Knife River Corporation (KNF)

Knife River Corp. stock has experienced fluctuations and analyst attention in the past six months. The stock has seen a decline over the past year, with a 52-week range between $58.72 and $105.99. Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock rating from "sell" to "hold" on February 7, 2026. Wells Fargo & Company lowered its price target for KNF to $75.00 on January 30, 2026. A fund exited a $5 million position, while another placed a $22 million bet on a turnaround on January 29, 2026. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage with a "neutral" rating and an $83.00 price target on December 4, 2025. Royal Bank of Canada decreased its price objective from $115.00 to $105.00 but maintained an "outperform" rating on November 6, 2025. UBS Group upgraded Knife River to an "overweight" rating on November 4, 2025, after which shares gained +8.4% following Q3 2025 earnings. The company reported mixed Q2 2025 results with increased revenue but a 35% decline in net income due to weather challenges, leading to revised full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance. Knife River reported a 7% revenue increase in Q1 2025 but experienced wider net losses and negative adjusted EBITDA.

The demand for Knife River Corp.'s products and services is subject to seasonality, primarily influenced by weather conditions. The construction industry typically experiences reduced activity during colder months and periods of adverse weather. This seasonality was evident in the company's Q2 2025 results, where weather challenges significantly impacted operations, leading to a decline in net income and a revision of full-year guidance. Demand for construction materials and services is generally higher during favorable weather conditions, typically spring, summer, and fall, and lower during winter.

Knife River Corporation, based in Bismarck, North Dakota, is a vertically integrated construction materials and contracting services company. It operates across the western, central, and southern United States, focusing on heavy construction materials like aggregates, asphalt mix, ready-mixed concrete, and liquid asphalt. The company also provides contracting services, including heavy civil construction and road building, serving both government and private-sector clients. Knife River became an independent publicly traded entity on the NYSE in May 2024 after a spin-off from MDU Resources Group.

Knife River operates in 14 states across the western, central, and southern U.S., including Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Arizona. The company has a network of over 160 facilities, including quarries, recycling sites, asphalt plants, and concrete batch plants, with 182 active aggregate sites, 106 ready-mix plants, 51 asphalt plants, and 9 liquid asphalt terminals.

Knife River maintains a generally positive brand reputation within its sector. MarketBeat evaluated Knife River as scoring higher than 78% of companies in the construction sector, ranking 30th out of 103 stocks. The company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, based on 6 buy ratings and 4 hold ratings, with an average price target of $95.71, suggesting potential upside. No specific negative events significantly impacting Knife River Corp.'s brand reputation in the past year were found.

Institutional investors hold a significant portion of Knife River Corporation's stock, ranging from approximately 37.61% to 60.52%, while insiders hold about 0.70%. Major institutional owners include BlackRock, Inc., Vanguard Group Inc (holding the top institutional stake with 10.01% as of December 31, 2025), Price T Rowe Associates Inc /md/, Baillie Gifford & Co, State Street Corp, Capital Research Global Investors, IJH - iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF, VTSMX - Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares, SMCWX - SMALLCAP WORLD FUND INC Class A, and IWM - iShares Russell 2000 ETF.