Oct 29, 2026 earnings call — Guidance raised and infrastructure growth
Raised 2026 revenue guidance to $4.63 billion-$4.73 billion.
Revenue $1.6B (est $1.2B) · EPS $7.58 (est $6.20) · Next-quarter revenue outlook $4.6B–$4.7B
Key quotes
"I'll begin with E-Infrastructure Solutions, where mission-critical demand, accelerating project activity, and outstanding execution drove another excellent quarter."
"Our total scoped work, which includes signed backlog, unsigned awards, and the next phases being designed on our current projects, now totals nearly $8 billion, up approximately 90% year over year."
"We are raising our 2026 guidance ranges as follows: Revenue of $4.63 billion-$4.73 billion, diluted EPS of $19.16-$19.42, adjusted diluted EPS of $21.70-$21.96, EBITDA of $905 million-$916 million."
Analyst Q&A 8
Why margins fall in Q4 and 2027 view
Q (Manish Somaiya · Cantor): He asked how to bridge the fall in implied Q4 margins versus Q3, whether Q4 is the margin trough, and how to think about margins entering 2027 given backlog and organic growth.
A: Management said Q4 has normal seasonality and they are being conservative on weather versus 2025. They said growth of the electrical (CEC) business lowers blended margins because it has more material and less capital intensity, but they have improved CEC margins and expect further improvement. On backlog, unsigned awarded contracts can roll into backlog in a quarter or a couple quarters, and thousands of permitted, powered acres give multi-year work visibility.
"we've made great progress in what we said early on is we were going to improve margins in that business 300 to 500 basis points in 18 to 24 months" — Joe Cutillo (CEO)
Power for campuses and CEC capacity
Q (Brent Thielman · Oppenheimer): He asked whether new campuses in the pipeline already have power connections, how CEC can grow given labor and supply constraints, and whether new geographies are dragging site margins.
A: Management said they are not aware of ever starting a campus without power; projects are permitted, powered, and ready to go. For CEC, they are hiring electricians quickly (about 80 a week in Texas), pursuing small/mid acquisitions, and building an IMS prefab facility to raise capacity and productivity. On site development, new geographies still show margin improvement and a Micron material purchase lowered blended margins on that job but future phases will be more typical.
"The last number I saw, we were hiring roughly 80 a week, just in the state of Texas." — Joe Cutillo (CEO)
Timing of bookings and Texas, PNW expansion
Q (Noel Levitz · William Blair): He asked if the expected Q4/early-2027 bookings are still on track and whether they will be large, and he asked for specifics on Texas exposure (West vs East) and Pacific Northwest timing. He also asked why CapEx steps down to $140 million.
A: Management said the projects expected in Q4 and early 2027 are still progressing and could shift by weeks, but they remain confident these larger, longer projects will contribute in 2027. They said Texas will be the largest data center state in the next five years, they have more opportunity than current capacity, and Pacific Northwest data center activity is expected later (late 2027 or 2028) though they are already doing some work there. On CapEx, management said the sequential step is timing and they will supplement CapEx with leasing and rentals.
"We have got more. I guess the simple way to put it is we got more opportunity than we have capacity right now, and we are trying to figure out how to get more capacity to take that." — Joe Cutillo (CEO)
CEC quarter repeatability and margin trade-offs
Q (Kurt Yinger · D.A. Davidson): He asked whether the strong Q3 CEC revenue ('burn') is repeatable or if Q4 conservatism explains it, and whether planting flags on long projects forces margin trade-offs for visibility and customer selection.
A: Management said there's no reason Q3 performance can't be repeated but they built conservatism for weather and holiday crew scheduling into Q4. They explained the first phase of projects is always the lowest margin and margins rise as phases progress and as they vertically integrate services over time. On timing to vertically integrate new geographies, they said it is typically a 24-36 month runway to reach scale before buying businesses.
"it's really a 24-36 month kind of runway, if I was going to give kind of a ballpark or average." — Joe Cutillo (CEO)
Stone Ridge outperformance and tuck-ins
Q (Quinten Helmer · Stifel): He asked whether Stone Ridge's outperformance was a one-off from the Micron job and what trajectory to expect from tuck-in acquisitions on site development.
A: Management said the Micron work was won because of strong performance on a New York job, not because of Stone Ridge specifically, and that this led to additional work in Idaho using their RLW business. They view the semiconductor opportunity as a long runway and said delivering value on current projects helps win similar big jobs in the future.
"The Micron job really is not related to Stone Ridge." — Joe Cutillo (CEO)
Permitting noise and margin direction
Q (Sangita Jain · KeyBanc): She asked how pushback on rural data center activity and permitting noise changes how they manage risk on large bookings, and whether advancing existing jobs or geographic expansion will drive future site margins.
A: Management said there's currently confusion in permitting (they gave a Texas TCEQ example) but they are not seeing customers back away from projects, and they expect clarity after the election. They stressed they have multi-year, permitted, powered land and would adapt (build faster or buy more land) if permitting creates delays. On margins, they said site margins did not go backwards and they expect continued advancement as projects move into later phases.
"I think after the election, a lot of this goes away, and it'll become very clear." — Joe Cutillo (CEO)
Acquisition growth timeline and inflation impact
Q (Adam Thalhimer · Thompson Davis): He asked whether the comment about growing earnings 50%+ with acquisitions was a multi-year view or a 2027 target, and how much diesel or inflation hurt Q3 margins.
A: Management said the 50%+ growth with acquisitions is a multi-year opportunity, not a single-year (2027) promise, and acquisitions are a wildcard that can accelerate growth beyond organic levels. On diesel and inflation, they said their contract structure largely mitigates those inputs, the impact is small, and they manage through it rather than highlight it as a major issue.
"So it's not 2027. This is what we think we could do over a multi-year." — Joe Cutillo (CEO)
Pace of capacity adds and customer finance
Q (Julio Romero · Sidoti & Company): He asked how to think about the pace and visibility of capacity adds over the next four to five years and how customer financing or payment terms affect customer selection.
A: Management said they feel comfortable targeting 20%-30% organic growth over the next several years but noted faster growth will require acquisitions to add capacity and free traveling crews. They said customer financing has not changed materially; most customers are top tier and financially stable, and a step-up in receivables this quarter was timing from starting many first phases.
"We said over the next several years we can grow 20%-30% organically and feel comfortable with that." — Joe Cutillo (CEO)