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MTRX earnings call analysis

MTRX. AI-assisted transcript summaries focused on management tone, evasions, goalpost moving, catalysts, risks, and data-center exposure.

4 storedOct 9, 2026

Research summary and source transcript

readyOct 9, 2026

MTRX's FY2026 Q3 call is best read as a thesis-quality check, not a transcript recap. The upside case is that AI and compute-heavy infrastructure demand are becoming real drivers of customer activity. The key investor question is whether that activity converts into durable revenue, royalties, margins, and cash flow rather than remaining a strong-sounding demand story.

Framework #1 asks what management may know now that the market may not fully recognize for 6-24 months. For MTRX, the possible information gradient is whether current demand, backlog, customer activity, or AI/data-center engagement is an early signal of durable conversion rather than a one-quarter narrative. The transcript still needs follow-through in future quarters before that can be treated as proven.

The business engine appears to be demand conversion into revenue at acceptable incremental margins; the fallback needs management's KPIs and historical conversion data to grade it more precisely.

  • Management centered the story on AI, compute, or data-center demand, which is the key thesis variable to verify in future quarters.
  • Backlog and demand visibility were important to the quarter's credibility.
  • Profitability and margin durability should be treated as quality-of-revenue checks, not just headline metrics.
  • Customer renewal and new-logo activity are the clearest checks on whether demand is broadening.
  • Management's strongest emphasis appears to be around demand momentum and AI/compute-related opportunity; the useful investor question is whether that enthusiasm is backed by conversion and customer economics.

The tone reads constructive but still needs investor skepticism. Management appears to have enough operating evidence to discuss momentum, but the call only becomes high-quality if the numbers support conversion, margins, cash flow, and customer breadth. Local fallback reason: model analysis failed during on-demand transcript rendering: Earnings call analyzer failed with status 403..

  • No clear dodged analyst question was detected by the local fallback; manual review should still check whether Q&A answers quantified conversion, margins, and guidance.
  • There may be a benchmark or metric-framing issue worth manual review, especially around adjusted metrics, timelines, or changed expectations.

Competitive position looks potentially improving, but not proven. Customer activity and AI/compute exposure suggest the company may be in the right demand pools; the missing proof is market-share data, pricing power, win/loss detail, and retention economics.

  • Key figure to verify: As it relates to our revenue guidance, the revenue movement I mentioned does contribute to a 2.2% reduction in the midpoint of our guidance range from what was $900 million to a new midpoint of $880 million.
  • Key figure to verify: The collective result was in line with our balance sheet position, will increase our cash balance by nearly 20 million, and will allow us to reduce our legal spend in the future.
  • Key figure to verify: Our opportunity pipeline remains strong at 6.9 billion, which represents not only our traditional LNG business, but the addition of more opportunities in mining minerals, power generation, and data center related activities.
  • Key figure to verify: Second, over 30 million of our electrical-related awards received in the quarter are directly related to the build-out of data centers and enhanced power demand.
  • Key figure to verify: Revenue increased to $206.7 million in the quarter, as compared to $200.2 million in the third quarter last year.
  • The quarter appears to be moving from story to evidence: operating momentum is showing up in revenue, royalties, or backlog rather than only in management narrative.
  • Customer activity looks healthier than a one-quarter spike because the transcript points to both retention/renewal work and new-account activity.
  • AI and data-center exposure look strategically relevant rather than cosmetic, because management ties demand to compute-heavy end markets instead of treating it as a generic buzzword.
  • Profitability is a quality signal here, but the investment value depends on whether margins can hold as mix, hiring, and customer concentration evolve.
  • The main open question is conversion: AI or data-center engagement has to turn into recurring royalties, cash flow, and repeatable design wins before it deserves full credit in valuation.
  • Backlog lowers some demand uncertainty, but investors still need timing, cancellation risk, concentration, and conversion economics before treating it as de-risked revenue.
  • Margin strength is not itself a risk; the risk is whether that margin level is sustainable if revenue mix, investment spend, or pricing changes.
  • There is enough downside language in the transcript to require follow-up on execution, timing, or disclosure quality rather than reading the quarter as fully clean.

The data-center angle appears investable but still needs sizing. The call connects the company to AI or compute-heavy infrastructure demand, which is directionally positive, but the thesis should depend on how much of that activity becomes durable revenue, royalties, and cash conversion rather than on thematic exposure alone.

  • How much of the AI or data-center engagement converts into recurring royalties or repeat revenue within the next four quarters?
  • What portion of backlog is cancellable, delayed, concentrated, or dependent on a small number of customers?
  • Can current margin levels persist as mix, headcount, and product investment change?
  • Did management quantify cash conversion and operating leverage, or only highlight revenue and demand?
  • Are customer wins broad enough to imply share gain rather than a few isolated projects?

FY2026 Q3 earnings call transcript

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NASDAQ:MTRX Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript Generated on 10/9/2026 Operator | Conference Operator: Good morning and welcome to the Matrix Service Company conference call to discuss results for the third quarter of fiscal 2026. Currently, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session and instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. John Hewitt, President and CEO for Matrix Service Company.

John Hewitt | President & Chief Executive Officer

Good morning, everyone. Before we get started, I want to take the opportunity to introduce two individuals joining our call today for the first time. First is Patrick Roberts, who has added investor relations to his current role, which also includes corporate development and strategic planning. Next is Sean Payne, currently Chief Operating Officer, who, as you know, will take the reins as President and CEO on July 1st. Sean is currently at a major project kickoff in Houston and will not be with us for the Q&A portion of this earnings call. that will be joining us at upcoming investor conferences and on other scheduled calls. With that, I'll turn the call over to Patrick.

Patrick Roberts | Investor Relations, Corporate Development & Strategic Planning

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Matrix Service Company's third quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call. As John mentioned, participants on today's call include Chief Executive Officer John Hewitt, Chief Operating Officer Sean Payne, and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Cavanaugh. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the call up for questions. The presentation materials referred to during the webcast today can be found under Events and Presentations on the Investor Relations section of matrixservicecompany.com. As a reminder, on today's call, we may make various remarks about future expectations, plans, and prospects for Matrix Service Company that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements. Because of various factors, including those discussed in our most recent annual report on form 10 K and in subsequent filings made by the company with the SEC. The forward looking statements made today are effective only as as of today. To the extent we utilize non gap measures reconciliations will be provided in various press releases periodic SEC filings and on our website. Related to investor conferences and corporate access opportunities, Matrix will be participating in the Sedoti MicroCat virtual conference on May 20th and 21st, and will also be participating in the Stiefel Cross-Sector Insights Conference on June 2nd and 3rd in Boston, and the Northland Growth Virtual Conference on June 23rd. If you'd like additional information on these events or would like to have a conversation with management, I invite you to contact me through the Matrix Service Company Investor Relations website. Turning now to safety, as we begin our earnings call, I want to take a moment to recognize that May is Mental Health Awareness Month. At Matrix, we believe that safety goes beyond physical well-being. Mental health is just as important. In our industry, the pressures of strenuous work and extended periods away from home can take a significant toll. Unfortunately, the construction industry faces some of the highest rates of suicide, making it critical for us to address these challenges directly. But quite honestly, whether you work in the construction industry or elsewhere, Each of us face challenges in life that can put our mental health at risk, and we need to know that resources are available. And it's okay to ask for help. Matrix is committed to reducing the stigma surrounding mental health. We strive to foster an environment where everyone feels comfortable seeking support, and we provide resources to help our employees take care of themselves and each other. By prioritizing both physical and mental safety, we reaffirm that every aspect of our team's well-being is paramount. We encourage each of you to do the same. Together, we can make a difference and ensure that no one feels alone. I will now turn the call over to John.

John Hewitt | President & Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Patrick, and good morning again, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I want to highlight many of the key events that have happened in the quarter that will provide clarity on the progress we are making on our win, execute, and deliver strategy. First, the business return to profitability in the quarter, as we earned 13 cents for a fully diluted share on an adjusted basis. despite revenue levels being impacted by client-related delays and weather during the quarter. We expect revenues to climb in Q4 and profitable performance to continue. The lower revenues in Q3 principally came in our book work caused by abnormal and unforeseeable weather events and late client deliverables. These delayed revenues are moving into later quarters. This profitable outcome was driven by the quality backlog, good operating performance against that backlog, and organization streamlining that has occurred over the past 12 months. As it relates to our revenue guidance, the revenue movement I mentioned does contribute to a 2.2% reduction in the midpoint of our guidance range from what was $900 million to a new midpoint of $880 million. Even with a slight reduction in the midpoint of the guidance range, the revenue in the fourth quarter is expected to turn upwards and supports our continued profitability. During the quarter, we reached positive resolution on two legacy legal issues. The first was a collection issue from an industrial client working toward commercial viability, and the other, a contract dispute with a midstream company for whom we built a crew terminal during the COVID outbreak. The collective result was in line with our balance sheet position, will increase our cash balance by nearly 20 million, and will allow us to reduce our legal spend in the future. These two items present final closure to the remaining significant legacy disputes that have distracted the organization these past few years. Our opportunity pipeline remains strong at 6.9 billion, which represents not only our traditional LNG business, but the addition of more opportunities in mining minerals, power generation, and data center related activities. The awards in the quarter were below our expectations, affected mostly by timing of client decision making. Activity in the quarter and the month of April do contain some key strategic wins for the company. First, following the close of the quarter, we received a limited notice to proceed for a major mining construction project for a client in the western United States. Second, over 30 million of our electrical-related awards received in the quarter are directly related to the build-out of data centers and enhanced power demand. The book to build in our electrical business for the quarter was well over a 1.0. We expect to see continued growth in both of these markets. The impact of the Iran conflict on our business has been minimal to date, However, we believe it will only serve to emphasize that as countries around the world look to find secure, reliable oil, gas, LNG, and NGLs, the United States can play a major role in filling that need. This will continue to support the infrastructure designed and constructed by Matrix. Finally, in the quarter, we continued our organizational realignment that started nearly 12 months ago. As previously disclosed, Sean Payne, our Chief Operating Officer, will succeed me as CEO on July 1st. I've had the privilege of working with Sean in various capacities and companies for more than 30 years. He is a seasoned strategic leader with strong values, a deep operations and finance background that positioned him well to lead the company forward. Last week, we announced that Kevin Cavanaugh, our chief financial officer, will depart the company in September. Kevin has been with Matrix for more than 23 years, 15 of which have been as our CFO. Kevin has built a strong and experienced finance organization with a deep bench of talent and well-established financial and control processes. The company has begun a comprehensive internal and external search for our next CFO, and Kevin will ensure a smooth and seamless transition through the completion of our fiscal year-end reporting. In addition, while not a public-facing role, Nancy Austin, who has served as our Chief Administrative Officer and has been with Matrix for 26 years, will also be departing the company. Nancy has been instrumental in establishing a strong foundation for key support services. Most importantly, those focused on ensuring that we can attract and retain the needed labor resources. Nancy's responsibilities are being redistributed and the position will not be backfilled, reflecting the company's commitment to flattening our organization structure while ensuring we remain efficient and responsive to the needs of our customers and partners. Before moving on, I want to thank them both for their many years of dedication, hard work, and leadership. The transition to Sean's leadership of the business, including these changes, as well as his vision on organization structure and operational priorities, has already commenced. And the core elements of our win, execute, and deliver strategy, for which he is the principal architect, contain guiding principles for the company that are already positively impacting the bottom line and will be the focus moving into 2027. Most of the executive leadership will soon be operating out of our Houston office. which has the added benefit of putting us closer to many of our top energy clients. The organization is now better prepared for growth, enhanced focus on our priority markets, is more competitive, and will have a more consistent execution approach. I'm excited for this new group of leaders to continue our journey and drive continued success and value creation across the business. I want to turn the call over to Sean for a few words on the recent mining award and his focus areas.

Sean Payne | Chief Operating Officer

Thank you, John. Good morning, everyone. As John mentioned, our profitable third quarter results show the progress we are making with our win, execute, deliver strategy. These results demonstrate that the execution improvement initiatives related to the execute pillar of our strategy are driving clear, measurable gains in profitability. We are bringing the same discipline approach to the wind pillar of our strategy, where we are continuing to strengthen our leading EPC position for critical LNG and NGL infrastructure, as well as expanding into new and re-emerging markets across North America. This approach is building real momentum in our sales pipeline and has already led to early successes across several areas. One example is the limited notice to proceed that were received for an important mining sector project that we are kicking off today, which John mentioned earlier. The project is expected to start in Q4 and continue throughout fiscal 27. After nearly a decade of limited capital spending, increases in demand and rising non-ferrous metal prices are starting to support new development activity. And as a result, our project opportunity pipeline in the sector has grown significantly. We have a strong history in mining and reestablishing our presence as the market rebounds is a key part of our strategy. Moving forward, as I get ready to assume the CEO role, I've taken several early steps this quarter to continue shaping how the organization operates. These changes are intended to create a more efficient and operationally focused organization that can make decisions faster, and respond more quickly to market opportunities and our clients. Examples of recent changes include streamlining as well as the decision not to add a COO back into the organization once I become CEO. With operations reporting directly to me, we eliminate unnecessary handoffs and sharpen our organizational alignment around what matters most, our clients, our projects, and the safety of our workforce. Over my first 100 days, my focus will be on implementing a clear roadmap for how we drive higher growth and continue improving profitability. I'll provide additional insight into those priorities on our fourth quarter earnings call. Before I turn the call over to Kevin to review our third quarter results, I want to say how grateful I am for the opportunity to build on our strong foundation and lead this organization into the future. Kevin?

Kevin Cavanaugh | Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Sean. Revenue increased to $206.7 million in the quarter, as compared to $200.2 million in the third quarter last year. The growth was driven by the storage and terminal solutions segment, partially offset by reduced revenue in the process and industrial facilities segment. Gross margin was $17.2 million, or 8.3% in the quarter, compared to 12.9 million or 6.4% for the third quarter of fiscal 2025. I will discuss specific drivers for that improvement when I get into the segment results, but on an overall basis, gross margin improved from both higher direct project margins and lower under-recovered overhead. Moving on to SG&A, which was 15.2 million in the third quarter compared to 17.7 million for the prior year. The decrease is due in part to lower compensation related expenses resulting from continued efforts to improve organizational efficiency. Additionally, stock compensation expense was lower as a result of executive separations during the quarter. For the third quarter of fiscal 2026, the company produced net income of 0.8 million or three cents per diluted share compared to a net loss of 3.4 million or $0.12 per diluted share in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. The company incurred restructuring charges of $3 million in the quarter. Excluding those restructuring charges, adjusted earnings were a positive $0.13. Adjusted EBITDA improved to $4.9 million in the quarter compared to break-even performance in the prior year third quarter. Moving to the segments. storage and terminal solutions segment revenue increased 16% to $111.6 million in the third quarter, compared to $96.1 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. This is the highest quarterly revenue level for the storage and terminal solutions segment in six years. We expect this growth trend to continue, driven by specialty vessel storage projects, including projects for LNG, ethane, and butane. The growth is also reflected in the segment gross margin, which increased to 7% in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 compared to 3.9% in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. Utility and power infrastructure segment third quarter revenue was $60 million compared to $58.7 million last year. Project execution was strong throughout the segment, including peak shaving and electrical, producing a 13.6% gross margin in the quarter compared to 9.4% in the third quarter last year. Process and industrial facility semi-revenue decreased to 35.1 million in the third quarter compared to 45.4 million last year. Gross margin was 2.5% in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 compared to 8.3% for the third quarter of fiscal 2025, a decrease of 5.8%, primarily due to mix of work and the settlement of a legacy legal matter discussed earlier. We expect revenue and margins in this segment to rebound in fiscal 2027 due in large part to the mining project previously mentioned. Moving to the balance sheet, our cash balance increased $34 million in the quarter. We ended the quarter with cash of $258 million, which also drove an increase in liquidity, which was $297 million at the end of the quarter. The growth in cash and liquidity was primarily due to the timing of cash flows on projects, as well as positive earnings. While we expect the timing of cash flows on projects will utilize some cash as we complete fiscal 2026 and move into fiscal 2027, the financial position of the company remains strong. I'll now turn the call back over to John Hewitt.

