STRL

Wall Street analysts forecast that Sterling Infrastructure (STRL) will report quarterly earnings of $6.07 per share in its upcoming release, pointing to a year-over-year increase of 74.4%. It is anticipated that revenues will amount to $1.17 billion, exhibiting an increase of 69.6% compared to the year-ago quarter. Over the past 30 days, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged. This demonstrates the covering analysts' collective reassessment of their initial projections during this period. Before a company reveals its earnings, it is vital to take into account any changes in earnings projections. These revisions play a pivotal role in predicting the possible reactions of investors toward the stock. Multiple empirical studies have consistently shown a strong association between trends in earnings estimates and the short-term price movements of a stock. While investors typically use consensus earnings and revenue estimates as a yardstick to evaluate the company's quarterly performance, scrutinizing analysts' projections for some of the company's key metrics can offer a more comprehensive perspective. Bearing this in mind, let's now explore the average estimates of specific Sterling Infrastructure metrics that are commonly monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts. The consensus estimate for 'Revenues- E-Infrastructure Solutions' stands at $932.75 million. The estimate suggests a change of +123.6% year over year. According to the collective judgment of analysts, 'Revenues- Transportation Solutions' should come in at $154.30 million. The estimate suggests a change of -9.5% year over year. It is projected by analysts that the 'Revenues- Building Solutions' will reach $91.85 million. The estimate indicates a change of -9.4% from the prior-year quarter. The collective assessment of analysts points to an estimated 'Operating Income- Building Solutions' of $7.25 million. Compared to the current estimate, the company reported $10.75 million in the same quarter of the previous year. Analysts' assessment points toward 'Operating Income- Transportation Solutions' reaching $22.85 million. Compared to the current estimate, the company reported $24.38 million in the same quarter of the previous year. Analysts predict that the 'Operating income- E-Infrastructure Solutions' will reach $229.95 million. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of $106.61 million. View all Key Company Metrics for Sterling Infrastructure here>>> Shares of Sterling Infrastructure have demonstrated returns of -27.4% over the past month compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -1.2% change. With a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), STRL is expected to beat the overall market performance in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> . Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (STRL) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Sterling Infrastructure (STRL) heads into its October 28, 2026 earnings release with expectations for higher EPS and revenue, just days after the stock dropped 9.72% in a single session. That single day drop caps a sharp pullback, with Sterling Infrastructure's share price down 16.45% over the past week and 27.83% over the last month, while the 90 day move has fallen 43.59%. Yet the year to date share price return is still 16.82%, and the 5 year total shareholder return is very large, pointing to long term gains even as short term momentum fades ahead of earnings. Scan opportunities that follow the same digital buildout theme as Sterling Infrastructure by reviewing our hand picked list of 55 AI infrastructure stocks that may benefit from data center and e-infrastructure demand. Sterling Infrastructure has given back a big chunk of its multi year gains in a matter of weeks, so the real question now is whether the pullback has reset the upside or simply drained it. Sterling Infrastructure's most followed narrative sets a fair value around $836.57, well above the last close at $372.83, framing the latest pullback as a move that widens the gap rather than closes it. Sterling Infrastructure's multiyear pool of signed backlog and high probability future phase work now exceeds US$7b, heavily weighted to mission critical data center and semiconductor projects, which could continue to support revenue growth and earnings visibility if awards convert into execution as planned. See why 103 investors see Sterling Infrastructure as 55% undervalued. Result: Fair Value of $836.57 (UNDERVALUED) Still, the Sterling Infrastructure narrative frays quickly if labor capacity for long duration electrical work falls short, or if softer near term awards shrink that US$7b backlog. Find out about the key risks to this Sterling Infrastructure narrative. Mixed signals like these around Sterling Infrastructure often split opinion. Move quickly, check the data for yourself, and weigh both the 4 key rewards and 1 important warning sign. Do not stop with Sterling Infrastructure. Use powerful screeners to surface fresh opportunities that fit your style before the next wave of earnings resets the field. - Target potential mispricings by running through our hand picked pool of 30 high quality undervalued stocks that combine quality fundamentals with prices that may not fully reflect them. - Prioritize resilience by working through a list of solid balance sheet and fundamentals (26 results) so you are not caught out by weak financing when conditions tighten. - Hunt for tomorrow's leaders early by reviewing a curated set of 20 high quality undiscovered gems before they attract broader market attention. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include STRL. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Wall Street expects a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when Quanta Services (PWR) reports results for the quarter ended September 2026. While this widely-known consensus outlook is important in gauging the company's earnings picture, a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates. The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on October 29. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower. While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise. This specialty contractor for utility and energy companies is expected to post quarterly earnings of $5.01 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +50.5%. Revenues are expected to be $10.99 billion, up 44% from the year-ago quarter. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0.82% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period. Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. Our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) -- has this insight at its core. The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only. A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP. Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell). For Quanta Services, the Most Accurate Estimate is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of +2.66%. On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3. So, this combination indicates that Quanta Services will most likely beat the consensus EPS estimate. Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number. For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Quanta Services would post earnings of $3.29 per share when it actually produced earnings of $4.24, delivering a surprise of +28.88%. Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates four times. An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss. That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported. Quanta Services appears a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release. Among the stocks in the Zacks Engineering - R and D Services industry, Sterling Infrastructure (STRL), is soon expected to post earnings of $6.07 per share for the quarter ended September 2026. This estimate indicates a year-over-year change of +74.4%. This quarter's revenue is expected to be $1.17 billion, up 69.6% from the year-ago quarter. The consensus EPS estimate for Sterling Infrastructure has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. However, a higher Most Accurate Estimate has resulted in an Earnings ESP of +0.80%. When combined with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), this Earnings ESP indicates that Sterling Infrastructure will most likely beat the consensus EPS estimate. The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters. Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Quanta Services, Inc. (PWR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (STRL) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

United Rentals, Inc. URI reported third-quarter 2026 results, with adjusted earnings per share and total revenues beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate and increasing year over year. Strong rental demand and operating efficiencies supported the results. Fleet productivity, which combines rental rates, time utilization and mix, improved 6.5% year over year. URI stock inched up 1% in yesterday's after-hours trading, following the earnings release. URI's adjusted earnings of $15.55 per share topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $13.83 by 12.4% and grew 32.9% year over year from $11.70 per share. Total revenues rose 15.7% year over year to $4.89 billion and surpassed the consensus estimate of $4.69 billion by 4.3%. United Rentals, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | United Rentals, Inc. Quote Rental revenues increased 17.8% year over year to a quarterly record of $4.32 billion. Average fleet size, measured at original equipment cost, rose 7.9%. Owned equipment rental revenues grew 12.9% to $3.32 billion. Revenues from re-renting equipment sourced from other vendors surged 76.7% to $129 million, while ancillary and other rental revenues climbed 33% to $871 million. Used equipment sales rose 4.5% to $348 million, with an adjusted gross margin of 46.3% compared with 45.9% a year earlier. New equipment sales fell 11.6% to $84 million. Contractor supplies sales and service and other revenues increased 9.3% to $47 million and 5.4% to $98 million, respectively. General Rentals segment rental revenues increased 8.8% year over year to $2.61 billion. Rental gross profit grew 13.8% to $1 billion, while gross margin expanded 170 basis points (bps) to 38.4%. Specialty rental revenues surged 34.7% to $1.7 billion. Rental gross profit increased 42.3% to $811 million, with gross margin expanding 250 bps to 47.6%. Both segments benefited from efficiencies in depreciation, labor and benefits, repairs and maintenance, and delivery. Faster growth in lower-margin ancillary and re-rent revenues partly offset these gains. Gross profit increased 22.9% to $2.05 billion, with gross margin improving to 41.8% from 39.4%. Selling, general and administrative expenses rose 15.6% to $511 million but declined to 10.4% of revenues from 10.5%. