Sterling Reports Strong Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results and Issues Full Year 2026 Guidance

• Revenues of $755.6 million. Revenues increased 51% on a GAAP basis. The CEC acquisition contributed $129.1 million to revenue in the quarter.
• Net income of $87.6 million, or $2.81 per diluted share. Earnings per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2024 were $3.64 on a GAAP basis, or $1.46 per diluted share excluding the RHB-related one-time gain.
• EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $140.6 million. This compares to prior-year EBITDA of $167.4 million as reported, or $76.2 million excluding the RHB-related one-time gain.

Adjusted Results:

• Revenue increased 69% excluding RHB from fourth quarter of 2024.
• Adjusted net income⁽¹⁾ of $96.0 million, or $3.08 per diluted share, increases of 78% for both metrics.
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $142.1 million, an increase of 70%.

Additional Financial Metrics: 

• Cash flows from operations totaled $440.0 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2025.
• Cash and cash equivalents totaled $390.7 million at December 31, 2025.
• Backlog at December 31, 2025 was $3.01 billion, up 78% from prior year. The CEC acquisition contributed $488.9 million to backlog; excluding this contribution, backlog increased 49%.
• Combined backlog⁽²⁾ at December 31, 2025 was $3.31 billion, up 81% from prior year. The CEC acquisition contributed $715.2 million to combined backlog; excluding this contribution, combined backlog increased 42%.
• Share repurchases totaled $25.7 million in the quarter at an average price of $310.09 per share.

• For the full year ended December 31, 2025, revenue increased by 18% on a GAAP basis, or 32% excluding RHB from the 2024 period, to $2.49 billion.
• The Company reported net income of $290.2 million, or $9.38 per diluted share in 2025, versus $257.5 million, or $8.27 per diluted share in 2024.
• Adjusted net income⁽¹⁾ increased 53% to $336.7 million, or $10.88 per diluted share in 2025, versus $220.7 million, or $7.09 per diluted share in 2024.
• EBITDA⁽¹⁾ increased 15% to $472.0 million in 2025, versus $410.9 million in 2024.
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ increased 47% to $503.8 million in 2025, versus $343.8 million in 2024.

"2025 was another outstanding year for Sterling as we grew adjusted net income by 53% to deliver adjusted diluted EPS of $10.88, surpassing the upper end of our previously guided range. Additionally, we grew revenue by 32% as adjusted for RHB, and adjusted EBITDA margin exceeded 20% for the first time in Sterling's history. Further, we generated strong operating cash flow of $440 million," stated Joe Cutillo, Sterling's Chief Executive Officer. We are very proud of our teams and all that they have accomplished this year."

Mr. Cutillo continued, "The strength of our portfolio was also evident in our fourth quarter results, as we delivered top line growth of 69% and organic growth of 36%, as adjusted. Bottom-line performance was even stronger with adjusted diluted earnings per share rising 78% to reach $3.08. Gross profit margins in the quarter of 22% marked a new fourth quarter record, as we have shifted the business toward higher-margin service offerings. The combination of strong revenue growth and gross margin expansion contributed to adjusted EBITDA growth of 70%.

Looking forward, we remain extremely positive on our outlook. We ended the year with signed backlog of $3.0 billion, which grew 78% from year end 2024, and 49% on a same-store basis. Combined backlog grew 81% from year end 2024 and 42% on a same-store basis. Fourth quarter book to burn ratios were 1.64x for backlog and 0.81x for combined backlog. Further, our pipeline of high-probability future phase work continues to grow and now totals over $1 billion. All together, our signed backlog, unsigned awards, and future phase opportunities give us visibility into a pool of work approaching $4.5 billion. In addition, bid activity in early 2026 has been very strong and we have good visibility into sizable awards in the first half of 2026."

Mr. Cutillo added, "Taking a deeper look at our segment results in the fourth quarter, in E-Infrastructure Solutions, we achieved 123% revenue growth and 91% adjusted operating income growth, driven by a combination of strong organic growth and contributions from the CEC acquisition. Revenue for the legacy site development business increased 67% and operating margins were flat with prior year levels. Trends in the electrical business remain positive, with revenue growth of 21% over the pre-acquisition fourth quarter 2024 and margins that were in line with our expectations. E-Infrastructure signed backlog increased 79% from year-end 2024 and 31% on a same-store basis. Mission-critical work, which we define as data center, manufacturing, and semiconductor, represented 84% of our E-Infrastructure backlog at year end. Additionally, we are gaining traction in our efforts to cross-sell CEC's mission-critical electrical services and Sterling's best-in-class site development services.