John Hewitt | President & Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Kevin. Before taking questions, here are the five critical takeaways from this call. Our return to profitability in Q3 demonstrates the strength and credibility of our operating model and strategy, even on lower revenue. Second, the Q3 revenue shortfall is due to timing issues from customer and weather-related delays that move book work out of the period. Third, our balance sheet is strong and supports our financial growth and strategic objectives. Fourth, our book-to-bill is driven by timing. With a strong backlog at over $1 billion, we expect awards in key sectors like mining, minerals, and LNG infrastructure to do I book the bill higher in fiscal 2027 and support continued profitability. And fifth, the leadership and organization transition currently underway is planned, deliberate, and controlled, ensuring strong continuity. The CFO search is in motion, and you can expect Sean to share his first 100-day roadmap as Matrix Service Company CEO on the next earnings call. That concludes our prepared remarks, so we will now open for questions.

Operator | Conference Operator

Thank you. At this time, we will conduct the question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star 1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Our first question comes from John Fransreb from Sedoti.

Please go ahead. John Fransreb | Analyst, Sedoti

Good morning, everyone, and congratulations on the return to profitability. I guess I want to start with the just reported quarter itself. There was a drop sequentially in the revenue and the utilities segment, but there was a sizable increase in the gross margin of that business on a sequential basis. Can you kind of walk us through the puts and takes and what's going on there?

Kevin Cavanaugh | Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, so first of all, if you look at the profitability, there was really good performance throughout the segment. Power delivery business outperformed what we expected from a margin expectation. And also, we saw the same in the peak shaving work. It was really good performance there. So really, it kind of shows when you have good performance throughout a segment, what that can do to the gross margin. Now, the revenue level did come down, and we expected that. We've been doing some work on peak shaver project for well over two years now that's still got some more work to do, but it's kind of the manpower required for that project is coming down a bit and that's driving the revenue down. I think if you look at the funnel for the company, peak shaving opportunities we still think are going to be something that provides a lot of revenue into the future. We see a good piece of that in the funnel. I think it'll take us a little bit of time to book the next one. So you'll probably see the revenue for the utility segment kind of level out here for a while until that next peak shaver project is booked.

John Fransreb | Analyst, Sedoti

Got it, got it. And you mentioned, and I might have missed this, the restructuring charges that you incurred in the quarter, what was that for?

Kevin Cavanaugh | Chief Financial Officer

Related to A couple primary things. One is our CEO transition, and then we also had a lease that, you know, we've tried to become more efficient in what offices we had, and we have a lease that we were getting out of, but we thought we were going to be able to sublease, but the market has not been as strong for a sublease on that facility as we had planned, and so we had to take a charge related to the lease, like a lease impairment charge.

John Fransreb | Analyst, Sedoti

Got it, Kevin. And just on the backlog, I mean, we had two years of elevated bookings and backlog in the last four quarters. It's been drifting lower. What's the confidence level that the new projects you've been writing are sufficient profitability to maintain profitability through fiscal 2027?

John Hewitt | President & Chief Executive Officer

I'll hit that one, John. So the The backlog level is still at billions. It contains solid margin work in that. I've got to recall when we booked two pretty major projects fairly close together, it really drove that backlog up. Then it took a while for those projects to get started to really start burning revenue. We feel really good about our opportunity pipeline. our ability through the award cadence that we see here over the next couple of quarters, as well as the award momentum that we're going to see, we think, build as we move through fiscal year 27. Our expectation is we're going to be able to maintain a nice, strong revenue level and profitability on that revenue.

John Fransreb | Analyst, Sedoti

On that note, I'll get back into Q. Thank you, guys.

Operator | Conference Operator

Okay. Thank you. Our next question comes from Ted Jackson from Northland.

Your line is open. Ted Jackson | Analyst, Northland

Thank you very much. Excuse me. Okay, a couple questions. Let's start out with just some of the restructuring and what's going on. I mean, I know there's so many moving parts in the company right now. And you've been working for a long time to kind of make it more efficient, improve its margin. When we think about this company at a steady state and the management team in place and all the restructuring efforts behind, what is the pro forma business model? Where do you see, you know, with this restructuring, you know, the, you know, kind of a, you know, like a standard gross margin, a standard, you know, operating margin, a standard net margin for a matrix when you're done with all your restructuring and the business is kind of mid-cycle?

Kevin Cavanaugh | Chief Financial Officer

I'll give you a preliminary answer because I would expect that we're going to get a new CFO in and the new team will probably take a fresh assessment. John and I have published long-term metrics that we've been striving to achieve and I I would imagine that the new team will kind of reevaluate that and put their own out there. But if we just carry on from the current metrics, I would expect that, first of all, the changes we're making to streamline the business are going to allow us to achieve the SG&A target that we've got out there. But at a much lower revenue level, I think that you'll see that we'll be somewhere around that 6.5% SG&A in fiscal 27 would be my expectation. I think the gross margin target that we have out there is proven to be viable. The direct margins we've seen out here in the business are meeting or have beaten at times the 10% or better level. We're seeing improvement in the recovery of overheads, which has been something that's been a big drag on earnings the past few years. As we take costs out, continue to grow the business, that'll continue to get better. I think we're tracking to achieve those targets that we had previously put out and that the organization changes that we've put in place here are just helping us get there. I think it lowers the break-even level that we've talked about in the past. It lowers the level of revenue required to get to full recovery. So, in effect, these changes are going to increase the earnings power of the business.

Ted Jackson | Analyst, Northland

My next question is going back into backlog and the declines you've seen in the pipeline, which does remain robust. Maybe you could talk a little bit about your commentary suggests that you expect to see a turnaround in terms of bookings and backlog and a regrowth of backlog as we kind of get into 2027. previously you've indicated that you know you'd see that kind of starting to turn around mid fiscal year you know is that indeed that scenario still hold and given the size of projects that you see in that funnel like what kind of um bookings re-acceleration could we anticipate yeah so so the John Hewitt | President & Chief Executive Officer: Our current backlog and what we see as the award cadence, I think what we've said in the past is we expect our awards to be kind of wrapped around our normal day-to-day business plus some smaller mid-sized projects, and that that's going to allow us to continue to burn backlog and maintain a revenue level as Kevin said, that's going to sustain our profitability as we move into and through fiscal 27. Our expectations on the big project awards, the big chunk projects, they're going to be entering into our proposal pipeline sometime probably in mid-fiscal 27 and will be coming, be awards sometime in and later on in 27. But we feel good about where our backlog is and where our opportunities are. We think the award cadence and award momentum, not only for the big projects, but for some of these smaller ones that we see out there, is going to help us maintain a good quality backlog level, good margins in it, and will allow us to maintain a revenue level that's going to support improved profitability. And as some of those bigger projects enter a backlog, and then we start to burn that revenue, that's going to start to expand our margins.

Kevin Cavanaugh | Chief Financial Officer

You know, I would add, if you think about it, peak shaving opportunities and specialty storage is really what drove the backlog growth. And, you know, those opportunities are still there. And now we've got other emerging markets that we can add to that. We've got the mining that we talked about some on the call. That's a big one. There's construction-only opportunities that we're pursuing. There's opportunities related to the continued expansion of the electrical infrastructure. So there's a number of areas that are going to be add-ons to what we currently have as far as the markets that are going to drive backlogs. So I feel good about the position of the company.

John Hewitt | President & Chief Executive Officer

And the whole PowerGen thing, we didn't really touch on that. strongly, but there's a lot of opportunity for us in the power generation market, even if it is working as a construction partner with some of the bigger EPC firms. We've got a pretty deep resume on power generation that's been on the shelf for the last five to seven years because of what's going on in the market, but the return of power demand across gas power generation, whether it's in backup or peak shaving or simple cycle or combined cycle, our resume really applies strongly there. And so that's going to continue to drive more opportunities into our pipeline and we certainly expect sometime in fiscal 27 for us to be adding those kind of projects into our backlog and we'll be supportive of driving revenue.

Ted Jackson | Analyst, Northland

Okay. My next question, just kind of switching over to kind of the, you know, the oil and gas, you know, market, which is of interest. You have this, you know, small war going on in the Middle East and oil is basically $100 a barrel. Trump wants more drilling coming into the States. There was actually just an article in the Wall Street Journal today on fracking and how maybe you're not going to see it go back to its glory days. But, you know, the view seems to be that, you know, the oil prices will be higher for longer and there will be some incremental spend in terms of bringing production up in this country. Could you talk a little bit about how you see that benefiting matrix and if you're starting to see any pickup in dialogue because of this changed global environment as it relates to oil and gas?

John Hewitt | President & Chief Executive Officer

You know, certainly you have client dialogue that goes on. You know, our view of the future there would tell us that, and we said it in our prepared remarks, that we believe countries around the world are, you know, so it's not only what's going on in the Persian Gulf, but also, you know, what's going on in the Ukraine. And countries around the world are looking to find a way to make sure they've got a secure and safe and reliable place to get their needed energy supplies. And so whether that's natural gas in the form of LNG or that's NGLs for chemical production, like ethane or ethylene, I think that's going to create more investment in the U.S. for that kind of export. and for the production of those energy assets. And those are things that fit right within our wheelhouse, right? So the construction, obviously, of LNG facilities and natural gas liquids facilities are things that we do day in and day out. And so I think those macroeconomic and global issues are just going to drive it continued and increased investment in the United States for those energy assets, and Matrix is in a great place to take advantage of that.

Ted Jackson | Analyst, Northland

And then my final question, which is a little nitpick, but Kevin, in your discussion about some of the legal things in the collections and contract disputes and stuff, you made a statement that you would see reduced legal spend going forward because of those settlements. Is that something that's material enough for us to notice within the financial statements? How much were you spending on kind of an annual or quarterly basis, and what kind of expenses being removed with these resolutions?

Kevin Cavanaugh | Chief Financial Officer

Thanks. Yeah, so those disputes were contract-related, project-related, so that expense is hitting up in what we call construction overhead, and so it was one of the things that was driving some under-recovery of overhead, so it should be you know, makes us more efficient in fully recovering our overheads. But, yeah, we haven't disclosed the dollar amount of the legal expenses, but, you know, lawyers aren't cheap.

Ted Jackson | Analyst, Northland

Yeah, I should have studied for that. I would have done better in life. That's it.

Thanks very much. John Hewitt | President & Chief Executive Officer

Thanks. Thanks, Ted.

Operator | Conference Operator

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Our next question comes from John Fransrub from Sedoti.

Your line is open. John Fransreb | Analyst, Sedoti

Yeah, I got a question about the deferred jobs. Do you expect them to fall into Q4 or are they deferred into fiscal 2027?

John Hewitt | President & Chief Executive Officer

Both, frankly. You know, when we're waiting for permits or engineering, you're just pushing your, for instance, on the labor, you're pushing your hiring levels and manpower levels just kind of down the road. So where we might have had in the quarter on a job, I'm making numbers up, 100 craftspeople on the, and then maybe that would have ramped up to 200 people In the fourth quarter, now that 100 is happening in the fourth quarter and the 200 is happening in Q1. So I'm just trying to give you a sense of that. So that movement, we're not going to make up for all of those delays in one quarter because it just sort of pushes the whole job down the path. And so we certainly do expect, as we said, and based on our guidance that we've provided here, we expect revenues to climb in Q4. and the business to stay profitable in Q4 because of the quality of the work and the quality of our execution and the level of the revenues. So I guess part of the message here is that Q4 revenues are going to increase, and this pushes more revenue into fiscal 2017.

John Fransreb | Analyst, Sedoti

Got it. And, John, how much revenue was actually deferred out of Q3?

Kevin Cavanaugh | Chief Financial Officer

You know, I would say it was probably $20 million, $25 million between the – probably the biggest piece was the weather, I'd put it. But there were some permitting issues, too.

John Fransreb | Analyst, Sedoti

Right. Right. Got it. And then if I understood your commentary to one of my questions earlier, Kevin, you think at least it sounds like near term that the utility – segment will be kind of flattish with potential to recover in 2027, the reasons I think John outlined. But to hit your midpoint, I might suggest that the storage business is going to have a strong Q4. Am I interpreting that properly, or are there other puts and takes that I'm not thinking about?

Kevin Cavanaugh | Chief Financial Officer

You are 100% right. I would expect the process and industrial facility segment and the utility segment to be relatively flat, 3Q to 4Q, the growth's going to come in storage.

John Fransreb | Analyst, Sedoti

Okay. All right. Thank you for the clarity.

I appreciate it. Kevin Cavanaugh | Chief Financial Officer

Thanks.

Operator | Conference Operator

Thank you. I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back over to Patrick for closing remarks.

Patrick Roberts | Investor Relations, Corporate Development & Strategic Planning

Thank you. As a reminder, we will be participating in the virtual Sedoti microcap virtual conference on May 20th and 21st. and will also be attending the Stiefel Cross-Sector Insights Conference on June 2nd and 3rd in Boston, and the Northland Growth Virtual Conference on June 23rd. Additionally, if you'd like to have a conversation with management, please contact me through the Matrix Service Company Investor Relations website. You may also sign up to receive MTRX news by scanning the QR code on your screen.

Thank you for your time. Operator | Conference Operator

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program, and you may now disconnect. jsPDF 3.0.3 D:20261009125855-00'00'

Research summary and source transcript

readyOct 9, 2026

MTRX's FY2026 Q2 call is best read as a thesis-quality check, not a transcript recap. The upside case is that AI and compute-heavy infrastructure demand are becoming real drivers of customer activity. The key investor question is whether that activity converts into durable revenue, royalties, margins, and cash flow rather than remaining a strong-sounding demand story.