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased 19.8% to a quarterly record of $2.33 billion. Its margin expanded 160 bps to 47.6%, supported partly by a higher proportion of revenues from equipment rentals. Operating income grew 26.5% to $1.41 billion, with operating margin increasing to 28.8% from 26.3%. For the first nine months of 2026, operating cash flow rose 25.4% to $4.93 billion. Free cash flow increased 19.2% to $1.42 billion, including $27 million of restructuring-related payments. United Rentals ended September 2026 with liquidity of $2.62 billion, including $153 million in cash and equivalents. Net leverage, or net debt divided by trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA, improved to 1.8x from 1.9x at the end of 2025. Total debt increased to $14.67 billion from $14.23 billion over that period. URI returned $1.496 billion to shareholders during the first nine months of 2026, comprising $1.125 billion in share repurchases and $371 million in dividends. It completed its prior $2 billion repurchase program and began its new $5 billion authorization. The company still expects $1.5 billion of share repurchases in 2026. It declared a quarterly dividend of $1.97 per share, payable Nov. 25, 2026, to shareholders of record Nov. 11, 2026. Management raised its revenue outlook to $18-$18.2 billion from $17.5-$17.8 billion. Adjusted EBITDA is now projected at $8.3-$8.4 billion compared with $7.98-$8.13 billion previously. Operating cash flow is expected at $6.25-$6.85 billion, up from $5.85-$6.65 billion. The free cash flow outlook, excluding restructuring-related payments, remains $2.15-$2.45 billion. Net rental capital expenditures are projected at $3.75-$4.05 billion after gross purchases of $5.2-$5.5 billion compared with $3.4-$3.8 billion after gross purchases of $4.85-$5.25 billion previously. Management cited customer confidence, backlogs and large-project momentum as support for the raised outlook. United Rentals currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Here are some other companies in the Zacks Construction sector, which according to our model, have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat. Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. STRL has an Earnings ESP of +0.80% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. Sterling's earnings beat estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average surprise being 27.2%. The company's earnings for the third quarter of 2026 are expected to grow 74.4% year over year. AAON, Inc. AAON currently has an Earnings ESP of +2.66% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). AAON's earnings beat estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed on the remaining occasion, the average surprise being 21.6%. The company's earnings for the third quarter of 2026 are expected to increase 54.1% year over year. Argan, Inc. AGX has an Earnings ESP of +4.79% and a Zacks Rank of 3. Argan's earnings beat estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average surprise being 44.2%. The company's earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2027 are expected to increase 53.9% year over year. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report United Rentals, Inc. (URI) : Free Stock Analysis Report AAON, Inc. (AAON) : Free Stock Analysis Report Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (STRL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Argan, Inc. (AGX) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Sterling Infrastructure (STRL) is expected to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended September 2026. This widely-known consensus outlook gives a good sense of the company's earnings picture, but how the actual results compare to these estimates is a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price. The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on October 28. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower. While management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call will mostly determine the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations, it's worth having a handicapping insight into the odds of a positive EPS surprise. This civil construction company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $6.07 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +74.4%. Revenues are expected to be $1.17 billion, up 69.6% from the year-ago quarter. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period. Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction). The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only. A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP. Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell). For Sterling Infrastructure, the Most Accurate Estimate is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of +0.80%. On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #2. So, this combination indicates that Sterling Infrastructure will most likely beat the consensus EPS estimate. Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number. For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Sterling Infrastructure would post earnings of $5.2 per share when it actually produced earnings of $5.80, delivering a surprise of +11.54%. Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates four times. An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss. That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported. Sterling Infrastructure appears a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release. Kadant (KAI), another stock in the Zacks Engineering - R and D Services industry, is expected to report earnings per share of $3 for the quarter ended September 2026. This estimate points to a year-over-year change of +15.8%. Revenues for the quarter are expected to be $300.97 million, up 10.8% from the year-ago quarter. Over the last 30 days, the consensus EPS estimate for Kadant has been revised 3% up to the current level. Nevertheless, the company now has an Earnings ESP of -1.50%, reflecting a lower Most Accurate Estimate. When combined with a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold), this Earnings ESP makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Kadant will beat the consensus EPS estimate. The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters. Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (STRL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Kadant Inc (KAI) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

The end of the earnings season is always a good time to take a step back and see who shined (and who didn't). Let's take a look at how engineering and design services stocks fared in Q2, starting with Sterling (NASDAQ:STRL). Companies providing engineering and design services boast ever-evolving technical expertise. Compared to their counterparts who manufacture and sell physical products, these companies can also pivot faster to more trending areas due to their smaller physical asset bases. Green energy and water conservation, for example, are current themes driving incremental demand in this space. On the other hand, those providing engineering and design services are at the whim of construction and infrastructure project volumes, which tend to be cyclical and can be impacted heavily by economic factors such as interest rates. The 5 engineering and design services stocks we track reported a satisfactory Q2. As a group, revenues beat analysts' consensus estimates by 1.5% while next quarter's revenue guidance was 0.9% below. Amidst this news, share prices of the companies have had a rough stretch. On average, they are down 21.4% since the latest earnings results. Involved in the construction of a major highway, the Grand Parkway in Houston, TX, Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL) provides civil infrastructure construction. Sterling reported revenues of $1.17 billion, up 90.1% year on year. This print exceeded analysts' expectations by 12.1%. Overall, it was a stunning quarter for the company with full-year EBITDA guidance exceeding analysts' expectations and full-year revenue guidance exceeding analysts' expectations. Sterling scored the biggest analyst estimate beat and fastest revenue growth in the group. Investor expectations, however, were likely higher than Wall Street's published projections, leaving some wishing for even better results (analysts' consensus estimates are those published by big banks and advisory firms, not the investors who make buy and sell decisions). The stock is down 28.3% since reporting and currently trades at $438.48. Read why we think that Sterling is one of the best engineering and design services stocks, our full report is free. Through its network of over 70 subsidiaries, EMCOR (NYSE:EME) provides electrical, mechanical, and building construction and services EMCOR reported revenues of $5.15 billion, up 19.8% year on year, outperforming analysts' expectations by 9.4%. The business had an incredible quarter with a beat of analysts' EPS estimates and full-year EPS guidance exceeding analysts' expectations. EMCOR achieved the highest full-year guidance raise of the whole group. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 8.8% since reporting. It currently trades at $731.50. Is now the time to buy EMCOR? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free. Founded in 1990 when a group of engineers from five companies decided to merge, AECOM (NYSE:ACM) provides various infrastructure consulting services. AECOM reported revenues of $3.59 billion, down 14.2% year on year, falling short of analysts' expectations by 16.7%. It was a disappointing quarter as it posted full-year EBITDA guidance missing analysts' expectations significantly and a significant miss of analysts' EBITDA estimates. AECOM delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates and slowest revenue growth among its peers. As expected, the stock is down 19.5% since the results and currently trades at $58.98. Read our full analysis of AECOM's results here. Working alongside some of the most popular mobile carriers in the world, Dycom (NYSE:DY) builds and maintains telecommunications infrastructure. Dycom reported revenues of $2.01 billion, up 45.6% year on year. This result beat analysts' expectations by 1.4%. Overall, it was a strong quarter as it also put up an impressive beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates and a beat of analysts' EPS estimates. Dycom had the weakest full-year guidance update in the group. The stock is down 26.7% since reporting and currently trades at $257.89. Read our full, actionable report on Dycom here, it's free. Involved in the 1996 Olympic Games MasTec (NYSE:MTZ) is an infrastructure construction company that specializes in the telecommunications, energy, and utility industries. MasTec reported revenues of $4.37 billion, up 23.4% year on year. This print topped analysts' expectations by 1.4%. Taking a step back, it was a slower quarter as it logged full-year EPS guidance missing analysts' expectations and a miss of analysts' EPS estimates. The stock is down 41.2% since reporting and currently trades at $190.75. Read our full, actionable report on MasTec here, it's free. Over the past year, investors have been forced to repeatedly answer the same question: what is the market's biggest risk? The answer has changed several times, and each shift has reshaped market leadership. Late in 2025 and early 2026, artificial intelligence became the market's primary uncertainty. Investors questioned whether AI would erode software pricing power and weaken competitive moats as AI made it easier to replicate once-differentiated products. By the spring, technology took a back seat to geopolitics. The U.S. conflict with Iran briefly became the market's dominant narrative, raising concerns about oil prices, inflation, and global growth. But as energy markets remained orderly and fears of a prolonged supply disruption faded, investors quickly turned their focus back to fundamentals. Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our Hidden Gem Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate.

