The James Hardie Industries PLC (ASX: JHX) share price just broke its all-time high today.
At the time of writing, shares in the buildings' material company are trading for $46.70 – up 0.76%. Earlier, shares reached an intraday and all-time high of $46.98 each. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is 0.94% higher.
Let's take a closer look at some recent stories that have sent the James Hardie share price higher.
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James Hardie is kicking goals
The company, which derives most of its revenue from its North American business, had strong results for the 3 months leading to 31 March.
Sales increased 20% to US $807 million and net income jumped 44% to US $124.9 million. Full year sales totalled US $2.91 billion – up 12% year-on-year. Operating cash flow rose 74% to $787 million for the 52 weeks. US $557 million of quarterly sales was derived from its North American fibre cement business.
Taking a broader view, a number of external factors helped drive the James Hardie share price to a new all-time high.
One, for example, is the twin housing booms in the US and Australia. Motley Fool Australia previously reported how in the US, James Hardie was in a prime position to capitalise on increasing construction post-COVID.
Australia too, as any first home buyer can tell, is in the midst of a housing boom. The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed housing approvals rose 17.4%. That's the second-highest growth rate on record.
New South Wales and Victoria drove the boom. Construction of housing in the 2 largest states increased 26.9% and 24.7%, respectively.
Shane Oliver, the chief economist of AMP Capital, previously told this reporter that the growing economy and the construction industry worked in tandem with each other.
"…(The) relationship between construction and the economy is a positive one in that to the extent that strong construction can help drive a strong economy, the confidence and extra jobs that come with a strong economy can help further drive strong construction."
Also, help driving James Hardie shares is the weakening Aussie dollar against the greenback. As stated, James Hardie derives a majority of its revenue from North America.
James Hardie share price snapshot
Over the past 12 months, the James Hardie share price has grown 63.5%. One fundie told Motley Fool how James Hardie has been a big contributor to his company's portfolio.
James Hardie Industries has a market capitalisation of $20.7 billion.