Framework #1 asks what management may know now that the market may not fully recognize for 6-24 months. For MTRX, the possible information gradient is whether current demand, backlog, customer activity, or AI/data-center engagement is an early signal of durable conversion rather than a one-quarter narrative. The transcript still needs follow-through in future quarters before that can be treated as proven.

The business engine appears to be demand conversion into revenue at acceptable incremental margins; the fallback needs management's KPIs and historical conversion data to grade it more precisely.

  • Management centered the story on AI, compute, or data-center demand, which is the key thesis variable to verify in future quarters.
  • Backlog and demand visibility were important to the quarter's credibility.
  • Profitability and margin durability should be treated as quality-of-revenue checks, not just headline metrics.
  • Customer renewal and new-logo activity are the clearest checks on whether demand is broadening.
  • Management's strongest emphasis appears to be around demand momentum and AI/compute-related opportunity; the useful investor question is whether that enthusiasm is backed by conversion and customer economics.

The tone reads constructive but still needs investor skepticism. Management appears to have enough operating evidence to discuss momentum, but the call only becomes high-quality if the numbers support conversion, margins, cash flow, and customer breadth. Local fallback reason: model analysis failed during on-demand transcript rendering: Earnings call analyzer failed with status 403..

  • No clear dodged analyst question was detected by the local fallback; manual review should still check whether Q&A answers quantified conversion, margins, and guidance.
  • There may be a benchmark or metric-framing issue worth manual review, especially around adjusted metrics, timelines, or changed expectations.

Competitive position looks potentially improving, but not proven. Customer activity and AI/compute exposure suggest the company may be in the right demand pools; the missing proof is market-share data, pricing power, win/loss detail, and retention economics.

  • Key figure to verify: Now, moving on to second quarter results, which reflect continued positive execution across our business and culminated in revenue growth of 12% compared to the second quarter of last year.
  • Key figure to verify: That said, given our overall positive execution, current backlog of 1.1 billion, In projects already in flight, we are reiterating our full-year revenue guidance of $875 million to $925 million, and will achieve profitability in the second half of the year.
  • Key figure to verify: Turning to awards, project awards during the second quarter were approximately $177 million, resulting in a book-to-bill of 0.8.
  • Key figure to verify: In fact, our overall opportunity pipeline continues to expand, increasing to $7.3 billion at the end of fiscal second quarter.
  • Key figure to verify: Demand for natural gas, widely recognized as the essential bridge fuel for a cleaner energy future, has soared by over 100%, while pipeline capacity has grown by only 50%.
  • The quarter appears to be moving from story to evidence: operating momentum is showing up in revenue, royalties, or backlog rather than only in management narrative.
  • Customer activity looks healthier than a one-quarter spike because the transcript points to both retention/renewal work and new-account activity.
  • AI and data-center exposure look strategically relevant rather than cosmetic, because management ties demand to compute-heavy end markets instead of treating it as a generic buzzword.
  • Profitability is a quality signal here, but the investment value depends on whether margins can hold as mix, hiring, and customer concentration evolve.
  • The main open question is conversion: AI or data-center engagement has to turn into recurring royalties, cash flow, and repeatable design wins before it deserves full credit in valuation.
  • Backlog lowers some demand uncertainty, but investors still need timing, cancellation risk, concentration, and conversion economics before treating it as de-risked revenue.
  • Margin strength is not itself a risk; the risk is whether that margin level is sustainable if revenue mix, investment spend, or pricing changes.
  • There is enough downside language in the transcript to require follow-up on execution, timing, or disclosure quality rather than reading the quarter as fully clean.

The data-center angle appears investable but still needs sizing. The call connects the company to AI or compute-heavy infrastructure demand, which is directionally positive, but the thesis should depend on how much of that activity becomes durable revenue, royalties, and cash conversion rather than on thematic exposure alone.

  • How much of the AI or data-center engagement converts into recurring royalties or repeat revenue within the next four quarters?
  • What portion of backlog is cancellable, delayed, concentrated, or dependent on a small number of customers?
  • Can current margin levels persist as mix, headcount, and product investment change?
  • Did management quantify cash conversion and operating leverage, or only highlight revenue and demand?
  • Are customer wins broad enough to imply share gain rather than a few isolated projects?

FY2026 Q2 earnings call transcript

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NASDAQ:MTRX Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript Generated on 10/9/2026 Victor | Conference Operator: to today's host, Ms. Kelly Smyth, Senior Director of Investor Relations for Matrix Service Company.

Kelly Smyth | Senior Director of Investor Relations

Thank you, Victor. Good morning, and welcome to Matrix Service Company's second quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call. Participants on today's call include John Hewitt, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Kevin Cavanaugh, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Following our prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions. The presentation materials referred to during the webcast today can be found under Events and Presentations on the Investor Relations section of MatrixServiceCompany.com. As a reminder, on today's call we may make various remarks about future expectations, plans, and prospects for Matrix Service Company that constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking results because of various factors, including those discussed in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and in subsequent filings made by the company with the SEC. The forward-looking statements made today are effective only as of today. To the extent we utilize non-GAAP measures, reconciliations will be provided in various press releases, periodic SEC filings, and on our website. Finally, all comparisons today are for the same period as the prior year, unless specifically stated. As we open today's earnings call, let's take a brief moment to focus on what matters most, keeping ourselves and each other safe. With about six weeks to go before the official start of spring, this winter has already brought a range of extreme weather across the country, from blizzards and ice storms to record-breaking cold snaps and heavy rainfall. These conditions disrupt daily life and create serious safety challenges for everyone, especially those working outdoors. But the challenges go beyond just physical safety. Shorter days and colder temperatures take the toll, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. Challenges to mental health are as real and as important as physical risk. This is especially true for those in construction and field work. where teams often face harsh outdoor working conditions and are also far from home and their personal support networks, all of which can lead to increased stress, fatigue, and isolation. That said, regardless of where we work, it's important to take time to check in with ourselves and those around us. Watch for signs of stress. Start a conversation, listen, and offer support. When we look out for one another and use the resources available, we help keep our teams and workplaces safe, healthy, and strong. If you or a colleague needs help, reach out to someone you trust or use the support resources available. Let's keep safety, both physical and mental, at the forefront, especially during challenging times. Together we can make sure everyone goes home safe every day. I will now turn the call over to John.

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Kelly, and good morning everyone. Before we address our second quarter results, I want to highlight important developments announced yesterday regarding our succession planning at Matrix. Over the past year, Matrix has focused on actively advancing our strategic objectives and our leadership succession plan while continuing to evolve our organizational structure to support long-term growth and success. As you might recall, as part of this effort, Sean Payne was promoted to President of E&C in May of 2025. Yesterday, in our leadership transition release, we announced that Sean has now been elevated to the Chief Operating Officer of Matrix. And then, per our succession plan, I will step down as President and Chief Executive Officer on June 30, 2026. At that time, Sean will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer, ensuring a seamless leadership transition. I've worked alongside Sean for nearly 30 years, first at a previous employer and later by recruiting him to Matrix in 2012. Sean is a proven leader with exceptional operational expertise and unwavering commitment to our people and our stakeholders. He has been instrumental in the growth of our backlog, our business turnaround, organizational streamlining, and strategic planning, and he will actively participate in future calls and investor meetings throughout this transition period. I'm confident in Sean's leadership, and I'm excited about the future of Matrix, as well as our market strength and the unprecedented generational infrastructure investment underway across the country. Now, moving on to second quarter results, which reflect continued positive execution across our business and culminated in revenue growth of 12% compared to the second quarter of last year. And while our underlying results for the quarter reflect strong growth and solid execution, we did record an unfavorable adjustment related to warranty responsibilities and miscellaneous subcontractor and vendor commercial items we are working to resolve on a substantially complete storage project. EPS was a 3 cent loss of a quarter, which included the negative 13 cent impact from this issue. Kevin will discuss this in more detail during his comments. That said, given our overall positive execution, current backlog of 1.1 billion, In projects already in flight, we are reiterating our full-year revenue guidance of $875 million to $925 million, and will achieve profitability in the second half of the year. Turning to awards, project awards during the second quarter were approximately $177 million, resulting in a book-to-bill of 0.8. The overall volume of project awards has been tempered due to uncertainty around trade policy, permitting, and the government shutdown that occurred in late 2025. This uncertainty has delayed FIDs and award progression on many projects in our specific market pipeline. While this will likely persist to the end of this fiscal year, it does not represent a fundamental slowdown in our end market demand. In fact, our overall opportunity pipeline continues to expand, increasing to $7.3 billion at the end of fiscal second quarter. As we gain more brand recognition and momentum in the power and data center infrastructure market, This will add to the pipeline in future quarters. Now, I want to step back and provide a clear overview of the macro environment we are operating in, our strategic response, and our outlook for the future. Matrix and our entire sector has experienced a once-in-a-generation surge in demand for critical energy, power, rare earth, and industrial infrastructure. Companies like Matrix, with proven expertise in safely delivering complex projects on time and on budget that are essential to addressing the nation's vast infrastructure needs. We firmly believe we are still in the early stages of this transformative build-out. The shortage of reliable, cost-effective power generation has steadily intensified nationwide, and the surge in demand from AI data centers, which require continuous and substantial power, has only compounded this issue. Demand for natural gas, widely recognized as the essential bridge fuel for a cleaner energy future, has soared by over 100%, while pipeline capacity has grown by only 50%. At the same time, the onshoring of manufacturing, electrification of devices, transportation, and equipment are increasing electricity needs. The United States is now critically short of affordable, reliable electric generation, most of which depends on natural gas, an abundant energy source in North America. Crucially, the global race for AI dominance hinges on electricity availability. Governments increasingly recognize that this is not merely a matter of business efficiency or quality of life, but at its core, a national security imperative. Today, the urgent need for affordable, reliable power and connectivity and the fuels that enable them has ignited an unprecedented investment cycle backed by strong political resolve. In addition to power generation and electrical infrastructure, we're seeing a compelling multi-year opportunity in mining minerals. The push to onshore and secure critical and rare earth material supply chains in the U.S. is accelerating investment in mining, processing, and assortment associated infrastructure, signaling the early stages of a new multi-year upcycle in project demand. This generational investment cycle has not only had a direct impact on wages, productivity, and a growing domestic manufacturing base, but combined with federal fiscal and tax policy changes, as well as private and public investment, will continue to drive a positive economic environment and GDP growth, all of which will create positive tailwinds for our industry. Against that backdrop, Matrix is especially well positioned as a leading end-to-end EPC general industrial contractor that designs, builds, and maintains critical energy, mining, and industrial infrastructure. We possess market expertise, specialized capabilities, resources, relationships, and a proven track record to deliver comprehensive, high-quality services safely. Matrix meets these standards and is exceptionally well positioned to benefit from this opportunity. Over the past five years, Matrix has proactively transformed our organization to meet these challenges and capitalize on the opportunities ahead. We have strategically exited non-core businesses, invested in our people, systems, and processes to strengthen our core expertise in energy, power, and industrial projects. We have streamlined our operations to deliver on our purpose and value proposition to all stakeholders. And as a result, we have built a business positioned at the intersection of powerful macro growth drivers one that will deliver sustainable and profitable growth for years to come. Our recent project awards, including those secured this quarter, and a robust pipeline and LNG facilities, power generation, electrical connectivity, substation, mining the minerals, underscore the strategic evolution of our business. While we continue to serve traditional energy and industrial clients, our future growth and sustainable performance are firmly anchored in this generational investment cycle. This quarter, for example, we secured the LNG storage component for the first phase of a peak shaving facility in the Virginia AI corridor. Additional storage to support two gas fire generating facilities in the southeast and multiple smaller strategic electrical connectivity projects in the northeast, which is ground zero for this huge data center investment cycle. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we were awarded the FEED study and are currently developing the full scope of work for a Midwestern utility to provide them the ability to run dual fuel on two of their gas-fired power facilities. We were frequently asked about our role in power generation and delivery, and more specifically about our role in supporting data centers and advanced manufacturing facilities. So I want to take a few minutes to share with you at a high level overview of the work we do supporting these critical growth markets. Matrix has a strong legacy in power generation and power delivery. This includes simple and combined cycle plant construction, centerline erection, HRSG erection, balance of plant mechanical and electrical, as well as construction of greenfield substations, brownfield substation upgrades, including grid interconnects. This, together with our expertise in both LNG peak shaving and backup fuel facilities, provides our clients with the integrated solutions needed to meet existing and increasing demand for electricity to empower homes and businesses, including data centers. stabilize the grid during peak periods, and ensure reliable operation during emergencies. This same expertise is needed by data center developers, OEMs, owners, and others who are pursuing their own energy infrastructure to ensure reliability and redundancy in their operations. In short, Matrix does not build the data center or advanced manufacturing facility. However, we do build the required critical energy infrastructure needed to power them. Through both organic and inorganic growth, Matrix is positioned to accelerate its momentum as a critical provider of the services demanded by this massive infrastructure build-out. Our momentum was fueled by the steady conversion of opportunities into awards, and those awards into revenue, all executed by the business we have purposely built for this moment. In summary, I'm proud of the team's continued execution as we proceed through this critical chapter of growth for Matrix. We have plenty of opportunities ahead, and I'm confident that our focus on our core pillars of win, execute, and deliver will drive compounding profitable growth and long-term value for our shareholders and customers alike. I'll now turn the call over to Kevin.