United Rentals, Inc. URI is scheduled to report its third-quarter 2026 results on Oct. 21, after market close. In the last reported quarter, the company's adjusted earnings per share (EPS) and total revenues topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 9.3% and 4.1%, respectively. Year over year, the metrics also grew 21.9% and 11.8%, respectively. URI's earnings surpassed estimates in two of the trailing four quarters and missed on the other two occasions, with an average surprise of 1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for third-quarter EPS has moved upward to $13.75 from $13.64 over the past 30 days. However, the estimated figure indicates a 17.5% increase from the year-ago quarter's earnings of $11.70 per share. The consensus estimate for total revenues is pegged at $4.67 billion, indicating growth of 10.4% from the prior-year quarter's level. United Rentals, Inc. price-eps-surprise | United Rentals, Inc. Quote Revenues The top-line performance of United Rentals is expected to have improved year over year from favorable secular trends in non-residential construction, infrastructure modernization, power, manufacturing, mining and data center development. These are likely to have resulted in healthy equipment rental demand, thus boosting the contributions from the General Rentals business segment (which contributed 54.8% to second-quarter 2026 total revenues) and the Specialty business segment (which contributed 32.4% to second-quarter 2026 total revenues). Specialty rentals, which offer higher margins and remain central to United Rentals' expansion strategy, are expected to have supported revenue growth both organically and through cold starts that added capacity in new markets. Moreover, URI's extensive and diverse fleet allows it to manage its rental fleet through a life-cycle approach that focuses on satisfying customer demand and optimizing utilization levels. This business approach is expected to have enabled the company to serve large customers that require a wide range of equipment. Also, acquisitions and joint ventures are likely to have catalyzed the growth trends in the to-be-reported quarter. For the third quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues from General Rentals and Specialty business segments is pegged at $3.02 billion and $1.69 billion, reflecting year-over-year growth of 6.9% and 20.4%, respectively. The consensus mark for revenues from equipment rentals is $4.07 billion, up from $3.67 billion reported a year ago. Earnings & Margins United Rentals is expected to report year-over-year earnings growth in the third quarter, attributable to higher fleet productivity and disciplined rate management. These factors, along with continued cost control, are likely to have contributed to improved profitability and earnings performance. Although inflationary pressures and elevated delivery costs are likely to have partly offset these gains, the ongoing in-house initiatives by URI and elevated top-line leverage are expected to have more than overpowered the headwinds. The consensus estimate for equipment rentals gross profit under the General Rentals and Specialty business segments is pegged at $957 million and $640 million, indicating year-over-year growth from $881 million and $570 million, respectively. Our proven model conclusively predicts an earnings beat for United Rentals this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. URI's Earnings ESP: URI has an Earnings ESP of +1.79%. You can uncover the best stocks before they're reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Zacks Rank of URI: The stock currently has a Zacks Rank of 2. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Here are some other companies in the Zacks Construction sector, which according to our model, have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat. Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. STRL has an Earnings ESP of +0.80% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. Sterling's earnings beat estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average surprise being 27.2%. The company's earnings for the third quarter of 2026 are expected to grow 74.4% year over year. AAON, Inc. AAON currently has an Earnings ESP of +2.66% and a Zacks Rank of 3. AAON's earnings beat estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed on the remaining occasion, the average surprise being 21.6%. The company's earnings for the third quarter of 2026 are expected to increase 54.1% year over year. Argan, Inc. AGX has an Earnings ESP of +4.79% and a Zacks Rank of 3. Argan's earnings beat estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average surprise being 44.2%. The company's earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2027 are expected to increase 53.9% year over year. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report United Rentals, Inc. (URI) : Free Stock Analysis Report AAON, Inc. (AAON) : Free Stock Analysis Report Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (STRL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Argan, Inc. (AGX) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (NasdaqGS: STRL) ("Sterling" or "the Company") today announced that it plans to issue its financial results for the third quarter of 2026 on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, after the stock market closes. Sterling's management will host a conference call on Thursday, October 29, 2026, at 9:00 am ET/8:00 am CT to discuss the third quarter, as well as the 2026 outlook. Interested parties may participate in the call by dialing (800) 836-8184. Please call in ten minutes before the conference call is scheduled to begin and ask for the Sterling Infrastructure call. To coincide with the conference call, Sterling will post a slide presentation at www.strlco.com on the Events & Presentations section of the Investor Relations tab. To listen to a simultaneous webcast of the call, please go to the Company's website at www.strlco.com. If you are unable to listen live, the conference call webcast will be archived on the Company's website for thirty days. About Sterling Sterling Infrastructure, Inc., ("Sterling," "the Company," "we," "our" or "us") operates through a variety of subsidiaries within three segments specializing in E-Infrastructure, Transportation and Building Solutions in the United States, primarily across the Southern, Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic and Rocky Mountain regions and the Pacific Islands. E-Infrastructure Solutions provides advanced, large-scale site development services and mission-critical electrical services for data centers, semiconductor fabrication, manufacturing, distribution centers, warehousing, power generation and more. Transportation Solutions includes infrastructure and rehabilitation projects for highways, roads, bridges, airports, ports, rail and storm drainage systems. Building Solutions includes residential and commercial concrete foundations for single-family and multi-family homes, parking structures, elevated slabs, other concrete work, plumbing services, and surveys for new single-family residential builds. From strategy to operations, we are committed to sustainability by operating responsibly to safeguard and improve society's quality of life. Caring for our people and our communities, our customers and our investors – that is The Sterling Way. Joe Cutillo, CEO, "We build and service the infrastructure that enables our economy to run, our people to move and our country to grow." Company Contact: Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. Noelle Dilts, VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy 281-214-0795 [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sterling-schedules-2026-third-quarter-release-and-conference-call-302909274.html

Looking for a stock that has been consistently beating earnings estimates and might be well positioned to keep the streak alive in its next quarterly report? Sterling Infrastructure (STRL), which belongs to the Zacks Engineering - R and D Services industry, could be a great candidate to consider. This civil construction company has seen a nice streak of beating earnings estimates, especially when looking at the previous two reports. The average surprise for the last two quarters was 34.15%. For the last reported quarter, Sterling Infrastructure came out with earnings of $5.8 per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.2 per share, representing a surprise of 11.54%. For the previous quarter, the company was expected to post earnings of $2.29 per share and it actually produced earnings of $3.59 per share, delivering a surprise of 56.77%. For Sterling Infrastructure, estimates have been trending higher, thanks in part to this earnings surprise history. And when you look at the stock's positive Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction), it's a great indicator of a future earnings beat, especially when combined with its solid Zacks Rank. Our research shows that stocks with the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time. In other words, if you have 10 stocks with this combination, the number of stocks that beat the consensus estimate could be as high as seven. The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a version of the Zacks Consensus whose definition is related to change. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. Sterling Infrastructure has an Earnings ESP of +0.80% at the moment, suggesting that analysts have grown bullish on its near-term earnings potential. When you combine this positive Earnings ESP with the stock's Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), it shows that another beat is possibly around the corner. When the Earnings ESP comes up negative, investors should note that this will reduce the predictive power of the metric. But, a negative value is not indicative of a stock's earnings miss. Many companies end up beating the consensus EPS estimate, though this is not the only reason why their shares gain. Additionally, some stocks may remain stable even if they end up missing the consensus estimate. Because of this, it's really important to check a company's Earnings ESP ahead of its quarterly release to increase the odds of success. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (STRL) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