Transportation Solutions revenue increased 24% and adjusted operating income grew 103%, driven by strength in our Rocky Mountain market, strong execution, and mix shift toward higher-margin projects. The downsizing of our low-bid Texas heavy highway business is progressing to plan, which should continue to benefit margins as we move through 2026.

In Building Solutions, revenue declined 9% and adjusted operating income declined 35%. Our residential businesses continues to be impacted by the slowdown in the housing market, as prospective homebuyers are facing affordability challenges. We remain bullish on the multi-year demand trends in our key geographies, but expect soft market conditions to persist in the near term."

"We believe 2026 will be another excellent year for Sterling. We are initiating 2026 guidance that reflects the strong momentum across the business, backlog position, and visibility into future opportunities. The midpoints of our 2026 guidance would represent 25% year-over-year revenue growth, 26% adjusted diluted earnings per share growth and 28% adjusted EBITDA growth," Mr. Cutillo concluded.

Full Year 2026 Guidance

• Revenue of $3.05 billion to $3.20 billion
• Net Income of $365 million to $384 million
• Diluted EPS of $11.65 to $12.25
• EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $587 million to $620 million

Full Year 2026 Adjusted Guidance

Please see the "Adjusted Net Income Guidance Reconciliation" and "EBITDA Guidance Reconciliation" sections below for reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP measures and comparable 2025 results.

• Adjusted Net Income⁽¹⁾ of $422 million to $441 million
• Adjusted Diluted EPS⁽¹⁾ of $13.45 to $14.05
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $626 million to $659 million

Sterling's management will hold a conference call to discuss these results and recent corporate developments on Thursday, February 26, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. ET/8:00 a.m. CT. Interested parties may participate in the call by dialing (800) 836-8184. Please call in 10 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. Following management's opening remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

To listen to a simultaneous webcast of the call, please go to the Company's website at www.strlco.com at least 15 minutes early to download and install any necessary audio software. If you are unable to listen live, the conference call webcast will be archived on the Company's website for 30 days.

About Sterling

Sterling 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."

Important Information for Investors and Stockholders

Non-GAAP Measures

This press release contains "Non-GAAP" financial measures as defined under Regulation G of the amended U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company reports financial results in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), but the Company believes that certain Non-GAAP financial measures provide useful supplemental information to investors regarding the underlying business trends and performance of the Company's ongoing operations and are useful for period-over-period comparisons of those operations.

Non-GAAP measures may include adjusted net income, adjusted operating income, adjusted EPS, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA, in each case excluding the impacts of certain identified items. The excluded items represent items that the Company does not consider to be representative of its normal operations. The Company believes that these measures are useful for investors to review, because they provide a consistent measure of the underlying financial results of the Company's ongoing business and, in the Company's view, allow for a supplemental comparison against historical results and expectations for future performance. Furthermore, the Company uses each of these to measure the performance of the Company's operations for budgeting and forecasting, as well as for determining employee incentive compensation. However, Non-GAAP measures should not be considered as substitutes for net income, EPS, or other data prepared and reported in accordance with GAAP and should be viewed in addition to the Company's reported results prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Reconciliations of Non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measures are provided in the tables included within this press release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that are considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which may include statements about: the anticipated benefits of the CEC acquisition; our business strategy; our financial strategy; our industry outlook; our guidance; our expected margin growth; our pool of future work; and our plans, objectives, expectations, forecasts, outlook and intentions. All of these types of statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this press release, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "plan," "project," "intend," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "pursue," "target," "guidance," "continue," the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are largely based on our expectations, which reflect estimates and assumptions made by our management. These estimates and assumptions reflect our best judgment based on currently known market conditions and other factors. Although we believe such estimates and assumptions to be reasonable, they are inherently uncertain and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that are beyond our control. In addition, management's assumptions about future events may prove to be inaccurate. Management cautions all readers that the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are not guarantees of future performance, and we cannot assure any reader that such statements will be realized or the forward-looking events and circumstances will occur. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements due to factors listed in the "Risk Factors" section in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and elsewhere in those filings. Additional factors or risks that we currently deem immaterial, that are not presently known to us or that arise in the future could also cause our actual results to differ materially from our expected results. Given these uncertainties, investors are cautioned that many of the assumptions upon which our forward-looking statements are based are likely to change after the date the forward-looking statements are made. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as a result of new information, future events or developments, changed circumstances, or otherwise, notwithstanding any changes in our assumptions, changes in business plans, actual experience or other changes. These cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf.

Company Contact:
Sterling Infrastructure, Inc.
Noelle Dilts, VP Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy
281-214-0795

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SOURCE Sterling Infrastructure, Inc.