Kevin Cavanaugh | Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, John. Let's start with the results for the second quarter of fiscal 2026. Revenue was $210.5 million, an increase of $23.3 million, or 12% over the second quarter of last year, driven by growth in all three segments with utility and power infrastructure accounting for over 60% of the increase. We expect to achieve our full-year revenue guidance of $875 to $925 million on strong growth in the second half of the fiscal year, particularly in the fourth quarter. This growth will be driven by large LNG and NGL projects already underway in the storage and terminal solutions segment. Consolidated gross profit increased 21%. to $13.1 million in the second quarter compared to $10.9 million in the prior year. Second quarter gross margin was 6.2% as compared to 5.8% for the second quarter of fiscal 2025. Higher revenues resulted in improved recovery of overhead costs and project execution was generally strong throughout the business. That said, costs associated with items arising during commissioning of a specialty tank project in the storage internal solution segment resulted in a $3.6 million reduction of gross profit during the quarter, or about 13 cents per share. Adjustments to project cost estimates and therefore direct margin, both positive and negative, are a normal aspect of our business, especially as we work to close out a project. During the course of a year, these variations, generally net to a positive, and improved direct margin across the portfolio, which we expect to occur this year as well. Year-to-date, the direct margin performance, including this issue, is above plan. As backlog converts to revenue and activity levels continue to ramp, if these types of project-level dynamics occur, we expect them to be absorbed more efficiently across the P&L, reducing quarter-to-quarter variability. Moving down the income statement, SG&A expenses decreased to $15.1 million in the second quarter compared to $17.3 million in the prior year. The 13% decrease is primarily due to cost reductions resulting from our organizational realignment and lower stock-based compensation expense, which decreased $0.7 million associated with the variable accounting for cash settled awards as a result of fluctuations in our stock price. As we previously discussed, Our ongoing SG&A quarterly run rate is about $16.5 million. As we return to profitable performance, that will be impacted by variable compensation expense tied to earnings. We also incur restructuring costs of $0.2 million in the second quarter, primarily facility-related costs. We will incur additional expenses in the second half of the fiscal year related to the CEO transition. Details of that CEO transition are included in Item 5 of the Form 10-Q, which will be filed this afternoon. The company generated $1.5 million of interest income in the quarter from its strong balance sheet that has been built up through effective working capital and contract management. For the quarter, the company had a net loss of $0.9 million compared to a $5.5 million net loss in the second quarter last year. EPS was a loss of 3 cents compared to a 20 cent loss in the prior year. And then adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter improved $4.6 million to a positive $2.4 million compared to a loss of $2.2 million in the second quarter last year. Now moving to the operating segment, starting with storage and terminal solutions, which represented 47% of consolidated revenue. Second quarter revenue was $99.9 million compared to $95.5 million last year. The growth was the result of an increased volume of work for LNG and NGL projects, partially offset by lower volumes for crude oil projects. We expect specialty storage projects, including LNG and NGL, to drive robust growth for the storage and thermal solution segment as we move through the remainder of fiscal 2026. Storage and thermal solutions segment gross profit of $4.8 million represented a $2.5 million decrease in the quarter compared to the same period last year. The segment gross margin of 4.8% was lower than segment gross margin of 7.6% last year. The decrease occurred due to the $3.6 million charge we previously discussed. We expect to see significant margin improvement in the remainder of the year based on expected project execution. on our high quality backlog and improved overhead cost recovery, resulting from increased revenue levels. Moving on to the utility and power infrastructure segment, which accounted for 36% of consolidated revenues. Second quarter segment revenue increased 14.3 million, or 23%, to 75.4 million, compared to 61.1 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2025. benefiting from higher volumes of work associated with LNG peak shaving and power delivery projects. Segment gross profit of $7.2 million increased by $3.8 million or 112% in the second quarter compared to $3.4 million in the same quarter last year. The increase resulted from higher revenue and an improved gross margin, which increased to 9.6% compared to 5.6% in the same period last year. The margin increased due to strong project execution and improved construction overhead cost recovery as a result of higher revenues. Finally, the process and industrial facility segment accounted for 17% of consolidated revenue, or $35.3 million in the second quarter, compared to $30.6 million last year. We expect similar revenue levels until we capture additional project opportunities from the strong market in our expansion efforts. Segment gross profit was $1.2 million or 3.5% in the second quarter compared to $0.4 million or 1.2% last year. The current margin level is due to the mix of work, which is primarily lower margin reimbursable activity, and the low revenue level, which results in under recovery of construction overhead costs. Both issues should improve as the company captures additional revenue opportunities. Moving to the balance sheet and cash flow, cash increased $7 million in the quarter, ending at $224 million as of December 31, 2025. The balance sheet and liquidity remain in a strong position with liquidity of $258 million and no outstanding debt. We also expect to maintain our strong cash balance through the remainder of fiscal 2026 and had the financial strength and liquidity needed to support and grow the business. As we stated previously, the improvement in our consolidated revenue combined with continued focus on execution excellence and leverage of our construction overhead and SG&A cost structures will allow us to return to profitability in the fiscal year and make significant progress toward the achievement of our long-term financial target. That concludes our prepared remarks, so we'll now open the call up for questions.

Victor | Conference Operator

Thank you. And as a reminder, to ask a question, you need to press star 1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. One moment for our first question. Our first question will come from the line of John Fransreb from Sudoti.

Your line is open. John Fransreb | Analyst at Sudoti

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking the questions. I'd like to start with that one-time issue or the issue you called out, the 3.6 million in storage. I'm curious, is that bleeding into the current quarter, and is there any other large issues similar to that that we should be cognizant about?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

No, I mean, we think that we've captured the issues associated there and that we would not expect anything bleeding, as you said, bleeding over into the third quarter. We think we've got our hands around what the issues are and a path to get them resolved.

John Fransreb | Analyst at Sudoti

And is there anything similar?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Nothing similar hanging around someplace else.

John Fransreb | Analyst at Sudoti

Okay, good to know. You also called out in your prepared remarks the opportunity pipeline. It looks like it's up roughly 10% or $600 million from last quarter. What's driving that growth?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

I think probably, I don't have the statistics in front of me, John. I think a lot of it is in the LNG market space and NGL space, but we're also seeing more activity in mining and minerals space. And we're seeing more activity in, I think, in electrical. And while those projects aren't necessarily as big, but they're strategically significant for the business.

John Fransreb | Analyst at Sudoti

Okay. I got it. And, again, you did reference this in your prepared remarks about the backlog. I'm kind of curious, not only in aggregated as the backlog kind of been weak for the last couple of quarters, but also notably in utility, which I really thought would have been stronger. Can you kind of talk about what's going on in the overall marketplace?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, I think, you know, the award cycle, obviously, you know, we feel as though it's been a little muted. And I think some of the uncertainty in energy markets and, you know, permitting The process of permitting is difficult. I think some of those things is just taking a little bit longer for a lot of those projects to get from our opportunity pipeline into a situation of FID and award. We think all the projects in there are good solid projects that we're gonna have an opportunity to bid and win our fair share of them. There has not been, so we track, what comes in and out of our opportunity pipeline on a monthly basis. And so if you go look at that, it isn't a lot of those things that are getting won by someone. It's not a high percentage of them that are getting won by competitors, right? They're either moving out of our opportunity pipeline back into our prospects because of some permitting delay or a client's investment decision, and then we have projects moving in out of prospects into opportunities But I can't tell you, we're looking at our statistics every month, every quarter, and it's saying, oh, wow, we're not winning any of this work. This stuff is just kind of moving around on us. And you've got to remember, too, a decent chunk, I think we've said in the past, probably $70 to $100 million worth of stuff happens for us every quarter. It's just small projects and maintenance activity and all that. It's not in that opportunity pipeline because we don't think it's relevant to have mixed in there with all that other stuff. So we have this baseline of awards and work that can come in and out in a quarter, not in that opportunity pipeline. So it almost makes it sort of invisible. But that stuff is continuing to happen for us, and we're focused to continue to expand our maintenance operations and maintenance projects. work, and we're geographically looking into new areas to expand our refinery maintenance and some of the other maintenance activities we have. So while we certainly would like to have big book to bills every quarter, but I think we've communicated to you guys in the past that we're going to have a quarter with a big book to bill, and then we could have two, three, four quarters where it's going to be below one. So I think it's okay. I think we're in a good spot. I would tell you if you look at the details, you know, the book to bill for the year, the book to bill in storage is above one. So we're continuing to have strong bookings in that, and it represents a big chunk of the business.

John Fransreb | Analyst at Sudoti

So, John, just to follow up, do you expect these awards to be moved to the right such that they're going to be awarded in the second half of the fiscal year, or they move to the right that they're going to be a fiscal 2027 award? I'm just kind of curious about maybe the exit velocity of backlog in fiscal 2026, because we kind of talked about it being around 1.0 overall, and maybe I wonder if that dynamics changed at all.

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Right. I think what we've said or what we've communicated in the past, and I'll use an NFL term, chunk plays, so like chunk projects. So the big chunk projects that really drive that big book to bill in a quarter, they're out there. We're positioned for them. Those big chunk projects are the ones that I think we're going to see in our award cycle in fiscal 27, which starts July 1st. And, but we're going to see some, probably some strategic awards, some smaller awards that are going to, uh, be in the next two quarters. Uh, but you know, it probably isn't likely that we're going to exit the quarter over a one Oh, collectively across the business, but you continue to see a strong book to bill in any one of those, any one of the segments.

John Fransreb | Analyst at Sudoti

Got it.

Thanks for taking the questions. Victor | Conference Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from the line of Brent Thillman from DA Davidson.

Your line is open. Brent Thillman | Analyst at DA Davidson

Yeah, hey, thanks, guys. Hey, John, maybe just to follow up on the conversation about all the things you can do, you know, around data centers and I sort of bundle, you know, things you can do directly on those sites with, you know, the power component of that as well, which just seems to be sort of feverish demand here. Why wouldn't that be more influential to your bookings here in the next few quarters, just given the appetite and the fact that you have these, you know, capabilities that seem to be in the sweet spot of that?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, so I think it's a good question. You know, we've been focused on that market here. It didn't just start yesterday, right? So we've been working on it probably over the last 12 months of And we recognize, like everybody else, that there's a significant amount of spend there. But you've got to remember, a lot of those clients are new clients to us. Yes, we've got a power generation capability in-house. We've built some significant power plants that's on our resume. And obviously, the electrical connectivity issues that are electrical connectivity capabilities that's principally in the Northeast and then all the backup fuel and all that stuff. So, but You know, we're kind of entering that market, and we've got to sell our resume. We've got to build relationships with those clients. We have got to want to make sure we're positioning ourselves for work that's, you know, fits our risk profile and our financial profile. We need to appreciate how we compete and how we win in that market. And so all that stuff's going on, and I think we're starting to see some fruits of that work by our business development and operations people. And so, as we said in the prepared remarks, my thoughts are is that we're going to start to see some growth in the opportunity pipeline as some of this stuff hits where we are going to be deciding to bid or being invited to bid on certain projects. But we're already bidding projects from an electrical infrastructure standpoint on new substations that are directly connected. to a data center power needs. We have several of those that we're bidding now, and I would hope that we're going to be able to put some of those into backlog in this second half of the year. We're also working with EPC power plant constructors where we can come in and provide our services. Any one of the things that I mentioned there, whether it's you know, putting the turbines in or doing the mechanical work or electrical work or erecting the boilers or whatever that is, all those things we've got capabilities and skills for. And so I think we're doing a good job. We're working into those markets, and I think we're going to see here over the – we're going to start to see some impact of that effort in our opportunity pipeline and to a small degree into our award cycle this fiscal year, but it's going to really start to grow, I think, as we move into 2017.

Brent Thillman | Analyst at DA Davidson

Appreciate that John. Any thoughts on the midstream side? I mean, we talk about all the demand around gas power coming and it's becoming pretty evident with some other companies. Is there are the things that you're starting to see in the midstream arena pop up for you that could also be an opportunity?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

So when you say midstream, you talk about crude oil or you're talking about gas? Yeah, yeah. Yes to both. Yeah, so I think the crude market is fairly muted. There's some new tanks getting built. There's certainly tank maintenance repair works going on all the time. We do that work. But I think a lot of our storage resources have been a little more focused on the specialty vessel stuff we're doing, where it's more complex construction. better margins for us, less competition. And so while we're still doing it, we continue to offer services on the crude storage and midstream side of the company. It's become a smaller and smaller piece of the revenue of the business. So there's activity out there. On the natural gas side, certainly we've got a great position in gas storage. We're in LNG and in NGLs. both from a storage perspective, but also the balance of plant construction for those facilities, and whether they're a utility connection or they're for fueling or whatever. I think the activity level there, I think, related to gas is strong, getting stronger. A lot of permitting issues around that, as we said in the prepared remarks. You know, there's a lot of pipeline issues out there in the marketplace because of permitting challenges. And so you have companies that are, you know, unsure about tying up dollars when they're uncertain about the ability to get a permit pushed through. So one of the projects that we announced and award last quarter, we're building the balance of plan for an NGL facility, which we're also building the storage tank for. And, you know, we had expected more revenues in Q2 on that project, but the permitting delays have kind of slid our ability to go burn revenue into the back half of this fiscal year. The project's in flight. We're starting to get permits. We're starting to work through it. But that's certainly one of the issues I think that's impacted probably a lot of people in the mystery market.

Brent Thillman | Analyst at DA Davidson

Okay. And then... You did mention minerals and mining. You know, obviously critical materials become more topical here lately. You're positioning there and kind of maybe waited for us to size the opportunity for you.

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, so we've got, you know, we've got a legacy history in mining and minerals. We used to have, when that market was stronger, we had an operation in Arizona and did work for some of the big miners down there. And then that market kind of fell apart. And so we've kind of kept our hand in there from a sales perspective, but really haven't done any work. That market's coming back strongly. Copper, rare earth minerals, gold. And so we're seeing a lot more opportunities finally get off the drawing board. And we've got a couple of really nice projects that we're bidding now in the mining and minerals market. And again, we think our brand continues to be strong there. And so we're kind of rebuilding those relationships. And I think there's a real opportunity for us here. Besides the demand for those kind of non-ferrous metals related to what's going on with all this infrastructure build out, You've also got the federal government now that is, again, from a national security issue, is investing money in rare earth minerals to make sure that from a national security issue that we've got those minerals here in this country. So I think there's a lot of good tailwinds associated with that market, and I think we've got a resume and the relationships to be able to take advantage of it.

Brent Thillman | Analyst at DA Davidson

Okay, maybe just last one, guys. Appreciate you taking all these. You know, I think about the outlook for the rest of the year, the return to profitability you're anticipating. And what seems to me like a lot of green shoots here in the business, notwithstanding some of the uncertainty in some of your markets here in the short term. And you got a lot of cash on the balance sheet. I mean, John, just to refresh on You know, buybacks, why wouldn't they make sense here? Just seems like businesses heading in the right direction. You got some good things coming for you. Hey, just update on your thoughts there.

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

I think, you know, as we've always said, I think our, you know, as we want to, as we return to profitability, yes, we have cash on the balance sheet. You know, we're going to be focused on, you know, we've been pretty lean as an organization on how we spent our capital. internally for our operations and so there's some catch up for us to do there. We are going to be looking for inorganic opportunities that round out our business offering and certainly the inability to find inorganic opportunities to add to the business could result in us making the decision that maybe we buy back shares. I would say all that stuff's on the table. And, you know, so we're, as we've said in previous calls, we're waiting to, we're driving a business to return to profitability, you know, to win, execute, and deliver. And as that happens, then we're going to be looking for more expanded things to do with the cash on the balance sheet.

Brent Thillman | Analyst at DA Davidson

Okay. Thanks for taking all the questions, guys.

Appreciate it. Sure. Thank you. Victor | Conference Operator

One moment for a follow-up question. We have a follow-up question from John Frangereb from Sedoti.

Your line is open. John Fransreb | Analyst at Sudoti

Yeah, I'm just actually curious about the competitive landscape. Are new jobs being written at target margins, or is there pressure in certain markets versus others? And I guess on the flip side of that, are some being written at above target? Can you just kind of talk a little bit about that?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, I mean, the work that we're booking... on a collective basis, is falling within our targeted margin ranges. So I would say it's not the same as it was three years ago where contractors are out chasing projects and driving margins to the bottom.