The Federal Reserve’s recent rate hike has pushed bond yields higher, so investors now face better income from cash and bonds but more uncertainty over what to own next. That shift can leave strong, cash rich businesses trading at modest valuations as attention swings to fixed income. This article highlights three such quality stocks that still appear overlooked on our value screen. The stocks highlighted below are just a starting sample, as the same process surfaced 27 more businesses with equally compelling stories that do not fit into a short article. To see the full list and quickly identify which ideas deserve a deeper look, head straight into the High Quality Undervalued Stocks screener Overview: NVIDIA builds AI computing platforms, especially data center GPUs and networking, alongside gaming and professional graphics hardware and software. Operations: NVIDIA generates about US$275.4b from Compute & Networking and US$27.6b from Graphics, with most revenue coming from the United States and Taiwan. Market Cap: US$5,367.2b NVIDIA fits this high quality undervalued screen because its AI data center hardware and software help power the heavy compute that hyperscalers and enterprises are racing to deploy. The wider business still spans gaming and professional visualization. For long term holders of NVIDIA, a key consideration is what happens if a single core assumption around future AI economics and spending capacity quietly shifts. If that core AI spending assumption is what worries you most, the full narrative for NVIDIA shows how different scenarios could reshape NVIDIA’s moat and upside potential. Overview: Sterling Infrastructure focuses on Building Solutions for residential and commercial concrete foundations and structures, supported by larger e-infrastructure and transportation projects across the United States. Operations: Sterling Infrastructure generates about US$2.44b from e-Infrastructure Solutions, US$612.8 million from Transportation Solutions, and US$384.9 million from Building Solutions, all in the United States. Market Cap: US$15.9b Sterling Infrastructure fits this high quality undervalued theme because its concrete focused Building Solutions arm links directly to real world projects where cash flow visibility and balance sheet discipline matter, even as the bigger e-infrastructure work receives most of the attention. What happens to Sterling Infrastructure’s breakout case if a single assumption about how that work converts into future margins quietly shifts? That margin swing is the real hinge. Read the full narrative for Sterling Infrastructure to see how backlog quality, contract mix and capital discipline could reshape Sterling Infrastructure’s long term payoff profile. Overview: Comfort Systems USA provides mechanical and electrical services for large US buildings, with HVAC focused mechanical work driving recurring cash flows. Operations: Comfort Systems USA generates about US$8.0b from Mechanical Services and US$3.2b from Electrical Services, all within the United States. Market Cap: US$58.0b Comfort Systems USA fits this high quality undervalued theme because its mechanical and electrical services turn long term building contracts into steady cash generation that supports a solid balance sheet and may offer potential upside as more complex projects ramp. The real swing factor is what happens to Comfort Systems USA’s earnings power if a single pressure on project pricing quietly shifts. If that pricing hinge is what you keep coming back to, the full narrative for Comfort Systems USA explains how Comfort Systems USA’s modular push could accelerate earnings power and resilience. Markets move fast, and the most compelling breakout stories rarely stay under the radar for long. Scan these fresh ideas before the crowd catches up and decide whether they fit your strategy. Spot early movers in digital assets by tracking real businesses behind blockchain adoption through the curated 19 cryptocurrency and blockchain stocks. Consider how each opportunity aligns with your risk tolerance. Evaluate cash generative miners by scanning producers in the 36 elite gold producer stocks while sentiment is still mixed and expectations remain uncertain. Review automation leaders in the 95 robotics and automation stocks to understand how robotics and AI-related infrastructure may influence individual company stories over time. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Sterling Infrastructure (STRL). Shares have lost about 15.8% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500. But investors have to be wondering, will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Sterling Infrastructure due for a breakout? Well, first let's take a quick look at the latest earnings report in order to get a better handle on the recent drivers for Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late. Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. delivered a strong second quarter of 2026, with adjusted earnings and revenues topping the Zacks Consensus Estimate and increasing sharply year over year. Results were driven by outsized growth in E-Infrastructure Solutions, supported by strong organic execution and contributions from the CEC and Stone Ridge acquisitions.Transportation Solutions revenues declined as Sterling accelerated the reallocation of resources toward higher-margin E-Infrastructure opportunities. Meanwhile, Building Solutions remained pressured by relatively flat homebuilder activity and continued housing affordability challenges. Adjusted earnings were $5.80 per share, beating the consensus mark of $5.20 by 11.5%. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.69.Revenues of $1.17 billion surpassed the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion by 9.2% and increased 90.1% from $614.5 million in the year-ago quarter. Acquisitions, including CEC and Stone Ridge, contributed $250.8 million to revenues during the quarter.Signed backlog ended the quarter at $4.33 billion, up 116% year over year, while combined backlog increased 150% to $5.62 billion. Second-quarter book-to-burn ratios were 1.4x for signed backlog and 1.3x for combined backlog, excluding the impact of the Stone Ridge acquisition.Beyond signed work, the company’s pipeline of high-probability future-phase opportunities exceeded $1.4 billion. Sterling’s signed backlog, unsigned awards and future-phase opportunities represented a total addressable pool of more than $7 billion, up more than $2.5 billion from the end of 2025. Operating leverage remained a key highlight as profit growth outpaced the top line. Gross profit increased to $290 million from $143.1 million a year ago, while gross margin improved to 24.8% from 23.3%, an expansion of roughly 150 basis points.Operating income reached $219.3 million compared with $104.6 million in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA rose 104% year over year to $256.7 million, while adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 22% from 20.4%. E-Infrastructure Solutions was the primary growth engine, with segment revenues, which accounted for 78% of total revenues, jumping to $905 million from $310.4 million in the year-ago quarter. Management attributed the performance to strong results across organic and acquired operations. The legacy site development business generated 111% revenue growth, reflecting expansion across all regions, while CEC’s electrical services revenues increased 140% from the pre-acquisition second quarter. Profitability in the segment also increased sharply. Adjusted operating income climbed to $217.8 million from $87.7 million. E-Infrastructure signed backlog rose 165% year over year, with mission-critical projects, including data centers, manufacturing and semiconductor facilities, representing 92% of segment backlog.Transportation Solutions revenues, which represented 13% of total revenues, declined to $156.7 million from $196.8 million. The decrease reflected Sterling’s ongoing shift of resources from transportation projects toward higher-margin E-Infrastructure opportunities. Despite lower revenues, adjusted operating income increased to $30.5 million from $28.3 million, and adjusted operating margin expanded to 19.5% from 14.4%.Building Solutions remained the softer spot. Revenues, which accounted for 9% of total revenues, slipped to $106.5 million from $107.3 million. Adjusted operating income declined to $10.5 million from $11.8 million as relatively flat homebuilder activity and affordability pressures weighed on performance. Cash generation remained a notable support for the balance sheet. Net cash provided by operating activities totaled $328 million during the first six months of 2026, up from $170.3 million in the year-ago period. Cash and cash equivalents ended June at $464.5 million, up from $390.7 million at the end of 2025. Sterling repurchased $35.3 million of common stock during the first half of the year. Long-term debt stood at $268.7 million at quarter-end compared with $275.9 million at the end of 2025, while capital expenditures totaled $69.6 million. Confidence in its operating momentum translated into higher full-year targets. Sterling raised its 2026 revenue guidance to $4-$4.15 billion from the prior range of $3.70-$3.80 billion, indicating strong execution, expanding backlog and contributions from the Stone Ridge acquisition. Earnings are now expected to be $17.25-$17.85 per share, up from the previous forecast of $16.50-$17.15. Adjusted earnings are projected at $19.70-$20.30 per share compared with the prior outlook of $18.40-$19.05. The company also lifted EBITDA guidance to $829-$854 million from $801-$831 million and adjusted EBITDA guidance to $891-$916 million from the earlier range of $843-$873 million. It turns out, estimates review have trended upward during the past month. Currently, Sterling Infrastructure has a great Growth Score of A, though it is lagging a lot on the Momentum Score front with a C. Charting a somewhat similar path, the stock was allocated a score of D on the value side, putting it in the bottom 40% for this investment strategy. Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of B. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in. Estimates have been trending upward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions looks promising. Interestingly, Sterling Infrastructure has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months. Sterling Infrastructure belongs to the Zacks Engineering - R and D Services industry. Another stock from the same industry, Tetra Tech (TTEK), has gained 2% over the past month. More than a month has passed since the company reported results for the quarter ended June 2026. Tetra reported revenues of $1.11 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of -3.9%. EPS of $0.42 for the same period compares with $0.43 a year ago. Tetra is expected to post earnings of $0.47 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +4.4%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate remained unchanged. The overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions translate into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for Tetra. Also, the stock has a VGM Score of D. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (STRL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Tetra Tech, Inc. (TTEK) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Image source: The Motley Fool. Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy - Noelle Dilts Chief Executive Officer - Joseph Cutillo Chief Financial Officer - Nicholas Grindstaff Chief Operating Officer - Dan Govin Operator: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Sterling Infrastructure Second Quarter Webcast and Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this call is being recorded on Tuesday, August 4, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Noelle Dilts, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy. Please go ahead. Noelle Dilts: Good morning to everyone joining us, and welcome to Sterling Infrastructure's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. I'm pleased to be here today to discuss our results with Joe Cutillo, Sterling's Chief Executive Officer; Nick Grindstaff, Sterling's Chief Financial Officer; and Dan Govin, Sterling's Chief Operating Officer. As a reminder, there are accompanying slides on the Investor Relations section of our website. These slides include details on our full year 2026 financial guidance. Before turning the call over to Joe, I will read the safe harbor statement. The discussion today may include forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from the statements made today. Please refer to Sterling's most recent 10-K and 10-Q filings for a more complete description of risk factors that could affect these projections and assumptions. The company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Please also note that management may reference EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted operating income, adjusted net income or adjusted earnings per share on this call, which are all financial measures not recognized under U.S. GAAP. As required by SEC rules and regulations, these non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled to their most comparable GAAP financial measures on our earnings release issued yesterday afternoon. I'll now turn the call over to our CEO, Joe Cutillo. Joseph Cutillo: Thanks, Noelle. