Core and Main Inc vs Lumen Technologies Inc — how do they compare? Core and Main Inc trades at $44.54 (market cap $8.46B), while Lumen Technologies Inc trades at $6.43 (market cap $6.56B). The key difference: Core and Main Inc is the larger of the two by market cap, and Lumen Technologies Inc is trading nearer its 52-week high, Core and Main Inc nearer its low. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| CNM | LUMN | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $8.46B | $6.56B |
Sector | Technology | Media |
52-Week High | $66.98 | $11.83 |
52-Week Low | $44.29 | $3.70 |
Enterprise Value | $10.76B | $18.19B |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Core & Main (CNM) trades at $44.74, down 2.44% today, amid bearish technical signals but strong fundamentals. The stock shows consistent earnings beats, with Q1 2026 EPS of $0.72 exceeding expectations, and maintains solid profitability with a 23.73% ROE. Recent news highlights municipal strength and margin gains, though residential segments face weakness. Cash flow trends improved in 2026 projections, with net cash flow rising to $142M from $7M in 2025.
The outlook is mixed: analyst consensus leans bullish with 57% buy ratings, but technical indicators signal near-term pressure. Key risks include industry headwinds like high operating costs and residential market softness. Investors should weigh strong fundamentals against current bearish momentum for entry timing.
LUMN trades at $6.45, down 4.16% today, reflecting ongoing investor caution amid a bearish technical signal. The company reported a net loss of $1.74 billion in 2025 despite beating earnings expectations in two of the last three quarters. Recent news highlights strategic moves like the Alkira acquisition to bolster its AI networking platform. Cash flow from operations remains strong at $4.74 billion, but high debt levels and negative profitability metrics pose challenges.
The outlook is mixed; cost-cutting and a $13 billion contract backlog offer potential upside, but persistent losses and a heavy debt load of $17.49 billion limit near-term growth. Analyst consensus is cautious with a hold-heavy rating, though the $8.25 price target implies modest upside from current levels if execution improves.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Core & Main is a leading US distributor of water, wastewater, storm drainage, and fire protection products. It provides essential infrastructure solutions to municipalities, private water companies, and contractors.
Read more on CNM →With 450,000 route miles of fiber, including over 35,000 route miles of subsea fiber connecting Europe, Asia, and Latin America, Lumen Technologies is one of the United States' largest telecommunications carriers serving global enterprises. Its merger with Level 3 further shifted the company's operations toward businesses (over 70% of revenue) and away from its legacy consumer business. Lumen offers businesses a full menu of communications services, providing colocation and data center services, data transportation, and end-user phone and internet service. On the consumer side, Lumen provides broadband and phone service across 37 states, where it has 4.5 million broadband customers.
Read more on LUMN →