We're not experiencing that. John Fransreb | Analyst at Sudoti

Any of the markets above target margins at all?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, I mean, it depends on which piece of our business. Some pieces will get a higher margin, some bigger the job. Sometimes we're able to get a higher margin. So I think, you know, we've talked about a margin range of 10% to 12%. Some pieces of our business are in the high end of that range. Some are a little bit above. But some, you know, some more of the maintenance activities and those things are certainly at the lower end of those margin ranges or even below. But the portfolio overall... I think the margin range is there in the backlog is well within our expected range.

John Fransreb | Analyst at Sudoti

Okay. Thanks for taking the follow-up, John.

Appreciate it. Victor | Conference Operator

Thank you. I'm not showing any further questions in the queue. I'd like to turn it back over to Kelly for any closing remarks.

Kelly Smyth | Senior Director of Investor Relations

Thank you. As always, our approach is to be open and transparent with our investors, and as such, I would like to invite you if you'd like to have a conversation with management, to contact me through Matrix Service Company Investor Relations website. You can also sign up for MTRX News by scanning the QR code on your screen. Thank you so much for your time.

Victor | Conference Operator

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Everyone have a great day. jsPDF 3.0.3 D:20261009125857-00'00'

Research summary and source transcript

readyJun 10, 2026

Matrix Service Company reported strong Q1 FY2026 results with 28% revenue growth and improved gross margins to 6.7%, driven by execution on larger projects in storage and utility segments. Backlog remains robust at $1.2 billion despite removal of two unawarded projects due to client-initiated scope changes, which management characterizes as one-offs unrelated to demand or competitive pressures. The company reiterated full-year revenue guidance of $875–925 million and noted improved break-even dynamics from restructuring, lowering the quarterly revenue needed for profitability to $210–215 million.

Management knows today that the removal of two backlog items totaling $197 million was due to client-driven changes in execution strategy and risk allocation—not competitive pressures, demand weakness, or performance issues—and that these projects had not mobilized, so their removal does not impact current or forward-looking financials. This insight into client-specific contractual and strategic shifts, particularly in the process and industrial and utility segments, is not reflected in the market’s interpretation of backlog volatility and will likely only become clear over the next 6–24 months as similar client decisions emerge or are disclosed in filings.

Revenue growth, gross margin expansion through construction overhead recovery, and backlog conversion are the primary drivers, supported by disciplined bidding, project execution, and SG&A efficiency.

  • Safety as a core value and business imperative
  • Backlog strength and project award visibility
  • Improving gross margins via overhead recovery
  • Restructuring and cost structure improvements
  • Opportunities in LNG, NGLs, ammonia, and power infrastructure
  • Disciplined capital allocation and bidding practices
  • Detailed explanation of why two backlog removals were client-driven and not reflective of market conditions
  • Emphasis on integrated delivery capability for complex storage facilities as a differentiator
  • Optimism about reacceleration of larger multi-year project awards in late FY2026 and FY2027
  • Pride in maintaining strong brand position enabling selective risk avoidance
  • Confidence in achieving break-even at lower revenue levels due to restructuring

Management spoke with directness and credibility, providing specific, consistent explanations for backlog removals, margin improvements, and cost savings. Executives avoided vague optimism, grounded claims in operational details (e.g., project status, client actions), and acknowledged nuances like work mix impacts. Their tone was confident but not promotional, with clear differentiation between one-off events and broader trends, supporting trust in their forward-looking statements.

  • No clear dodged analyst question was detected by the local fallback; manual review should still check whether Q&A answers quantified conversion, margins, and guidance.
  • There may be a benchmark or metric-framing issue worth manual review, especially around adjusted metrics, timelines, or changed expectations.

The company appears to be holding or improving its competitive position, with management citing strong brand strength, selective project pursuit based on risk/return, and ability to win integrated storage projects as differentiators. Backlog remains robust despite client-initiated changes, and the pipeline supports future growth. No evidence of losing market share or declining win rates was presented.

  • Q1 FY2026 revenue: $211.9 million, up 28% YoY
  • Q1 FY2026 gross margin: 6.7%, up from 4.7% YoY
  • Q1 FY2026 adjusted EBITDA: $2.5 million, vs. ($5.9 million) YoY
  • Backlog: $1.2 billion after removal of $197 million in unawarded projects
  • Book-to-bill ratio: 0.9 in Q1 FY2026
  • Total opportunity pipeline: $6.7 billion
  • Quarterly break-even revenue level: $210–215 million (down from $225 million)
  • Liquidity: $249 million, no outstanding debt
  • Conversion of $1.2 billion backlog to revenue supporting FY2026 guidance
  • Expected reacceleration of large project awards in late FY2026 and FY2027
  • Continued margin improvement from overhead recovery as backlog converts
  • Further SG&A leverage toward 6.5% target as revenue grows
  • Minimal expected restructuring costs going forward
  • Strong opportunity pipeline of $6.7 billion in storage, power, and industrial segments
  • Backlog volatility due to client-driven scope or execution changes
  • Dependence on timing of large multi-year project awards
  • Exposure to unfavorable work mix shifts in process and industrial segment
  • Continued under-recovery of construction overhead in certain segments
  • Need for sustained revenue growth to maintain operating leverage
  • Potential for restructuring costs to persist if efficiency initiatives stall

Management noted growing demand for sustainable and reliable power is creating significant project opportunities upstream from massive investment in data centers and advanced manufacturing, citing needs for LNG as backup fuel, peak shaving, and substation upgrades. While this reflects an indirect benefit from data center-driven power demand, there is no direct evidence of data center-specific contracts, engineering work, or revenue contribution in the transcript. The link is speculative and framed as part of broader power infrastructure trends.

  • What specific client or market changes are driving the increased tendency to re-bid or restructure large project awards?
  • How sustainable is the gross margin improvement as backlog converts, and what portion is tied to one-time overhead recovery?
  • What is the expected timeline and revenue contribution from the reacceleration of large multi-year projects in late FY2026 and FY2027?
  • To what extent is the company’s opportunity pipeline weighted toward short-term vs. long-duration projects?
  • How will the company allocate capital if revenue growth exceeds expectations, and what return thresholds will guide decisions?
  • What are the leading indicators that the break-even revenue level of $210–215 million is being reached sustainably?

FY2026 Q1 earnings call transcript

30,272 chars

NASDAQ:MTRX Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript Generated on 6/6/2026 Operator | Conference Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the Matrix Service Company conference call to discuss results for the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Currently, all participants are in listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session, and instructions will be given at that time. If you require assistance at any time, please press star 11 on your telephone. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I'd like to turn the conference over to today's host, Ms. Kelly Smyth, Senior Director of Investor Relations for Matrix Service Company.

Kathleen Smyth | Senior Director, Investor Relations

Thank you, Marvin. Good morning, and welcome to Matrix Service Company's first quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call. Participants on today's call include John Hewitt, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Kevin Cavanaugh, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the call up for questions. The presentation materials referred to during the webcast today can be found under Events and Presentations on the Investor Relations section of MatrixServiceCompany.com. As a reminder, on today's call, we may make various remarks about future expectations, plans and prospects for Matrix Service Company, They constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the Private Security Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements because of various factors, including those discussed in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and in subsequent filings made by the company with the SEC. The forward-looking statements made today are effective only as of today. To the extent we utilize non-GAAP measures, reconciliations will be provided in various press releases, periodic SEC filings, and on our website. Finally, all comparisons today are for the same period of the prior year unless specifically stated. Related to investor conferences and corporate access opportunities, we will be participating in the Sidoti and Company year-end Virtual Investor Conference on December 10th and 11th, 2025. We will also be participating in the Northland Capital Markets Growth Conference on December 16th. This conference is also virtual. If you would like additional information on this event or would like to have a conversation with management, I invite you to contact me through Matrix Service Company Investor Relations website. As we shift our focus to safety, I want to underscore its vital importance to our business. At Matrix, safety stands as our foremost core value. And as Mr. Hewitt frequently emphasizes, nothing outweighs the physical and mental well-being of our employees, subcontractors, clients, and others who may be present at our job sites or in our offices. This is not simply about compliance. It's about continuously cultivating an environment where safety is ingrained in our culture. Every one of us deserves to feel safe at work and return to home to our families and loved ones at the end of the day. And while safety is always the right thing to do, it's also a business imperative. It strengthens our competitive edge, enabling us to bid on and secure vital projects, foster lasting client relationships, and attract and retain top talent. Our clients trust us to execute their projects safely and with unrivaled quality. This trust is something we value, and we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards. By maintaining our unwavering commitment to safety, we position Matrix not just as a leader in engineering and construction, but as a dependable partner dedicated to excellence and care. I will now turn the call over to John.

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Kathleen. Good morning, everyone. We begin fiscal 2026 with strong execution, resulting in double-digit revenue growth and our highest quarterly gross margin in over two years. This performance reflects the continued maturation of our backlog, and a disciplined approach we've taken to project bidding and delivery. Bidding activity remains healthy across our segments, and we saw a solid level of new awards. Our opportunity pipeline also remains robust for not only near-term projects, but several large multi-year projects with anticipated award dates beginning in late fiscal 2026 and into fiscal 2027. Based on our first quarter performance, our strong backlog, and the visibility we have today, we are reiterating our full-year revenue guidance of $875 to $925 million. Typically, the first quarter reflects a seasonal slowdown in demand for maintenance and repair services. This year, that was largely offset by increased activity on larger projects. Our mix of project work drove gross margin improvement, representing our best quarterly gross margin in more than two years. We expect continued margin improvement as we move through fiscal 2026, supported by a conversion of backlog to revenue. Award activity in the quarter was stable, resulting in a book to bill of 0.9, and we ended the quarter with a total backlog of 1.2 billion. During the first quarter, we removed approximately 197 million from backlog related to two projects. While Kevin will provide more detail in his remarks, These removals do not reflect a reduction in demand, changes in the market, or business performance issues. In both cases, the clients changed their commercial strategy and neither project had mobilized. Importantly, the removal of these projects from our backlog does not impact our Q1 results or full-year guidance. We continue to be disciplined in our bidding and contracting efforts to ensure our project risk and financial return profile meets our standards. Now let's talk about our markets and what we see in the organic opportunities that will drive the business. First, our total opportunity pipeline currently sits at $6.7 billion, with the majority of those opportunities in storage and related facilities for LNG, NGLs, and ammonia, which feed our storage solutions and utility and power infrastructure segments. We continue to see a steady level of incremental bidding opportunities supported by strong investment and domestic infrastructure and a favorable regulatory environment. Growing demand for sustainable and reliable power is creating significant project opportunities upstream from the massive investment in data centers and advanced manufacturing, among other expanding electrical consumers. So whether it is LNG for backup fuel or peak shaving, upgrades to existing LNG facilities, new base load or backup power generation, or substation upgrades and new construction, our business will benefit from these investments in this critical infrastructure. And while the timing of awards can be fluid over the coming quarters, we expect that the level of awards will be similar to what we saw during the first quarter. This award portfolio will be made up of mid-sized projects on top of our normal cadence of small projects and maintenance. These projects will reinforce our strong backlog, continue to provide more predictable revenue flow, and build our resource base as the business grows. One recent example is the award of a balance of plant construction at the Delaware River Partners multi-use port facility in Gibstown, New Jersey, that will support growing export demand for NGLs, including propane and butane. This award, which was taken into backlog in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, follows a fiscal 2025 award associated with the construction of a large full containment dual-server storage tank at the same facility. These two projects represent our ability to provide integrated delivery for complex storage facilities, which is a key differentiator for the business. As we move into late fiscal 2026 and into fiscal 2027, we anticipate a reacceleration in award activity for larger multi-year projects, which we are currently in the process of pursuing. In our process and industrial facility segment, Our strategic focus is to expand our markets, client base, and footprint to build backlog and revenue while executing safely with high quality and financial outcomes. Actions include strengthening our position in core geographic markets, realigning our business development resources with our growth priorities, and leveraging our strong customer relationships to expand organically. Focus areas include repair, maintenance, turnarounds, and small cap projects in various process industries, including refining, chemicals and renewable fuels, mining and minerals in support of the demand for non-ferrous metals and rare earth minerals, thermal vacuum chambers where we hold a dominant position, as well as various natural gas value chain opportunities. We are positioned to capture opportunities in this segment and deliver improved results over the long term. With projectivity continuing to build due to the steady conversion and replacement of we are highly focused on ensuring that we deliver consistent performance for our customers in the highest level of quality and safety. The recent changes to our organization structure, which we have talked about on previous calls, has enhanced our agility, competitiveness, and performance. These changes, along with strategic actions we have taken over the last few years, are already strong service offering. Position us to deliver on current commitments and complete effectively with substantial opportunities within a robust pipeline. We remain committed to disciplined capital allocation. Our strong balance sheet supports the working capital needs of active projects as these jobs progress through key execution phases. As we return to sustained profitability in the coming quarters, we'll deploy capital thoughtfully, targeting growth opportunities that expand our market share and drive long-term shareholder value. In summary, I'm proud of the team's continued execution as we proceed through this critical chapter of growth for Matrix. We have plenty of opportunities ahead of us, which will not only support this fiscal year, but will continue to create growth in fiscal 2027 and beyond. I am confident that our focus on our core pillars of win, execute, and deliver will serve to drive compounding profitable growth and long-term value for our shareholders and customers alike. So with that, I'll turn the call over to Kevin.