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Sterling's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. Sterling delivered another outstanding quarter with revenue growth of 90% and adjusted diluted EPS growth of 116% from $2.69 to $5.80. These results reflect the strength of our strategy, accelerating demand across our markets and the exceptional execution by our teams. Adjusted EBITDA more than doubled in the quarter with margins expanding 150 basis points year-over-year to reach 22%. The current market demand allows us to be selective. Rather than chasing every opportunity, we are concentrating on the projects that strengthen our customer relationships, position us for future growth and enhance our margins. Signed backlog at quarter end totaled $4.3 billion, up 116% year-over-year and combined backlog increased 150% to reach $5.6 billion. In addition, we have visibility into high probability future phase opportunities that exceed $1.4 billion. Together, our signed backlog, unsigned awards and future phase opportunities provide visibility into a total addressable pool of work of more than $7 billion, an increase of more than $2.5 billion since year-end. The growth in our backlog and future phase work in the quarter, together with our visibility into customers' multiyear capital plans further strengthens our confidence in our multiyear outlook. Now I'd like to discuss our segment results for the quarter in more detail. In E-Infrastructure, second quarter revenue grew 192%. Mission-critical activity, including work on data centers and semiconductor campuses, was the primary growth driver in the quarter. E-Infrastructure adjusted operating income increased 148% and adjusted operating margins remained strong at 24%. Margins continue to benefit from our strong execution on large time-sensitive mission-critical projects. Revenue for our site development operations more than doubled on an organic basis, and adjusted operating margins expanded both year-over-year and sequentially. We saw robust growth across each of our geographies with particular strength in our Rocky Mountain division, where revenue increased nearly 700%. We also saw strong increases in our Northeast business as work on our large semiconductor campus ramped up. CEC delivered 140% revenue growth compared to its prior year second quarter with margins strengthening both year-over-year and sequentially. The Texas market remains exceptionally strong. During the quarter, CEC secured several additional project wins contributing to a $1.7 billion increase in its combined backlog since year-end 2025. Additionally, we are seeing continued success on winning projects where we are performing electrical and site work in an integrated manner. We continue to see tremendous opportunities ahead in both electrical and site development. In aggregate, our E-Infrastructure signed backlog, unsigned electrical awards and future phase site development opportunities now exceed $6 billion, representing an increase of $2.7 billion since year-end. Mission-critical work, including data centers, large manufacturing projects and semiconductor represented more than 92% of E-Infrastructure signed backlog at the end of the quarter. Future phase work is predominantly related to mission-critical projects. Moving to Transportation Solutions. Second quarter revenue declined 20%, reflecting our ongoing reallocation of resources from transportation projects to higher-margin E-Infrastructure projects. This shift is now taking place at an accelerated pace as activity on our E-Infrastructure projects in the Rocky Mountain and Texas regions has increased. This was the first quarter that our Rocky Mountain operation generated more E-Infrastructure revenue than transportation revenue. In addition, we are continuing to wind down our low-bid heavy highway work in Texas, which is nearing completion. Transportation Solutions adjusted operating margins reached 19.5% in the quarter, up more than 500 basis points from the prior year period, and adjusted operating income grew 8%. The strength in margins and profitability was driven by our focus on pursuing the most attractive opportunities within the transportation market. We ended the quarter with Transportation Solutions backlog at $969 million, a 35% year-over-year increase. This primarily reflects the conversion of unsigned backlog to signed backlog. On a combined backlog basis, Transportation Solutions is up 8% from second quarter 2025 and is down 11% from year-end 2025. Shifting to Building Solutions. Segment revenue declined 1% in the quarter, driven by relatively flat homebuilder activity and adjusted operating margins were 9.9%. We continue to anticipate that the residential market will face strong headwinds throughout 2026. The strength of Sterling's diversified portfolio and strategy to focus on growth in high-margin end markets enabled us to deliver another fantastic quarter. With that, I'd like to turn it over to Nick to give you more details on some of our financial metrics and 2026 guidance. Nick? Nicholas Grindstaff: Thanks, Joe, and good morning. I'll begin with our consolidated backlog metrics. Our second quarter backlog totaled $4.3 billion, a 116% year-over-year increase. Backlog increased 50% year-over-year on an organic basis despite the strong revenue burn in the quarter. Combined backlog of $5.6 billion increased 150% or 36% on an organic basis. Second quarter 2026 book-to-burn ratios were 1.4x for backlog and 1.3x for combined backlog, exclusive of the impact of the Stone Ridge acquisition. Turning to cash flow. Cash flow from operating activities for the first half of 2026 was $328 million. We expect continued strength in operating cash flow for the full year. Cash flow used in investing activities included $70 million of CapEx. Given the significant increase in our full year 2026 revenue expectation over the past 6 months and our visibility into future demand, we are increasing our CapEx guidance to $130 million to $140 million, which is a $30 million increase from prior guidance. These incremental investments in our fleet will drive productivity and expand capacity. First half 2026 cash flow from financing activities was a $48 million outflow, including share repurchases of $35 million at an average price of $511.18 per share. Remaining availability under the existing repurchase authorization was $339 million at the end of the quarter. We will remain opportunistic in our approach to share repurchases. Moving to our balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $464 million of cash and debt of $284 million for a cash net of debt balance of $181 million. On July 2, we closed on the extension and expansion of our revolving facilities to $1.5 billion and extended the maturity to July 2031. We used this facility to pay off our existing term loan. The amended facility provides additional flexibility as we look to grow the business, both organically and through M&A. Our current backlog, visibility, and strong market tailwinds position us for an even better year than we originally anticipated. We are increasing our guidance ranges for 2026 to reflect both the improved outlook for the core business as well as the addition of Stone Ridge. Our guidance ranges are revenue of $4 billion to $4.15 billion, diluted EPS of $17.25 to $17.85, adjusted diluted EPS of $19.70 to $20.30, EBITDA of $829 million to $854 million, adjusted EBITDA of $891 million to $916 million. Now, I will turn the call back to Joe. Joseph Cutillo: Thanks, Nick. Positive trends we've been talking about over the past several quarters have continued to accelerate. We're seeing projects become larger, more complex, and longer in duration, which reflects both the scale of what's being built and the importance of these assets to our customers. Our customers are asking us to do more. We are continuing to get pulled into new geographies because they know Sterling can deliver complex projects faster and safer than anyone else. Our customers' recognition of our critical contribution to their success has allowed us to participate in their long-term planning process. What we're seeing ahead is going to be far greater than we originally anticipated. Our focus today is making sure we stay ahead of what's coming. Internally, we are working to ensure that we have the right people, resources and capacity in place to support sustained strong growth in the years ahead. I'm going to hand the call over to Dan Govin, our Chief Operating Officer, to discuss some of these key areas of focus. Dan? Daniel Govin: Thanks, Joe. Planning for the future is a core part of our strategy. We aren't just focused on meeting today's demand. We're making the investments now in our people, equipment and capabilities that will support sustained growth for years to come. Our people remain our greatest competitive advantage. As our customers undertake larger, time-sensitive, mission-critical projects across the country, our experienced project managers and operating teams are setting us apart through exceptional operational execution. That's why we are increasing our investments in developing, attracting and retaining the industry's best talent. Through expanded recruiting efforts and training programs like Sterling Academy and CEC University, we're building the workforce skill sets that will support our accelerated growth. Combined with our strong reputation for safety, quality and execution, these investments position Sterling as the employer of choice, helping us to attract talent as we enter into new markets. We're also investing strategically in our equipment fleet. As we grow and upsize our fleet, we're increasing our capacity and improving productivity and operational efficiency in new geographies. This creates benefits that support margin expansion over time. At CEC, we are making great progress in ramping up production at our prefabrication facilities, which will drive productivity with our field electricians and provide cost savings. And finally, we're complementing these organic investments with tuck-in acquisitions. These acquisitions bring us strong local leadership while expanding our presence in attractive markets. The recent Stone Ridge acquisition is a great example of this strategy in action as it positions us well for coming activity in the Pacific Northwest. Together, these strategic investments ensure we're well positioned to capitalize on significant opportunities ahead. Now I will hand the call back to Joe. Joseph Cutillo: Thanks, Dan. Turning to our segment expectations for 2026. In E-Infrastructure Solutions, we continue to see exceptionally strong demand for large mission-critical infrastructure, and we believe this will support meaningful growth for many years to come. In the data center market, customer activity is stronger than ever. Projects are becoming larger, lasting longer and expanding into more markets across the country. Not only are we seeing more new projects, we're seeing many of our existing projects grow well beyond their original scope. Much of this incremental opportunity is not yet reflected in our backlog or future phase opportunities, giving us additional confidence in the runway ahead. With the CEC acquisition, we have broadened our capabilities and are even better positioned to serve our data center customers. In the semiconductor market, we are making very good progress on our Northeast project and are running ahead of schedule. We expect to generate significant revenue on this project in the third quarter with a weather-related slowdown in the fourth quarter. We believe our exceptional performance on this project will position us in the semiconductor market as the go-to solution for large complex projects, just like we have done in the data center market. In addition to the data centers and semiconductors, we are seeing some momentum in the broader manufacturing market. During