 26%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 45%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 21%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 21%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 24%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 42%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 47%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 37%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 21%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 9.6% | 12.1% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -18.9% | -8.9% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 18.1% | 17.9% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 8.8% | 8.4% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | -1.8% | 1.3% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 12.1% | 9.6% | ↑ | Top 29% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -8.9% | -18.9% | ↑ | Bottom 40% |
| Gross margin | 17.9% | 18.1% | ↓ | Bottom 31% |
| Operating margin | 8.4% | 8.8% | ↓ | Bottom 50% |
| Net margin | 4.2% | 5.2% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 1.3% | -1.8% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 5.4% | — | Top 49% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 7.5% | — | Top 21% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 2.24×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -4.1%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.3%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -1.4 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 3.72×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 3.1×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.00%
- Shareholder yield
- 0.00%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -0.4%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +0.1%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 4, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 4 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +2.2%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.2%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 2 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $82.00
- Target vs current price
- +62.9%
- Analysts with a rating
- 8
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 75%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | -31.9% | -11.8% | -14.4% | -20.5% | — |
| May 5, 2026 | +1.4% | -3.5% | -5.1% | -13.1% | -19.1% |
| Feb 17, 2026 | +36.6% | +16.3% | +8.3% | -0.0% | +2.0% |
| Nov 4, 2025 | +2.9% | +8.4% | +17.6% | +21.1% | +9.9% |
| Aug 5, 2025 | -29.9% | +1.9% | +4.7% | -5.2% | -27.5% |
| May 6, 2025 | -36.0% | -5.3% | +2.7% | -1.6% | -14.9% |
| Feb 13, 2025 | +2.5% | +4.3% | +4.2% | -9.2% | -2.4% |
| Nov 4, 2024 | -7.5% | -8.5% | +3.7% | +5.0% | +6.3% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | $0.77 | $1.13 | -31.9% | $938.6M |
| May 5, 2026 | -$1.40 | -$1.42 | +1.4% | $410.1M |
| Feb 17, 2026 | $0.56 | $0.41 | +36.6% | $755.1M |
| Nov 4, 2025 | $2.52 | $2.45 | +2.9% | $1.20B |
| Aug 5, 2025 | $0.89 | $1.27 | -29.9% | $833.7M |
| May 6, 2025 | -$1.21 | -$0.89 | -36.0% | $353.5M |
| Feb 13, 2025 | $0.41 | $0.40 | +2.5% | $657.2M |
| Nov 4, 2024 | $2.60 | $2.81 | -7.5% | $1.11B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 20.5× | 28.4× | 0th | Top 28% |
| P/E (forward) | 18.2× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 10.3× | — | — | Top 26% |
| EV / Sales | 1.36× | — | — | Top 35% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 1.51% | — | — | Bottom 36% |
| Earnings yield | 4.87% | — | — | Top 28% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 20.9× – 33.9× since Dec 31, 2022. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -30.7%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -8.9%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -11.3%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -14.8%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.4%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -20.1%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -34.2%
- RSI (14)
- 28.1
- Relative volume
- 0.78×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 46.9%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 71th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.87
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.29
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -46.4%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -53.1%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 21, 2025 | Oct 2, 2026 | -53.1% | 427 days | Not yet recovered |
| Apr 11, 2024 | Jun 4, 2024 | -18.3% | 37 days | 70 days (Sep 13, 2024) |
| Jun 15, 2023 | Jul 6, 2023 | -11.3% | 13 days | 23 days (Aug 8, 2023) |
| Oct 16, 2023 | Oct 26, 2023 | -11.2% | 8 days | 5 days (Nov 2, 2023) |
| May 25, 2023 | Jun 1, 2023 | -11.1% | 4 days | 5 days (Jun 8, 2023) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $2.86B
- P/E (TTM)
- 20.5
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $2.45
- Revenue (TTM)
- $3.31B
- 52-week range
- $49.65 – $96.28
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.23B | $2.53B | $2.83B | $2.90B | $3.15B |
| Gross profit | $346.9M | $360.9M | $538.9M | $569.8M | $577.3M |
| Operating income | $191.1M | $194.3M | $296.4M | $316.2M | $285.8M |
| Net income | $129.8M | $116.2M | $182.9M | $201.7M | $157.1M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.29 | $2.05 | $3.23 | $3.55 | $2.76 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.11B | $657.2M | $353.5M | $833.8M | $1.20B | $755.1M | $410.1M | $938.6M |
| Net income | $148.1M | $23.3M | -$68.7M | $50.6M | $143.2M | $32.0M | -$79.2M | $43.9M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.60 | $0.41 | -$1.21 | $0.89 | $2.52 | $0.56 | -$1.40 | $0.77 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $181.2M | $207.4M | $335.7M | $322.3M | $278.5M |
| Capital expenditure | -$174.2M | -$178.2M | -$124.3M | -$172.4M | -$348.0M |
| Free cash flow | $7.0M | $29.3M | $211.4M | $149.9M | -$69.6M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | $0 | $0 | $0 | -$1.7M | $0 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $40.7M
- Total assets
- $4.18B
- Total liabilities
- $2.57B
- Total debt
- $1.67B
- Net debt
- $1.63B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.61B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 4, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 4,506,854
- Days to cover
- 4.63
- Change vs previous report
- +7.4%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.