Kevin Cavanaugh | Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, John. The first quarter of the year went about as we anticipated from an operating results balance sheet, cash flow, and project award perspective. Revenue of $211.9 million represented a 28% increase compared to $165.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. This is mainly due to growth driven by larger new construction projects in the storage and terminal solutions and utility and power infrastructure segments. We expect this revenue growth to continue as we move through the rest of fiscal of the fiscal year. Consolidated gross profit increased 82% to $14.2 million in the first quarter compared to $7.8 million in the prior year. With strong project execution in both periods, the gross profit increase was the result of revenue growth as well as improved construction overhead recovery. Consolidated gross margin improved to 6.7% versus 4.7% in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. SG&A expenses were 7.7% of revenue or $16.3 million compared to 11.3% or $18.6 million in the same quarter last year. The $2.2 million decrease is primarily the result of the efficiency improvement changes implemented by the company over the last two quarters. The company will continue to work to leverage SG&A to its 6.5% target as revenue grows while also investing in resources when needed to support strong market demand and growth in our business. As expected, the company incurred 3.3 million of restructuring costs in the first quarter related to the efficiency efforts mentioned. The company has completed the bulk of restructuring activities and expects minimal restructuring costs during the remainder of fiscal 2026. For the first quarter of fiscal 2026, The company had a net loss of $3.7 million, which includes a $3.3 million of restructuring cost as compared to a $9.2 million net loss in the first quarter last year. GAAP EPS was a loss of 13 cents compared to a 33-cent loss in the prior year. Excluding the restructuring cost, adjusted EPS was nearly break-even at a loss of 1 cent in the first quarter. This performance reflects the operating leverage inherent in our business model and is consistent with the expectations that we have previously communicated, which is that we expect to achieve break-even on a GAAP net income basis at a quarterly revenue level of 210 to 215 million. Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter was a positive 2.5 million compared to a loss of 5.9 million in the first quarter of last year. Moving to the operating segments, Let's start with storage and terminal solutions, which represented 52% of consolidated revenue. First quarter revenue in this segment was $109.5 million compared to $78.2 million last year. The $31.2 million or 40% increase continues a trend which began in fiscal 2025 and was driven by LNG storage and specialty vessel projects. We expect this growth trend for storage and terminal solutions segments to continue as we move through fiscal 2026. Segment gross profit increased by 1.8 million, or 38%, in the three months ended September 30, 2025, compared to the same period last year due to higher revenue volume. The segment gross margin of 5.9% for the quarter was consistent with the segment gross margin of 6% in the same period last year. Gross margins for the segment continued to be primarily impacted by under-recovery of construction overhead costs, which we expect to improve as activity on projects currently in backlog increases through the remainder of fiscal 2026. Moving on to the utility and power infrastructure segment, which accounted for 35% of consolidated revenue. First quarter segment revenue increased 33% to $74.5 million. compared to $55.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2025, benefiting from higher volume of work associated with LNG peak shaving and power delivery projects. Segment gross profit increased by $5.5 million, or 419%, in the first quarter, compared to $1.3 million in the same period last year. The growth resulted from the revenue increase and an improved gross margin, which increased to 9.1%, compared to 2.3% in the same period last year. The margin improved due to strong project execution and construction overhead cost recovery as a result of higher revenues. Finally, the process industrial facility segment accounted for 13% of consolidated revenue, or $27.9 million, in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, compared to $31.4 million in the first quarter last year. As John discussed, The market presents good opportunities in this segment to improve the revenue level. Segment gross profit decreased to 5.6 million or 28 percent in the three months ended September 30, 2025 compared to the same period last year. The segment gross margin was 5.1 percent for the quarter compared to 6.4 percent in the same period last year. The decrease is primarily attributable to an unfavorable change in the mix of work. Segment gross margin in both periods were impacted by under recovery of construction overhead costs due to low revenue volumes. Moving to the balance sheet and cash flow, as expected, cash decreased in the first quarter, ending at $217 million, down $32 million from the start of the quarter as the company continues to make progress on the large projects and backlog that were in a prepaid position. Exiting the quarter, The balance sheet and liquidity remain in a strong position with liquidity of $249 million and no outstanding debt. We will continue to proactively manage the balance sheet and have the financial strength and liquidity needed to support the positive earnings inflection we anticipate as we progress through fiscal 2026. Now, let's discuss project awards and backlog. Project awards in the first quarter were consistent with what we anticipated They totaled $187.8 million for a 0.9 book-to-bill, with the storage and terminal solutions segment accounting for $136.1 million of the awards. As John mentioned, during the first quarter, we made the decision to remove two projects, totaling $197 million from backlog. Neither of them impacting our fiscal 2026 revenue guidance. Each project reflected a different situation. The first and largest was within our process and industrial facility segment and was formally awarded to us in late fiscal 2023. Our scope of work on this project was construction only and the start of field work had already been delayed by over a year due to slow progress on scoping, design development, and engineering, which is outside our responsibility. Just recently, the owner decided to adjust its execution and contracting structure which resulted in their decision to re-bid the construction portion of the project. The project will be re-bid in packages later this year, and we intend to submit bids on certain aspects of our original scope. That said, due to this change, we removed the original awarded project from our backlog consistent with our backlog recognition policy. The second project was in our utility and power infrastructure segment. In this case, the project was formally awarded in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. Subsequently, the client sought to modify the terms and conditions of this agreement in a way that significantly increased our risk on the project. This change was inconsistent with both the as-bid basis of our proposal and our commercial policies. As a result, the award was rescinded and we removed it from backlog. After removal of these two projects, backlog remains strong at $1.2 billion and is supportive of our revenue guidance of $875 to $925 million. When we started the year, we mentioned that we were going into the year with 85% of our revenue booked at the midpoint of our guidance range. As a result of awards during the first quarter, this percentage has decreased to more than 90%. I'm sorry, the percentage has increased to more than 90%. and we continue to be confident in our ability to achieve our revenue guidance. The improvement in our consolidated revenue combined with continued focus on execution excellence and leverage of our construction overhead and SG&A cost structures will allow us to return to profitability as the fiscal year and make us and make significant progress towards the achievement of our long-term financial targets. This concludes our prepared remarks.

We'll now open for questions. Operator | Conference Operator

Thank you. At this time, we'll conduct a question and answer session. As a reminder to ask a question, you'll need to press star 1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. And our first question comes from the line of John Frenzreb of Sidonian Call. Your line is now open.

John Frenzreb | Analyst, Sidoti & Company

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking the questions. I just want to start with where you finished about those two projects. It doesn't seem like there's much in common with them, and it seemed like the start dates were probably due in 2027, if not later. But I am curious if that suggests that the competitive landscape, as one was rebid and one of the terms were changed a bit, the competitive landscape, so we're getting a little bit tougher for larger projects out there.

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

I don't think so. I don't think both those situations were... really not associated with, you know, as you pointed, the competitive landscape. I think it's just the way the larger project, as Kevin had said, you know, we've been in our backlog for almost two years, and there was a lot of scope and design changes that were going on between the owner of the project and our client. And I think the ultimate client, the owner, decided that they were going to just change their execution strategy and try and do it a different way. And then the other project, really, I frankly applaud our teams for not being sucked into taking a job that had a much higher risk component, certainly one that we were not – not given additional remuneration for it to take on that risk. And I think we were able to make that decision to do that because there's a significant amount of opportunities in the marketplace for that kind of work where we've got a very strong brand position. We've got a very strong position in those markets. And so I think at the end of the day, it was a positive thing, particularly when neither one of those projects really impact our fiscal 2026.

John Frenzreb | Analyst, Sidoti & Company

Got it, got it. And, John, I might be reading too much into this, but I think in your prepared remarks you mentioned that midsize projects are growing, but later in your prepared remarks you said that you look for a reacceleration of large project work. Did I hear that properly? And if so, what's the timing of when you expect, you know, large jobs to be let out again?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, I mean, we put some pretty large projects into our backlog 18 months ago. And so just the timing, the development of the bigger energy facilities, certainly around LNG and NGLs, ammonia jobs, it just takes longer to get those things through a proposal process and development process. And so there's a number of those projects out there that we are tracking. We may be providing... upfront feed work for, maybe some engineering development, scheduling, budgeting, helping some of our core clients in those markets that are continuing to add more infrastructure or planning to add more infrastructure. It's just a timing thing. We're really comfortable about our positioning there. The number of opportunities that are out there that we're going to be able to play a role in and But my comment there is over through this fiscal year, there continues to be a lot of what we call mid-scale projects available to us. I think we announced the DRP project this morning, which went into backlog in our first quarter. Typical kind of projects that we see out there in our pipeline that we're currently bidding on or have bid and that we're working through details with the clients on that. So And each of those projects individually, they're not short-term projects. They may not be a three-year project, but they could be 12 to 18 months. They allow us to continue to maintain a strong backlog, to really build our teams as the bigger projects come down through the opportunity pipeline. And so I feel really good about, A, our ability to continue to maintain a solid backlog and to continue to strengthen the company's operations through a lot of these, what you'd call smaller projects. Now, these projects certainly aren't tiny, but they're not the kind of the mega stuff that, for us, the mega stuff that we put in the backlog 18 months ago.

John Frenzreb | Analyst, Sidoti & Company

Understood. And just a question on the restructuring. I'm wondering how that changes the breakeven dynamics and if there's any other things that you're thinking about as far as the year ahead, any other kind of actions?

Kevin Cavanaugh | Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, so it does have a good impact on our cost structure, decreases that, which does lower our break-even point. At this time last year, we were talking about it took us $225 million of quarterly revenue to get to break-even. That's decreased to somewhere between $210 and $215 million to get to break-even. Those Those changes also decreased the level of revenue required for us to reach full construction overhead cost recovery. That's now around 250. And it decreased the amount of revenue we need to get our SG&A down to our 6.5% target. That's also down to 250. So that's definitely had a positive impact on the earnings power of the company. You know, as we mentioned, we're We're substantially complete with the restructuring items that would have a cost impact. So there may be some minimal costs that flow through the rest of the year, but it's not much is expected there. With that said, we're continuing to focus on improving the business and have actions and plans in place to address all the issues within the business to continue to focus on returning to profitability and producing the strong bottom line on a quarter-over-quarter basis.

John Frenzreb | Analyst, Sidoti & Company

Got it. That was very helpful, Kevin. I'll get back to you.

Thank you. Operator | Conference Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Augie Smith of TA Davidson. Your line is now open.

Augie Smith | Analyst, TA Davidson

Good morning, guys. Thank you for taking the questions today. To begin, can you guys touch a bit more on kind of what projects you're targeting within the gas power project space? In previous conversations, you had mentioned you're looking at some gas power plant work, but kind of more specifically, what are your capabilities there, and how do you see that playing out moving forward? And then is this something we should be considering for fiscal 26?

Thanks. John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, so if you've been around us for a while, when there was a lot more activity in the late 90s, early 2000s, we as a company and part of our legacy members of our company were involved in a number of the larger combined cycle gas-fired power plant build-out across the country, California, Ohio, into Pennsylvania, so a variety of different areas. So not only as acting as a general contractor on those projects, but in some cases, we would, you know, provide the centerline erection, boiler erection, the mechanical piping systems, and so we have those skill sets reside in the organization, and we have those capabilities. Over the last, certainly the last few years, as that market, you know, flattened out, you know, pre-COVID, you know, those resources were applied into other industries and other markets that were maybe gaining strength. So, So we can see in the current market for power generation and a combination of increased demand for generation, looking for more sustainability, more reliability, and maybe a little cleaner generation moving from coal to natural gas. It plays very well for us. We have all those construction skill sets to not only have a role in the construction of new power generation, but also to do all the backup fueling, natural gas and LNG, as well as peak shaving terminals. We have a very strong brand position there. If you think about upstream from the new major demand for generation, back up into existing power suppliers. They need to expand their generation resources. They need to make sure they have reliable generation, backup fuel for that generation. All those things are creating project opportunities for us. Frankly, in our opportunity pipeline, I would expect that to grow here over the next year as more power generating related projects come into move from our prospects phase into our opportunity pipeline.

Augie Smith | Analyst, TA Davidson

Okay, awesome. Thank you for the added color there. And then kind of shifting gears again back to the backlog. So obviously backlog was impacted this quarter by the removal of those two awards. But kind of moving forward, should we continue to view backlog in the $1 billion plus range? And then kind of more specifically, you guys mentioned that the process and industrial facilities project that was removed was because the client wanted to split it up into multiple bids. Do you guys envision this kind of becoming a pattern with other clients as well, or do you guys think of this as more of a one-off?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, I think that's a one-off situation, at least for the projects that we're involved in. I would say what we're seeing more of a turn is clients that are trying to lock up resources and engineering and construction capabilities. And so in some cases, they are looking at alliances, looking at partnering agreements, looking at better risk sharing through reimbursable kind of contracts. So I think we're in that place in the market right now where it's becoming, I hate to use the term, it's becoming a seller's market. But certainly, I think that pendulum has moved in a little bit in some areas and some regions of the country where you're going to see more contractors getting locked up with owners to get their infrastructure put in place. So I think right now it's a pretty good place to be in, A, to have the kind of brand strength that we have and capabilities in the markets we can perform in. But, you know, not just for us, certainly for, you know, some of our peers as well.

Augie Smith | Analyst, TA Davidson

Okay. Thank you. Very much appreciated.

I'll leave it there. John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Operator | Conference Operator

Thank you. I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'll now turn it back to Kelly Smythe for closing remarks.

Kathleen Smyth | Senior Director, Investor Relations

Thank you. As a reminder, the Sedodian Company year-end virtual investor conference is scheduled for December 10th and 11th. We will also be participating for the first time in the Northland Capital Markets Virtual Growth Conference on December 16, 2025. If you're participating, we look forward to speaking with you. Additionally, if you'd like to have a conversation with management, please contact me through the Matrix Service Company Investor Relations website. You may also sign up to receive MTRX news by scanning the QR code on your screen.

Thank you for your time. Operator | Conference Operator

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the program. You may now disconnect. jsPDF 3.0.3 D:20260606090252-00'00'

Research summary and source transcript

readyJun 10, 2026

Matrix Service Company's FY2025 Q4 results were significantly impacted by one-time items including a $6.4 million revenue reduction from a legacy crude terminal project dispute, a $3.8 million labor productivity charge, a $1.3 million court-related charge, and $3.4 million in restructuring costs. Excluding these items, the underlying business showed improving execution, with revenue growth each quarter, improving cost leverage, and a strong backlog of approximately $1.4 billion supporting 85% of guided FY2026 revenue. The company is positioned for a return to profitability in FY2026 driven by backlog conversion, cost structure improvements, and opportunities in power infrastructure linked to data center demand.

Management knows today that the legacy crude terminal project dispute is in arbitration with a decision expected in FY2026, and they believe they have appropriately reserved for exposure while expecting a positive cash inflow upon resolution. This outcome is not yet known to the market and could materially affect earnings if the arbitration result differs from current reserves. Additionally, while the company cites improving cost leverage and backlog quality, the market does not yet know whether the organizational realignment will sustainably reduce the break-even revenue level to $210–215 million per quarter as claimed, or if inflation and project mix will erode these gains over the next 6–24 months.

Revenue growth from backlog conversion, improvement in construction overhead and SG&A leverage, and winning new awards in specialty storage, LNG, and electrical infrastructure tied to power generation and data center-adjacent demand.

  • Safety performance improvements (TRIR and DART rates)
  • Backlog strength and award activity supporting future revenue
  • Organizational realignment and cost structure improvements
  • Legacy legal issues and one-time charges masking underlying performance
  • Opportunities in power generation and infrastructure linked to electrification and data centers
  • Detailed discussion of arbitration outcome expectations for the legacy crude terminal project
  • Emphasis on 85% of FY2026 revenue being already booked and in progress
  • Specific citation of cost savings from restructuring ($12 million annual overhead reduction)
  • Enthusiasm about winning work in LNG peak shaving and substation projects related to data center power demand
  • Confidence in returning to profitability in FY2026 based on backlog quality and revenue run rate

Management exhibits a candid and direct tone when discussing one-time charges, openly detailing the nature and financial impact of each item affecting Q4 results. They consistently distinguish between reported performance and underlying business improvement, citing specific operational metrics like margin trends, cost leverage, and backlog quality. While optimistic about future profitability and growth, they ground expectations in tangible factors such as backlog conversion rates, cost structure changes, and arbitration timelines, avoiding vague or overly promotional language. This enhances credibility by acknowledging challenges while articulating a clear, evidence-based path to improvement.