the second quarter, we were awarded the initial scope of work on an electric vehicle plant in Atlanta. In addition, there are still several opportunities we believe could be awarded in 2026 or early 2027. For full year 2026, we now expect to deliver E-Infrastructure segment revenue growth of over 100%, including the contribution from CEC and Stone Ridge. We anticipate that the legacy site development business will grow at rates approaching 70% or higher as several of our large projects accelerate. Adjusted operating profit margins for E-Infrastructure are expected to be in the mid-20% range. In Transportation Solutions, we are in the final year of the current federal funding cycle, which concludes September 2026. We have built over 2 years of backlog and are continuing to pursue select attractive opportunities. For 2026, we are now anticipating a decline in Transportation Solutions revenue in the 7% to 10% range as we are shifting resources towards e-infrastructure work at a faster pace. We expect significant year-over-year adjusted operating margin expansion, roughly in the range of 150 to 200 basis points. In Building Solutions, we anticipate that revenue will decline modestly in 2026 and that adjusted operating margin will be in the high single to low double digits. We continue to see opportunities for share gain coming out of the down cycle. Shifting gears, as we look forward to the second half of the year and early 2027, we believe that the strong levels of bid activity we are seeing today will translate into strong awards. However, given the lumpiness in timing, we could see softer third quarter awards with higher levels in the fourth quarter and early 2027. This, coupled with our forecast for strong revenue burn in the third quarter could result in a sequential backlog decline in the third quarter. This would reflect award timing, not a change in demand. On the acquisition front, we are continuing to look for acquisitions that are the right strategic fit to enhance our service offering, expand our geographic footprint and add capacity. We are seeing more high-quality acquisition targets in the market today than a year ago. Moving to our full year 2026 guidance, the midpoints of our ranges versus prior year would represent a 64% revenue growth, an 84% adjusted EPS growth and a 79% adjusted EBITDA growth. With that, I'd like to turn it over for questions. Brent Thielman: Congrats on a great quarter. Joe, maybe first question, if I look at the backlog, you're up 2x where you were a year ago. You have Stone Ridge also contributing here in the back half. Maybe a little surprised you wouldn't see a bigger step-up in revenue in the second half. And I guess I'm wondering, are there longer than usual lead times associated with some of the backlog? Or just more work start kind of later in the year or 2027? Maybe you could just flesh that out. Joseph Cutillo: Yes. No, we feel very confident in the backlog that's there, Brent, and the projects are happening on schedule and taking place. I will tell you, we're being very conservative in the fourth quarter right now. We never know what the weather is going to be in the fourth quarter. If we have weather like last year, I think we'll have a much stronger fourth quarter than we have in our forecast. But frankly, we're just being conservative on the outlook. We got plenty of work ahead of us and plenty of opportunities coming, especially as we get into the fourth and first quarter, we see some really strong bid activity that's going to take place there. So no, nothing of a slowdown, more of a cautious behavior on us. We've raised guidance a couple of times. We've come up significantly in all the areas. We would have never expected CEC. We've had them about a year now, and we've doubled that business already. So we're seeing great progress, just the conservative nature we have. Brent Thielman: Yes. Understood. Okay. And then on that point on CEC, Joe, maybe just the profile of the new work awarded or pending. It seems like you've seen a huge step-up in award activity at the electrical business. Just talk about maybe how the size and scope has changed of some of the pursuits, maybe the profile of margins you're starting to see come through and kind of your thought process on how margins evolve for the business going forward? Joseph Cutillo: Yes. We're tickled to death with CEC and what they're doing. If we step back and think when we made the acquisition, we thought it would take us a year to fill their capacity, and we actually had talked about shifting some resources to the Southeast. We filled their capacity up in about 90 days. And as a result, they've grown nicely. I think what you don't see in the numbers is kind of what's happening and what's coming from CEC. One of the strategic things we said we're going to do is they're in some end markets with some services that we said we were going to get out of. We're in the process of getting out of those. It takes a little time. So when we look at the business, we look at it from the old pieces that we're getting out of and then the remaining business as it goes forward. And when we look at that piece, the margins are going up very, very nicely in that area. But also the job size is going up significantly. And I think one of the really rewarding things for us in the quarter, again, that doesn't show up is CEC is now getting the second buildings on data centers that they're at, which says they're performing at or above customer expectations and they're giving them the next phases and the next levels of work. So everything is coming together exactly as we had hoped. They're doing a great job. They're growing very, very rapidly and adding capacity. And we see, candidly, if we had 1,000 or 2,000 more electricians, we'd be growing it even faster. So we've got a lot of programs in place on not only developing the electricians, but we got a full recruiting team that's recruiting every week to bring those electricians in. So -- it's been great. The only downside, which is the only reason I could see that our stock is not up exponentially today and looks like it's down is the mix makes our margin look like it's lower. And if you look at every element of E-Infrastructure, margins were up in every single piece of it. The only thing that drove the difference in margin is mix. When we have CEC grow 140%, we love that. We'll take that all day long. When we have our Rocky Mountain business and we convert it from transportation to E-Infrastructure and they grow 700% in a year, we'll take that. Brent Thielman: Yes. Understood, Joe. I appreciate the clarification there. Just the last one, maybe an update on the cross-selling opportunities between for CEC and the legacy site development business and how that's progressing? Joseph Cutillo: Yes. So we're on more sites today than we were on in the second quarter. And as we look forward, a lot of the data centers that will be coming out, we've had -- let me step back. Let me just say this, we've had more opportunities to have joint efforts than we have capacity in the electrical side. So as we're building up that capacity, Brent, that number will grow. The reason it's not growing even faster than it is, it's growing faster than we thought. We thought it would take us until this time to be on our first one. We're on 3 or 4 now. It's just pure capacity. Our customers are asking us for it. If we had a union operation, I would tell you, we'd be on a semiconductor plant up in New York right now with the electrical side. So we're getting asked. They see the value proposition. Frankly, it's even stronger than we anticipated. We're pretty bullish on it. So we're very happy with that. The faster we can ramp up additional capacity or as you know, we're looking at -- continue to look at acquisitions in and around the space. We can add some capacity there, the more joint projects we'll be on. Louie Dipalma: Joe, you mentioned how the CEC has lower margins relative to site development and how the CEC margins should grow very nicely. From a high level, can you discuss like where like CEC margins could grow to in the long term? And just in general, explain why is there such a significant variation between the margins for site development versus electrical services? And could those margins converge over time? Joseph Cutillo: Yes. So let me make sure people don't get too delusional. We don't ever expect electrical margins to be up at the peak of our site development. There are so many more complexities and differences with the site development and things we can do to truly change the scope and drive productivity in those projects versus an electrical project that's pretty laid out, right? I mean the design is there, the amount of wire, et cetera, et cetera, I'm overly simplifying it, but it's laid out. So there's only so much you can get there. However, we're not happy with the margins nor CEC with where they are today. And as we move to a better mix of projects, we see 300 to 500 basis points on top of some things we're doing internally of margin improvement and we've said over 12 to 18 months. I think we'll see some of that sooner. The faster we get out of some of this other stuff, the faster that's going to come through. We're watching that very closely. We watch it every month, Louie, and we have seen great progress. The team is doing a fantastic job there. If I step back and think 3 to 5 years, I don't know why. Today, the electrical world is kind of low double-digit margins, call it, 10% to 12% EBITDA margins. I don't know why we can't get that close to 20%. I really don't. Based on the project size, scopes and the quality of the projects, that's our goal is over a long period of time to get there. And we've been pretty successful at driving margins in our businesses much higher than anybody else, and we feel like we can do the same. Louie Dipalma: Excellent color. And I was also wondering, could you provide more detail in terms of why the future phase work metric doesn't always capture the full visibility that you have in terms of your pipeline? Joseph Cutillo: Yes. Great question. One of the things is you spend enough time with us and most of the people on the phone spend enough time with us, we're pretty conservative. And if anything, we want to overperform and make people happy. But one of the things we do not include, and we're thinking about how we should be communicating this better is we're on a lot of projects today that have a defined scope to build out a piece of property. So let's just say we have 600 acres of land and they say we're going to build 5 buildings on the first 300 acres, and then we're going to build 5 buildings on the next 300 acres. We only talk about the first 300 acres, okay? We know that when they're finished with that, we're going to move the equipment to the next one. But that project hasn't been perfectly defined and articulated. But we know that on other projects we've been on, that happens. But the other thing that's happening, Louie, that it is a relatively new dynamic, is we are seeing them purchase incremental property on projects that we're on. So let's just say we're on a 300-acre project today. There happens to be one that's close to that. They have now purchased another 600 acres touching that property that they're going to expand and grow that. That's not in any of our numbers. Now we're there. We're working with the customers. We're working with them on plans. We're working with that on the future. These projects we historically have said have been 3 years. We just got out of our executive leadership team meeting, and we're looking at projects with our team. And a number of projects we're going to be on for 5 to 8 to 12 years if they continue to expand on this property is unbelievable. So we don't put any of that into right now our future phase book. And we're trying to figure out a way to still remain extremely