CRH PLC Q3 2026 earnings: results miss estimates, outlook trimmed

October 29, 2026

CRH's Q3 2026 sales and profit missed Wall Street estimates as cost inflation and a weak housing market offset pricing gains, prompting the company to cut its full-year profit outlook.

Key takeaways

• Revenue of $11.40 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $2.09 both came in below Wall Street’s expectations (around $11.63 billion and $2.22), even though revenue was still up roughly 3% from a year earlier.
• Reported (GAAP) net income fell to about $1.2 billion from $1.5 billion a year ago, mainly because of impairment charges — write-downs that reduce the stated value of certain assets. Stripping those out, underlying diluted EPS of $2.09 was still down from $2.27 a year earlier.
• Growth in the quarter came from higher prices, acquisitions, and steady demand for infrastructure and commercial projects, but those gains were largely offset by cost inflation, weaker homebuilding activity, and the impact of recent business sales (divestitures).
• CRH’s two U.S. materials and paving-focused units (grouped as Americas Materials Solutions) grew revenue about 6% and held profit roughly flat, while its building-products unit (Americas Building Solutions) saw revenue and profit decline, partly because a one-time land-sale gain from last year’s results did not repeat and housing construction stayed soft.
• Management cut its full-year 2026 outlook, now expecting adjusted operating profit (EBITDA) of $7.8–8.0 billion, down from a prior range of $8.1–8.5 billion, citing persistent cost inflation and a slower residential construction market.
• CRH announced a new share buyback program of up to $6 billion, returning cash to shareholders even as it trims its profit outlook.
• The company unveiled an initiative called “Velocity,” a plan to streamline its operating structure that it expects to generate about $400 million in annual cost savings by the end of 2028.
• CEO Jim Mintern said the business delivered “a resilient Q3 performance” despite what he called a “challenging and volatile inflationary cost backdrop.”
• Trailing-twelve-month profitability metrics still show healthy underlying margins — roughly 36% gross margin and 15% operating margin — but the quarter’s own adjusted EBITDA margin slipped to 23.5% from 24.3% a year earlier, reflecting the cost pressures management flagged.

How the stock took it

CRH PLC closed at $86.54 on Oct 28, 2026, the last session before the report, and at $90.81 on Oct 30, 2026, the first session after it — +4.9% across the report.

Closes from the market's daily record. Each figure spans the report date — from the last session that closed before it to the first that closed after — because a company may report before the open or after the close.

Fundamentals

Sources: company report · earnings call