CRH Pays 11.5x Earnings for Arcosa—Nearly 40% More Than Arcosa Paid for Cherry

CRH's $8.5 billion bid values Arcosa at 11.5x 2026 earnings. When Arcosa bought Cherry Companies in 2020, it paid roughly 8x EBITDA—a gap that reveals how much value flows to platform buyers over smaller acquisitions. The spread reflects scarcity in quality aggregates and prime U.S. infrastructure exposure. For investors, it signals how aggressively consolidators are now pricing in long-term infrastructure spending.