conservative, but I don't feel like we're painting adequate picture for the outside community to understand when our guys say they're going to be on a job for 5 to 8 years, we don't talk about that a lot. We talk about the 3 years because that's the project scope we're doing. The people just don't understand the size and scope of these jobs and the duration. It is getting significantly bigger, which is perfect for us. Now remember, not only do we have the site side, now we have the electrical side that stays there after the site is done for another couple of years. So our visibility keeps getting better and better. Project size keeps growing. So we feel very confident the opportunity is much bigger than we've been talking about. But what it's also done strategically for us, is we had a very, very aggressive organic growth strategy put in place, we felt and a strategy to build that capacity. When we step back and we started looking at these projects and the size of the ones we're just on in addition to the ones that are coming, we said, my goodness, we've got to really accelerate the rate in which we're adding capacity just to keep up with this. So that's all exciting stuff. It's a challenge for us, obviously. We've always felt comfortable with 20% to 30% organic growth. This year, we're growing a hell of a lot more than that. And we've got to figure out how to keep up with that pace. Brian Brophy: Nice quarter. Can you give us a sense for how pricing and terms and conditions are trending within your E-Infra backlog today versus a year ago? Joseph Cutillo: We're not seeing anything fundamentally shift. We've seen a few attempts on the electrical side to add some terms and conditions into some things that we have not accepted, frankly. But we haven't really seen a fundamental shift in any of that, right? Nick, are you aware of that? Nicholas Grindstaff: No. Brian Brophy: Appreciate it. And then just touching on the capacity comments. Maybe a little bit more color on spare capacity that you have at the moment. Where are things tightest for you? How are you thinking about your ability to add project managers and equipment if we remain in this healthy demand environment that you're seeing? Joseph Cutillo: Yes. So definitely, the tightest is around electricians. I'll start there. That's always the tightest part of the market. Our teams have done a really good job at making sure we have an adequate supply or adequate number of electricians to do the jobs we have. It certainly has curtailed us from taking on more jobs than we could, frankly. There's more opportunities out there, some of the joint opportunities we talked about earlier. So we're working hard on that. As you get into the site side, we've done a really good job. But I will tell you, for the first time, we're getting really tight on the capacity piece. We've been able to flex up proactively. We've done some stuff proactively several years ago to make sure we're preparing for some of this. And as we're stretching further and further geographically, and let me remind everybody, geographic expansion for us historically when we had Plateau and Petillo was kind of one state further from where they were to maybe 2 states. Now we're serving the East part of Texas out of Atlanta and the west part of Texas out of Utah. That's a much further stretch than moving 1 or 2 states. So as a result, it requires a few more resources. You can't lever local resources as much if you can bounce around. So we're getting tight on the capacity there. So we're doing -- as Dan talked about, we're doing stuff on the equipment side. We're doing stuff on the people side. But another big part of this is we are going to have to make more acquisitions in and around the geographic expansions that we are, that we can add that pure human capital resource to execute these jobs. So I think as we go forward, we're starting to look at a little bit smaller players where we would like to have really large players, but unfortunately, there's really not that many out there and augmenting them with some of our resources. So we don't have to put a full team in Texas. We can put a partial team with an acquisition in Texas or in New Mexico or Oklahoma, wherever that may be. And that helps us build that capacity quicker and faster and it's a little bit of what we're doing with Stone Ridge, frankly, and why we made that acquisition. Alexander Rygiel: Very nice quarter, gentlemen. When additional phases of work come out, are these being competitively bid? Or do you find Sterling just basically directly negotiating on these additional phases? And kind of same question, but are you seeing an increase in competition for additional phases of work? Joseph Cutillo: Yes. So if we perform, which we have on every month, I'm not aware of anything where we've lost future phase of it. We generally are negotiating those prices with the customer on the future phase work. Unless it's an extreme change of scope, let's just say it's not part of our project and they want something else added to that project that's outside our normal scope, that would be a normal bid. We give them a number would not be atypical for them to maybe get another number. A perfect example of that is they need to put a road through to get to a new phase and they need paving and curbs and a bunch of stuff like that. They may ask us to give them a bid on that. We may subcontract that or they may bid it out to somebody else. But for the most part, once we're on the job, and this is really important, and I'll talk strategically on what we're doing and why we're advancing so quickly in Texas and some of the other markets is, the way our teams would tell you is once we plant our flag, we are there. We're not leaving. And that gives us an opportunity to drive project productivity along the way, as you've seen, our future phase work margins tend to get better than our early phase work, right? So we're going to be incredibly competitive to plant that flag. And then we're going to use productivity and technology to drive margins up through the rest of that project and get better margins for each of the phases as we go on. Alexander Rygiel: And secondly, can you speak to some of the other end markets that are seeing green shoots like pharma and semi and other factories? Joseph Cutillo: Yes. And then just back, the one thing I didn't answer is on the competition side. We always see local competition, especially when we go into a new market. There's a lot of small players. But generally, after we do one job, that gets a lot smaller. The first one is always the hardest one for us to get, frankly. But we have not seen an influx of major new players or anything along those lines, especially on these large jobs. Somebody wins a $20 million or $30 million data center in one of our markets, probably. We don't even generally look at those unless the customer forces us to. So those sort of things are going to continue to happen. But we haven't seen any major influx of large competitors in our markets. I'm sorry, what was the next question, please? Alexander Rygiel: Other end markets like pharma, semi and other factories, any progress there? Joseph Cutillo: Yes. So we're -- we still see all of that progressing. We think pharma is '28. Semis are around 2030. I will tell you the team up in New York is doing an outstanding job. I mean they've made -- not by name, but they've made all the local and some of the national news up there on how far ahead of schedule they are on this project. I will tell you that the general contractors on the job and the end customer on this job is extremely happy and frankly, has never seen progress like these guys are making. I think that's going to be the entry point to a lot more semiconductor plants for us coming around 2030. But I think there might be some intermediate opportunities on some facilities that are being built today in regions and geographies we have historically not been in that we may get pulled into. In addition, we saw the start of the EV plant in Atlanta, just outside of Atlanta this quarter. So we're seeing some mixed activities in the manufacturing space, one-off, two-offs, those sort of things. But we haven't seen any delays in the pharma or the next generation of semiconductors so far. Manish Somaiya: Congrats on the quarter. Joe, a couple of questions. One, from a big picture standpoint, obviously, we're seeing a lot of news about data centers being banned in a lot of new markets. I guess there was an article yesterday on Texas on Greg Abbott banning new data center approvals. Maybe if you could just help us understand the dynamics of what's going on, on the ground because obviously, you're closer to what's happening. Are things really getting delayed? Or is it just politics as usual? That's my first question. Joseph Cutillo: Yes. We haven't -- we certainly -- we haven't seen anything that's impacted any of our schedules at this time. There's going to be states. I think people have to realize, there's going to be states and geographies that will never have data centers or will have very few in New York, seems to be against everything that brings revenue to the state and they have banned the data centers is one of those. In Texas, they're moving forward very quickly. I think we'll continue to see like anything new and anything big, there's always the political side that's raising ruckus, I guess, is the best way to put it. But so far, we have not seen any issues or delays with the projects we're on nor the projects coming. Do I think realistically down the road, could there be other supply chain delays once the build starts out on some of these projects? I think some of the upstream or downstream, however you want to look at it, supply chain elements or the companies are getting pressured on capacity and stuff. You certainly could see some of that stuff. But on the site side, they want to get that done as soon as possible. It's the only place they can pick up time and be prepared. So we have not seen any delays there. And candidly, on the electrical side, our teams have not seen any -- they may see a week delay or a couple of days, but I have not seen anything of significance that's concerned us. Manish Somaiya: That's helpful, Joe. And then just on the E-Infrastructure margins, obviously, in the second quarter, we had about 24.1%. I think you addressed some of the factors there. Mix was a big factor. But how should we think about normalized margins at least for this year and possibly into '27? And perhaps if you can just kind of help us understand where the margin improvement for CEC is coming from? I think you mentioned 12 to 18 months. But if you can just kind of help us understand the different buckets of margin improvement. And then finally, on Stone Ridge, I guess, the margins there are mid-teens. If you can also kind of frame that same pathway for us. Joseph Cutillo: Yes. So let me step back a little bit in time when we bought Plateau, who has fantastic margins today, their margins were in that 15% to 18% range. And it's taken us a few years, and we've moved those margins up significantly. If you take a look at the Plateau business, they're getting close to peak margins. They'll still have some small incremental gains, but we're not going to see the monumental gains in that business that we've seen projects change to a further degree. But in the rest of our E-Infrastructure pieces, the Petillo business has always been a lower-margin business. As they're getting into bigger and bigger jobs, data centers, chip plants, those margins will come up. Margins on bigger jobs are better. Our Rocky Mountain Transportation business that we've shifted, grown 700% into E-Infrastructure. E-Infrastructure margins there, even with their small equipment suite, even with what they're doing from not being vertically integrated as an example, are still significantly better than transportation. But