  • No clear dodged analyst question was detected by the local fallback; manual review should still check whether Q&A answers quantified conversion, margins, and guidance.
  • There may be a benchmark or metric-framing issue worth manual review, especially around adjusted metrics, timelines, or changed expectations.

Matrix appears to be holding its competitive position in core markets like specialty storage, LNG, and electrical infrastructure, supported by consistent award activity and backlog growth. While not dominant, the company is effectively competing for mid-sized EPC projects in energy and power infrastructure, leveraging its integrated engineering and construction capabilities. The organizational realignment aims to improve competitiveness in execution and pricing, particularly in volatile markets. There is no clear evidence of gaining or losing share, but the ability to win work in growing areas like LNG peak shaving and substations suggests stable or slightly improving positioning relative to peers.

  • FY2025 Q4 revenue: $216.4 million
  • FY2025 Q4 adjusted EBITDA: -$4.8 million
  • FY2025 awards: $726 million, supporting near-record backlog of approximately $1.4 billion
  • FY2026 revenue guidance: $875 million to $925 million (17% YoY growth at midpoint)
  • Construction overhead under-recovery improved from 620 bps in Q1 to 160 bps in Q4 FY2025
  • Restructuring actions reduced annual overhead cost structure by approximately $12 million
  • Resolution of the legacy crude terminal project arbitration in FY2026 potentially yielding positive cash inflow
  • Conversion of near-record backlog ($1.4B) to revenue in FY2026, with 85% of guided revenue already booked
  • Continued improvement in construction overhead leverage (down from 620 to 160 bps) and SG&A efficiency
  • Award activity in utility and power infrastructure segment ($121.9M in Q4) tied to LNG peak shaving and substations
  • Organizational changes enabling improved alignment and break-even revenue reduction to $210–215M/quarter
  • Arbitration outcome on the legacy crude terminal project could differ from current reserves, impacting earnings
  • Revenue growth dependent on timely conversion of backlog, which may face delays due to customer or macroeconomic factors
  • Cost savings from restructuring may not be fully realized if inflation, wage pressures, or project mix offset gains
  • Dependence on winning new awards in competitive markets to sustain backlog and growth beyond FY2026
  • Exposure to labor productivity issues on complex projects, as seen in the crude storage project charge

Matrix does not build data centers directly but sees indirect opportunities from data center-driven demand for power generation, backup power, fuel supply, and interconnect/substation work. The company cites its involvement in substation and interconnect work for data centers, LNG peak shaving facility upgrades tied to power demand, and skills in gas-fired turbine construction for baseload and backup generation. These are described as 'fringe' opportunities related to the broader electrification and power demand trends fueled by data center expansion, AI, and manufacturing. While not a direct player, Matrix positions itself to benefit from infrastructure investments supporting data center energy needs.

  • What is the expected timeline and potential financial impact of the arbitration decision on the legacy crude terminal project?
  • How sustainable is the claimed reduction in break-even revenue to $210–215 million per quarter, and what assumptions underlie this?
  • What portion of the $1.4 billion backlog is truly 'in flight' with minimal delay risk, and what is the expected conversion rate to revenue in FY2026?
  • Beyond LNG peak shaving and substations, what specific wins in electrical interconnect or backup fuel supply projects have been secured that are directly tied to data center power demand?
  • How will the company measure the success of its organizational realignment beyond cost savings—e.g., win rates, project execution speed, or margin consistency?
  • What is the expected cadence of new award announcements in the utility and power infrastructure segment through FY2026, and how does the pipeline support the book-to-bill goal of 1.0?

FY2025 Q4 earnings call transcript

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NASDAQ:MTRX Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript Generated on 6/6/2026 Conference Operator | Operator: Good morning and welcome to the Matrix Service Company conference call to discuss the results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. Currently, all participants are in listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session and instructions will be given at that time. If you require assistance at any time, please press star 1 1 on your telephone. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. And I turn the conference over to today's host, Ms. Kelly Smith, Senior Director of Investor Relations for Matrix Service Company.

Kelly Smith | Senior Director of Investor Relations

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to Matrix Service Company's fourth quarter fiscal 2025 earnings call. Participants on today's call include John Hewitt, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Kevin Cavanaugh, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the call up for questions. The presentation materials referred to during the webcast today can be found under Events and Presentations on the Investor Relations section of MatrixServiceCompany.com. As a reminder, on today's call, we may make various remarks about future expectations, plans and prospects for Matrix Service Company, that constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of Private Security Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements because of various factors, including those discussed in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and in subsequent filings made by the company with the SEC. The forward-looking statements made today are effective only as of today. To the extent we utilize non-GAAP measures, reconciliations will be provided in various press releases, periodic SEC filings, and on our website. Finally, all comparisons today are for the same period of the prior year, unless specifically stated. Related to investor conferences and corporate access opportunities, we will be participating in the DA Davidson 24th Annual Diversified Industrials and Services Conference, and Nashville, Tennessee, September 17th through the 19th. If you would like additional information on this event or would like to have a conversation with management, I invite you to contact me through the Matrix Service Company Investor Relations website. I will now turn the call over to John.

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Kelly. Starting with safety, at Matrix, the physical and mental safety of our employees, as well as that of anyone on our project sites or in our offices, is core to who we are, an expectation for all employees, and a commitment we uphold for all stakeholders. Today, I want to talk about this. Similar to airport security today, if you see something that does not look right, that could create a hazard for yourself or fellow employees, then please say something. At Matrix, this is not only a right our employees have when they come to work for us, but it is an obligation and expectation for everyone. And we expect our leaders to listen and act without retribution. This authority is a critical part of our culture and creates a safer work environment. And we find many times in near misses and incidents that the use of stop work authority or the honoring of that authority by leadership could have avoided an incident. In fiscal 2025, we made significant improvements in both our total recordable incident rate, or TRIR, and our DART rate, which is a measure of injury severity. and stands for days away, restricted, or transferred due to an injury. Our TRIR improved from 0.91 in fiscal 2024 to 0.51 in fiscal 2025. And our DART rate improved from 0.28 to 0.21 for the same period. And while we are proud of these achievements, we understand that achieving and maintaining a zero incident safety performance is a relentless journey. And we will continue to prioritize safety in everything we do as you work towards this goal. So as we conclude fiscal 2025, on behalf of the company's leadership team, I would like to thank everyone at Matrix, as well as our subcontractors and others on our project sites and offices for your unwavering commitment to our safety journey and building the kind of culture that we expect. The effort you invest in fostering a safe work environment at work and at home makes a profound difference, and together we can achieve our goal of zero incidents. And to our team members, remember stop work authority is a right, an obligation, and an expectation for everyone. As I reflect on fiscal 2025, the financial results certainly did not meet the expectations we had at the start of the year. nor does it accurately portray the positive underlying performance of the business. It is essential to look behind the numbers to recognize the progress achieved and the fundamental strength in the business. It is important to understand that the impact from a single isolated event alongside a couple of legacy legal issues from 2021 and restructuring costs encouraged to improve the organization does not reflect the company's underlying performance or its future potential. Kevin will provide more detail on these impacts in his remarks, but before he does, I want to highlight a few key takeaways. First, our project teams are executing well and producing strong, consolidated results on our projects and maintenance activities across the enterprise, as evidenced by an above-plan DGP level, even including the labor productivity issues from a crude storage project that was noted in our earnings release. we are executing on the backlog and new awards above plan on a consolidated basis. Second, while the full year's revenue was below our expectations, over half the revenue shortfall was related to the late start on previously booked work, which is now in full flight, and significant weakness in the planned growth for our T&D business, which led us to exit that service line in the back half of the fiscal year. The trend of growing revenue did occur as expected, quarter over quarter, just not to the level we anticipated. And we expect revenue to continue to grow in fiscal 2026. Third, awards in the year of $726 million allowed us to maintain a near record backlog of approximately $1.4 billion. As a result, we are entering fiscal 2026 with approximately 85% of the planned revenue booked, but nearly all of it underway. Additionally, this year's awards support our core market objectives in specialty storage, LNG facilities, and electrical infrastructure, some of which are directly associated with the East Coast Data Center build-out and its demand for reliable power. These new awards and performance on existing backlog are creating new and reinforcing existing client relationships, which will lead to more award opportunities as the demand for energy, power, and industrial infrastructure continues to heat up. Many of our clients are looking to commit to contractors that they trust and have high-performing teams to ensure their work gets built. Finally, as the year unfolded, we took steps to make sure the business is prepared for what we see as a strong future, a future of opportunities and growth in our target markets. We looked at the business core strategic pillars of win, execute, and deliver to assure that every part of the business, from sales to operations to shared services to administrative support, is properly aligned. In the end, we flattened the organization, closed underperforming offices, consolidated operational support services, restructured business development to better align with core market and growth objectives, and integrated our engineering and construction operations to improve competitiveness, market alignment, and delivery. While we did incur some costs associated with these initiatives, the changes are crucial to ensuring Matrix can capitalize on the significant opportunities ahead. As these efforts begin to bear fruit, They will serve as key catalysts for our continued strategic growth and solid execution in 2026 and beyond. Now let's talk about strategy. Our strategy begins with our people, our purpose, and the core values of who we are as a company. To deliver on this purpose, we must ensure a culture of safety, both physical and mental, and imperative to our business. Maintain our great place to work environment, especially considering the demand for talent, both professional and craft. Remain growth focused to gain scale and durability. Achieve consistent performance, excellence in all aspects of our operations, including safety, quality, timeliness, and margin outcomes. Innovate and lead in the application of technology, including AI, and face change with a positive attitude. And finally, create value for all of our stakeholders. These objectives are central to how we lead, set expectations, and create value, and are embedded in the pillars of win, execute, and deliver, which underpins our strategy. Our win pillar is not only about awards, building backlog, and growing organically, but also making sure we pursue awards with the right risk and financial profile aligned to our strategic market-focused areas. In addition, win also means hiring the best talent, having an industry-leading brand, and building strong client relationships. Our strategic market focus can be broken into two categories. Our current business with the opportunities for consistent and stable revenue combined with specific growth opportunities that are available in markets that fit our brand profile, skill sets, and leadership in engineering, construction, and maintenance for LNG, NGS, ammonia, midstream and downstream energy products, mining and minerals, aerospace, and electrical. And new high growth markets where our presence is currently limited, but opportunities are significant. Our experience and skill sets overlap for base load and backup power generation, fuel storage, electrical interconnects, and mechanical systems that are being driven by growth and power demand from fleet retirements, electrification of everything, expansion of AI and data centers, and advanced manufacturing. Our opportunity pipeline, the 5.3 $5.9 billion is largely made up of our current business market focus areas. Over time, we will add to this pipeline with new high-growth markets, which will provide further strength. Both our current and new high-growth markets are supported by numerous multi-year megatrends aligned with our long-term financial targets and provide the expectation for organic and inorganic growth of the business in 2026 and beyond. Moving on to our execute pillar, we must take the work that we win and execute it with zero safety incidents, high quality, in line or better than budget, on time, and with overall outcomes that strengthen our brand and client relationships. The realignment and streamlining of our organization, which has been strategic and intentional, has been key to ensuring we continue to win and execute at a high level. Finally, the deliver pillar of our strategy is really the culmination of the first two Winning and executing our work in a consistent and high-quality manner that allows us to deliver value to all of our stakeholders, invest in our company, our people, and fixed assets, providing a fuel for inorganic growth, growth opportunities for our people, supports the community, and a return to our shareholders. As it relates to inorganic growth, we have said previously that our focus has been on returning to profitability. We are at that inflection point now. Looking forward, our priorities to ensure durable, return-focused growth through organic, supplemented with focused M&A. As we move through the year, we'll become more intentional and active in the search for inorganic opportunities that meet the strategic needs of the business to support our market objectives. We expect fiscal year 2026 full-year revenue to be between $875 million to $925 million, representing year-over-year growth of 17% at the midpoint of the range. This outlook is underpinned by the strength of our current business, a healthy bidding environment, and a robust backlog. As mentioned earlier, at the midpoint of our guidance, approximately 85% of expected fiscal 2026 revenue is supported by backlog already in hand, and nearly all that backlog is related to projects that have already broken ground or risk of delay is minimal. 2026 will be a crucial year in our strategic journey marked by revenue growth, a return to profitability, and continued execution against our strategic priorities. We are forecasting the first quarter of the year to be similar revenue level to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, with a steady improvement in revenue and profitability through the course of the year. With our strong financial position, a realigned organizational structure, backlog, and robust opportunity pipeline, we are confident in our ability to leverage the significant ongoing infrastructure investment cycle to continue our transformation into a scalable and resilient growth platform. Kevin will now provide more details on the numbers.