it's going to take us a little time to do some vertical integration. We don't have enough critical mass in the market to make vertical integration worth its while, right? So as we build enough critical mass, as we build up their equipment suite and the really simple way to think of it is, if I have a bucket that's 3x the size of an existing bucket for every scoop, I scoop 3x as much dirt. It's really that simple, right? So it takes me 1/3 the time to move the dirt. So we'll continue to improve and grow their equipment suites, their margins have come up. On CEC, there's really 2 big drivers here. One is we're getting out of some legacy business segments that have relatively low margin, that will improve their margin, right? It's just portfolio management. The second piece is, as they're getting more and more engaged on these data centers and the data centers are getting bigger, we're watching their margins go up as job sizes go up. So it's a combination of things. So we'll continue to see those go up. Where people are going to get confused every single quarter because it's not perfect math, is the mix of that is going to change. And when CEC grows at a much greater rate than E-Infrastructure, it's going to appear our margins are going down, even though their margins are going up and site development margins are going up, it's -- that's just mix. There's nothing we can do. But if you look at the returns we're getting on the dollars and the growth, I think most people would take that any day of the week. Manish Somaiya: So just quickly then, Joe, if you can just help us frame what the legacy E-Infrastructure margins are versus what the CEC margins are? Joseph Cutillo: Do you have the exact numbers, Nick, on what that is? Nicholas Grindstaff: In the second quarter on an adjusted basis were on the high 20s. Joseph Cutillo: Yes. So you're looking at -- if you take the site side, you're in upper 20s and the CEC side, roughly 12%. So there's a big difference. It's over 2x the margin profile. So it doesn't take a lot of mix shift or incremental growth in CEC to dilute the overall margin. That's just for the quarter. Sangita Jain: Can I follow up on the margin question? I kind of just want to understand the go-forward guidance and whether it's a function of CEC growing a lot faster than you had anticipated, let's say, a few months ago when you gave us this guidance? Joseph Cutillo: Yes. So the easy way to think of margins is if you take E-Infrastructure, you break it down into site development and electrical, right? We'll keep it that simple. In the quarter, we saw improved margins in site and electrical. But the revenue mix of the electrical being growing at a much faster rate brings down that overall margin. As we go to the rest of the year, the margin is diluted by the accelerated growth rate of CEC, okay? So it's really -- this is purely mix, we're not losing margin in our businesses. I want to make sure everybody understands that. This is purely a mix of revenue that drives that. And then the other piece you have on the site side, where we saw the increase -- the trajectory of growth in margins slow down is we have, 1, new projects where the beginning phases of new projects are lower. But 2, we also have that 700% growth in the Rocky Mountains transportation business, which has that smaller equipment suite that isn't vertically integrated, grow at a faster rate than our Southeast business. So when that happens, their margins are lower. I will tell you that. Their margins are improving, but they're still lower than our Southeast margins. So that blend makes it appear that the total margin is down, but the individual elements are all going in the right direction. Noelle Dilts: So relative to our previous expectations, yes, the growth at CEC has been higher and the ramp on some of those newer projects have been faster. Adam Thalhimer: Great quarter. Joe, the E-Infrastructure orders came in at a record level, and I couldn't believe that they're even up sequentially. Can you give more color about what was in there and maybe how much Stone Ridge added? Joseph Cutillo: Yes. So what makes it even more impressive is that we're able to do that on a really strong revenue quarter, which is always tough to do. Nick, do you want to go through some of the backlog numbers? Stone Ridge certainly added some of that. CEC had a great quarter with their bookings on that. I don't know, Nick, if you have the detailed numbers there. Nicholas Grindstaff: Yes. So CEC was at about $2.4 billion combined backlog for the quarter, June. Stone Ridge was then at about $140 million for committed backlog signed and I think it's $140 million for signed backlog. Joseph Cutillo: Yes. The biggest driver, though, for the quarter, CEC has some great bookings. And Adam, what they are, that's the next phases and next sets of buildings of projects that they're currently on. So for us, everybody likes to look at just the pure raw number, but what's really encouraging for us is the fact that they are winning those next phases and winning those next level of projects, which is just proof in the pudding that they're executing well. They're delivering to the customer. They're doing what they need. And as part of the portfolio, we see the same thing happening with them as we have with Plateau or RLW or Petillo. Adam Thalhimer: Got it. Okay. And then, Joe, your comment about the potential for softer Q3 awards. I think you talked about the stock being down. That's probably the biggest reason. Can you provide additional color on what you meant by that and maybe more color on what you're seeing in the bidding? Joseph Cutillo: It's just timing. I wish we could get our customers to bid equal amounts every quarter through the year and make our lives a lot easier. But the reality is they don't. We can have a quarter where they bid 3 or 4 new projects and we look like the greatest things and sliced spread. In the next quarter, they bid one or none. It's just the timing of their cycle when it comes out. The important thing for us, and I get if you're not kind of in the mix of things, people are looking for indicators. But for us, we're in conversations with them all the time. We know what's coming. As long as we know what's coming, we feel good. When it hits, less of a concern for us, right, whether it's third quarter or fourth quarter. But we see really strong activity that's going to take place in the fourth quarter and first quarter of next year. And there's just a little bit of a lull in the third quarter. So we're trying to give people a heads up that we see that coming. We know it's coming. Don't panic. It's not a problem. But instead of telling people after the facts, when we know it's -- that's just going to probably happen. Could something slip in the third quarter and we look like idiots and it comes in early, possibly, but I wouldn't plan that. Julio Romero: Maybe starting off here, you recently upsized the revolver to $1.5 billion. You're carrying a net cash position. How should we think about that? Should we read that larger facility as kind of the M&A acquisition candidate size moving up? Is it purely optionality? Just help us think about that here. Joseph Cutillo: Yes. Nick, do you want to answer that? Nicholas Grindstaff: Yes, sure. I mean we upsized the facility certainly to take advantage of opportunities for acquisitions and to have that dry powder to be able to execute on those. Also, we paid off our existing term loan and moved to an all-revolver structure. And so we enhanced pricing. We added some key relationship banks to the mix. And so overall, I feel really good about our revolver and how it positions us going forward. Joseph Cutillo: On the uses, there's no question, we've always been acquisitive. Our acquisitions turned out pretty good. If we could double every acquisition like CEC in a year, I think we get the acquisition price of a year. I don't know if that is. So we've been very good. We're going to need to add more acquisitions for capacity. With what we're seeing, the part that everybody is missing, put down the newspapers, reading the craziness that's out there. What we are seeing just from our top hyperscalers, the amount of work that is coming, we have to add capacity significantly faster just to keep up with them. That's not including all the other players that are entering the market and building stuff. It is unbelievable what is coming down the tracks. And so we are going to have to make more acquisitions, not only just from a strategic geographic standpoint, but from a pure capacity add standpoint to keep up with that demand that's coming. Julio Romero: Excellent. And kind of relates to my follow-up here is just CEC is running well ahead of the revenue expectations you set at the announcement. Obviously, it's making up more of the infrastructure mix as we've talked about today. And I'm curious how that and your comments about more capacity needed related to your M&A priorities, kind of ranking them today, where do your priorities kind of sit at with regards to geographical, electrical versus specialty mechanical, more site development? Just help us think about those priorities here. Joseph Cutillo: Yes. The answer is a little bit of all of the above. But if you would ask me kind of in the third quarter last year after we purchased CEC, would you look for more electrical capacity in the Texas market? I would have said no, we're probably going to focus more on the Southeast. Today, if the right opportunities came up, I would add 2 or 3 more CECs to the Texas market. That's how big we believe that market is going to be. We certainly would like to add the electrical capabilities in the Southeast. We think that's obviously a large market for us and the value proposition is the same. So we continue to look hard for the right acquisition in that market. And then on the site side, especially as we're moving further and further from the west east and from the east west to Texas and some of the surrounding markets, the Texas market is going to be bigger in the next 3 years than any other market related to data centers, everything else. It is coming. And I guess there's always something that could stop it, but I don't know what that is right now. And so we're working really, really hard on what do we need to do to add that incremental capacity today to start getting ahead of that curve, just like we did with Stone Ridge because we believe in '20 -- late '27, '28, some of the upper Pacific Northwest areas are going to start taking off as well. I sound like a broken record, but we have great visibility to multiyear projects that are coming and we are continuing to position ourselves to be there. So we look really smart when they come out, but it's just our customers telling us where they're going. Operator: Thank you. That concludes our question-and-answer session for today. I would now like to turn the conference call back over to Joe Cutillo for the closing remarks. Joseph Cutillo: Great. I want to thank everybody again for joining our call today. If you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to contact Noelle Dilts. Our contact information can be found in the press release. Thanks, everybody, and have a great day. Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, the conference call has now ended. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect your lines. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. If you’d invested $5,000 then, you’d be sitting on $2,907,996 today.* Now, for the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. It’s a key player in the $1.8 trillion space race, and with the stock recently sitting 20% off its highs, the window to get in early is closing fast. Continue » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 3, 2026 This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. 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