Kevin Cavanaugh | Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, John. Yesterday, we released our results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. Those results were revenue of 216.4 million, EPS of a 40-cent loss, and adjusted EBITDA of a $4.8 million loss. Those results included four items, that masked the continued improvement in the ongoing business. First, we lowered our recovery expectations on a legacy project that is currently in a dispute resolution process, which resulted in a $6.4 million reduction of revenue and operating income. This was related to a crude terminal project that we completed back in calendar 2021. The project was impacted by the COVID pandemic and occurred significant project scope changes directed by the owner. We've been pursuing our outstanding contract balance from the customer since that time. Arbitration proceedings occurred last month and we are awaiting that final decision in fiscal 2026. While the outcome of legal proceedings is uncertain, we believe we have appropriately reserved for our exposure on this issue and expect a positive cash inflow upon resolution. Second, We incurred an additional $3.8 million charge on a crude project impacted by lower than anticipated labor productivity. You may recall we discussed this project last quarter when we began to incur productivity issues. While we work hard to avoid any issues during our projects in our industry, issues will occur from time to time. When they do, our focus is on reducing any financial impact and maintaining a strong relationship with our customer. We are pleased to report that the team worked through the issues, completed the project early this quarter as planned, and did so in a manner that further solidified our relationship with an important customer. Third, we incurred a $1.3 million charge related to an unexpected court decision on a project completed in calendar 2021. In this case, a subcontractor of ours failed to pay certain vendors, even though we had paid the subcontractor. As a subcontractor is no longer able to pay their obligations, the court ruled we had to make good on the amounts owed to the vendors, effectively requiring us to pay the obligations twice. Finally, we incurred $3.4 million in restructuring costs related to the organizational improvement actions John previously discussed. As those actions continue to fiscal 2026, we expect to incur a similar amount of restructuring costs in the first quarter. These actions were mainly designed to improve operational efficiencies, but they also reduced our annual overhead cost structure by approximately $12 million. As we have experienced higher inflation the past couple of years and other cost pressures, these changes will allow us to keep our annual cost structure flat during a period of strong revenue growth. The combined impact of these items was significant to the boarder. It decreased our revenue by $6.4 million, to the reported 216.4 million, which was just below our implied fourth quarter guidance range. It negatively impacted EPS by 53 cents, which resulted in the 40 cent loss I previously referenced, and it decreased our adjusted EBITDA by 11.5 million to a $4.8 million loss. We believe discussing the results in this manner is necessary to demonstrate the fundamental performance and improvement in the underlying business. We have previously discussed our fiscal 2025 focus was to improve operating results and return to profitable performance through the growth and our revenue run rate, effective project execution and leverage of our overhead cost structure. The revenue grew each quarter of the year as large projects ramped. That growth continued in the fourth quarter, with revenue being 31% higher than the start of the year. The revenue run rate has now reached a level that supports positive earnings. As previously mentioned, our project execution was strong enterprise-wide as the underlying business produced double-digit direct margins excluding the items discussed. We have a quality backlog and will continue to focus on effective project execution. The leverage of our cost structure improved throughout the year with the impact of the under-recovered construction overhead reducing from 620 basis points in the first quarter to 160 basis points in the fourth quarter. Finally, SD&A leverage also improved from 11.2% of revenue in the first quarter to 88.1% in the fourth. As we move through fiscal 2026, additional revenue growth combined with the efficiency actions taken will allow us to materially eliminate the under recovery of construction overhead and further leverage SD&A toward our 6.5% target. Moving to the segments, storage and thermal solutions segment revenue increased 37% to 96.1 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 compared to 70 million last year due to increased volume of work for specialty vessel and LNG storage projects. Gross margin in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 reflects improved operating leverage resulting from higher revenue. However, gross margin was a negative 1.1% in the fourth quarter compared to a positive 3.1% last year as a result of labor productivity issues on a crude terminal project and lower recovery expectation on a legacy project, both of which were discussed previously. Utility and power infrastructure segment revenue increased 12% to $73 million in the fourth quarter compared to $65.3 million in the same period a year ago, benefiting from a higher volume of work associated with natural gas beach shaving projects. Gross margin was 9.1% in the fourth quarter compared to 4.2% last year, an increase of 4.9% due to strong project execution and improved construction overhead cost absorption. The fourth quarter gross margin was also impacted by the $1.3 million charge related to the unfavorable court decision discussed previously. Process and industrial facility segment revenue decreased to $47.3 million in the fourth quarter compared to $54.2 million last year, primarily due to lower revenue resulting from the completion of a large renewable diesel project last year. In addition, we had lower revenue from thermal vacuum chambers, partially offset by higher revenue volumes for refinery work. Due to the change in mix of work, gross margin was 5.9% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, compared to 15.4% last year. Now let's discuss backlog, which stands at almost $1.4 billion as of June 30, 2025. Project awards totaled $186.3 million in the fourth quarter, resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of 0.9. While economic uncertainty has impacted the timing of project awards overall, the utility and power infrastructure segment had a strong quarter with $121.9 million in awards, and a book to build 1.7. These awards were related to LNG peak shaving projects and substations. The year backlog level is supportive of strong revenue growth in fiscal 2026. And moving to the balance sheet, our cash increased an additional $39.1 million in the fourth quarter related primarily to working capital changes. For the year, our cash balance has increased $109 million to $249.6 million as of June 30, 2025. Available liquidity has increased to $284.5 million and is comprised of $224.6 million of unrestricted cash and $59.8 million of borrowing availability under the credit facility. The company also has $25 million of restricted cash to support the credit facility, and our debt position remains at zero. Subsequently, year-end, the company executed an amendment to the credit facility which extends its term until September of 2029, becoming in our fiscal 2026 in a strong financial position that provides the liquidity needed to support the execution of our backlog and to deploy capital toward growth. With that, I would like to turn the call over to John for some final remarks.

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Kevin. In closing, I'd like to reiterate the following takeaways. First, despite some legacy legal issues and other noise during the fourth quarter, our team grew revenue consistently quarter after quarter, through the year and is executing above plan from a direct growth profit perspective on the work in hand. Second, our strategy is working. We are winning work in our key focus areas, maintaining our near record backlog, even in the face of the uncertain macroeconomic environment. Our organizational realignment is strengthening our platform and positioning the company for sustained profitable growth, both organically and inorganically. And third, our momentum into fiscal 2026 is strong with robust backlog and a strong opportunity pipeline. We are guiding the 70% revenue growth next year with 85% of that revenue from backlog that is already in progress. So with the tremendous momentum that exists across the business, we believe we are entering a prolonged period of growth. Above all, we remain committed to delivering sustainable shareholder value by building a platform capable of consistent profitability, backlog growth, and cash generation. I'm proud of what our team accomplished in fiscal 2025 and even more excited about the road ahead. By remaining disciplined, focusing on safety and quality, and continuing to improve our operations, we are confident in our ability to drive growth, create long-term value for our shareholders as we successfully win, execute, and deliver. With that, we'll open the call for questions.

Conference Operator | Operator

Thank you. At this time, we'll conduct the question and answer session. As a reminder to ask a question, you'll need to press star 1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. And our first question comes from the line of John Franzrad of Sudorinco. Your line is now open.

John Franzrad | Analyst, Sudorinco

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking the questions. John, last quarter you kind of referenced the fact that some of the jobs are being pushed to the right due to economic uncertainty. Are you still seeing that?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, I mean, I would say there's kind of an overhang across our industry, but I'd say we're really only able to point the finger at a couple of projects that were in our sites that you could say we're directly impacted by what's going on with tariffs and some of the global events. And I think it just sort of feels like there's an overhang. And most of those projects are probably really related to things that have more of a global involvement, meaning things that are exporting some kind of energy product. Let's say the internal stuff, the LNG peak shaving and backup fuel supply, There continues to be a lot of energy around those, no pun intended. And I think we're still seeing a lot of smaller projects kind of come through the pipeline. The major projects, those are just timing things. And they come and go. And they take a while for those to germinate. But we have some of the larger LNG peak shaving projects in our sites. And it just takes some time for those projects to develop. So from a domestic standpoint, I think we feel pretty good about the timing of an opportunity for awards there. Certainly, there's more attention from our clients around material escalation from tariffs. And those kinds of things become part of how we price and how we negotiate our contracts with various clients. But we've been fairly successful working through those risks with our new and existing clients.

John Franzrad | Analyst, Sudorinco

Got it. And when you look at the opportunity profile and you just reference some larger jobs that are out there maybe, do you expect to exit fiscal 2026 at a near 1.0 book to bill or is that too much to ask?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

No, I certainly think that opportunity is out there. You've been around us long enough that you know the timing of those awards certainly have a major impact. Things can slip a month here or there. But certainly what we see in our pipeline, the opportunity for us to book inside the, let's just say, our guidance range, revenue guidance range, I think those projects are out there. And, you know, the big – when we have these big upticks in our backlog, they come from a major project that we've booked that's in the $300 million, $400 million kind of range, where, you know, we have a couple of those in our backlog today, and we're looking for opportunities to replace those and build on those moving forward. So this year, I think our award cycle is going to be made up of smaller kind of – our normal sort of bread-and-butter projects, but smaller projects that are in – you know, 50 to 150 million kind of range. But we think those are out there and the opportunity for us to win those and hit a book to build a one is certainly available to us.

John Franzrad | Analyst, Sudorinco

That's good to hear. And just what's your confidence level on returning to profitability and that kind of timeline? How does that play out as the year progresses?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

I would say our confidence is high. We feel good about feel good about the quality of the backlog we have and the fact that the high quality backlog is in flight and that how that backlog is going to roll out over the course of the year, plus even some of the backlog that we added in fiscal 25 helps to fill some of the holes in fiscal 26 already. And so, you know, I think we feel pretty good about our revenue levels. And, you know, at the revenue levels we're projecting, you know, we're going to be in a position to be able to return the profitability.

John Franzrad | Analyst, Sudorinco

And one last question. I'll get back into Q. Cash positions building. Could you just talk a little bit about how much is that advance payment from customers and how much is matrix?

Kevin Cavanaugh | Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

So I'll take that. You know, the cash position has built considerably this year. You know, we've got a lot of long-term projects where we have seen some upfront money, but the balance sheet is strong. So we'll definitely use, you know, a good portion of that $250 million of cash for the projects. But we probably have, you know, cash available for, you know, just the normal level. If you look at what the working capital investment is currently, what the cash level is of $50 to $70 million that's, of built up cash for um just operating the business and it could also support growth um activity so um feel good about where we've got this balance sheet all right good to hear thank you kevin thank you john i'll get back to you thank you thank you one moment for our next question Conference Operator | Operator: And our next question comes from the line of Brent Dillman of DA Davidson. Your line is now open.

Brent Dillman | Analyst, DA Davidson

Thanks. Good morning, John, Kevin. I guess the first question just would be kind of back to some of the moving pieces of the quarter. Are you able to comment on other potential COVID era you know, legacy jobs that you're in dispute that, you know, we need to keep in the back of our minds? Or do we feel like, you know, we're kind of beyond this at this point?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

I think we're, I think anything of any materiality works pretty much beyond. This one particular project that we're talking about that took the $6 million charge, as Kevin had noted, you know, we've been fighting that. You know, we reached mechanical completion on the job back in, early 21. And we've been in dispute with a client since then. And we've we have attempted numerous occasions to get that settled and was unable to do that and ended up in, as Kevin said, in arbitration last month. And but yeah, that's really kind of the final material legacy pandemic issue that we've got.

Brent Dillman | Analyst, DA Davidson

Okay. And then maybe a two-parter to the restructuring actions you're taking would be, you know, one, Kevin, if you don't mind, just your expectations for the cost savings impact you should get from this. And I guess to any early indications or evidence of some of the things that you're doing that's you know, allowing you to win more work, you know, where are you seeing the positives of what you've been doing here to, you know, potentially, I guess, the bookings or any other measure we can look at?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

So I'll hit the second part of your question. Kevin can hit the first part. So, you know, we've made, you know, a lot of significant changes over the last five months. And, you know, right now we are kind of settling in. So we moved people around in the seats and got rid of some of the seats and so created opportunities for some of the people in the organization to step up and take some different new leadership roles. So I think we've created a lot of energy in the organization. You can feel a lot of energy in the organization. You know, like we said, we flattened and streamlined the decision making process. And, you know, so we are still kind of settling in the key strategies and objectives with the organization. We just met with the board two weeks ago and, you know, reviewed our strategy and our plans with them. But I think we're already seeing an improved alignment between different elements of the business and, you know, what we need to do to support each other, what we need to do to win work, what our real focus areas are uh from a market perspective and so i i think this this this change and as we're calling a realignment in the organization is really going to bear some fruit for not only on on how we win work but our ability to execute work particularly around work that's epc related where we've got you know the critical engineering deliverables Kevin Cavanaugh | Vice President and Chief Financial Officer: and then the our ability to execute that work on our projects yeah and when you look at the cost um you know we've as i mentioned we've cut out about 12 million with these these most recent actions that split about 50 50 between construction overhead and and sdna so it'll you know we were our sdna was been running just under 18 million a quarter in the fiscal 2025 i think you'll see it in the 16 and a half million range per quarter in fiscal 26. The construction overhead impact will help us address the construction overhead, combine the little bit lower cost structure with the increasing revenues. We'll continue to focus on eliminating the COH. So I think we made the right steps in the last couple of quarters.

Brent Dillman | Analyst, DA Davidson

Okay. I guess my last question is a little bigger picture, John. You know, there's been some fairly significant announcements here the last few days, and then related to the data center theme. And I guess the question for me would be, maybe if you could just elaborate, where does Matrix play into this, you know, whether directly or? you know, kind of second derivative of the things that are happening in that market that only seem to be getting bigger and bigger as we look out over the next few years. What are your cards to play and how does that pipeline that you have, what is it, how does it inform you about your opportunity there?

John Hewitt | President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, good question. So, I mean, we are not going to be the person who builds the data center, right? That's just not, that's not who we are. We don't, vision being being out there doing that that's a fairly highly competitive light industrial kind of market and so to make that step would be a pretty big leap but where we are going to play a role in both directly and indirectly is the demand for additional power generation everywhere and and the demand for backup power and the fuel for that power related directly related to data centers, you know, the AI computing, advanced manufacturing. So we see, you know, significant opportunities there. And if you recall, you've been around us long enough. I mean, we had a position in the gas-fired turbine construction market, both for in simple cycle, in a simple cycle mode and in combined cycle. for baseload generation so we have those skill sets you know we we turned our focus to other areas of construction as that market you know five six years ago kind of went you know in hibernation but this growing demand for power which we don't see is something that's going to stop and so it's related not only to the increased demand related to what we talked about here in data centers and ai but just in general the general electrification of everything You know, it's just requiring more power generation. You've got more in spite of some of the, you know, the rhetoric coming out of Washington, we're still probably going to be retiring coal fleets and moving more to a gas-based power generation economy. And then you've got the opportunity for interconnect, for substation work. We've done, for a couple of data centers, we've done the substation work and the interconnect work for them. A lot of those data centers have high demand for cooling. And so some of that is more of a more complex process installation than what you might normally have in a light industrial facility, which could create opportunities for us. So our opportunities and our work around there will be a little bit more on the fringe. And then just the demand for generation, not only the installation of of um base load generation and backup generation but also the gas required to fuel it you know pushing that back into the utilities with the work that we're doing and and uh peak shaving facilities the work that we're doing and and uh backup fuel supply for utilities uh the upgrading you know a couple of our awards in the quarter here were related to existing LNG peak shaving facilities that hadn't been updated for 30 years. And so we're going in and doing, in some cases, the full EPC to update the process equipment and not even necessarily the storage, but the process equipment of those existing LNG Unknown Speaker: Hello.

Kevin Cavanaugh | Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

So I think we're back online. Sorry about that. We had technical difficulties. Brent, I was going to follow up on, if you're still there, follow up on the cost question you had. You know, an important aspect of what those actions do is also decreases our break-even point. You know, the amount of revenue we need in order to get to break-even performance. You know, in the past, we've talked about that. It was around $225 million per quarter. With these reductions now, it's down to 210 to 215 million per quarter. And so that's definitely a benefit to us, increasing the earnings power of the business as we move forward. So I just wanted to follow up with that and turn it over to Kelly for closing remarks.

Kelly Smith | Senior Director of Investor Relations

Thank you, Kevin. As a reminder, we will be... participating in the DA Davidson 24th Annual Diversified Industrial and Services Conference in Nashville next week, September 17th through the 19th. If you are attending, we look forward to seeing you there. Additionally, if you'd like to have a conversation with management, please contact me through Matrix Service Company Investor Relations website. You may also sign up to receive MTRX news by scanning the QR code on your screen. Thank you so much for your time.

Conference Operator | Operator

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. To just conclude the program, you may now disconnect. jsPDF 3.0.3 D:20260606090253-00'00'