Sterling Infrastructure Inc (STRL) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Sterling Infrastructure fourth quarter and full year webcast and conference call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we'll conduct a question and answer session. (Operator Instructions). This call is being recorded on Wednesday, February 26, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to Noelle Dilts. Please go ahead.

女士們、先生們，早安，歡迎參加 Sterling Infrastructure 第四季和全年網路廣播和電話會議。此時，所有線路都處於只聽模式。演示結束後，我們將進行問答環節。（操作員指令）。本次通話於 2025 年 2 月 26 日星期三錄製。現在我想將會議交給諾埃爾·迪爾茨 (Noelle Dilts)。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning to everyone joining us and welcome to Sterling Infrastructure's 2024 fourth quarter earnings conference call and webcast. I'm pleased to be here today to discuss our results with Joe Cotillo, Sterling's Chief Executive Officer, and Sharon Villaverde, Sterling's Chief Financial Officer. Joe will open the call with an overview of the company and its performance in the quarter. Sharon will then discuss our financial results and guidance, after which Joe will provide a market and full year outlook.

謝謝。大家早安，歡迎參加 Sterling Infrastructure 2024 年第四季財報電話會議和網路廣播。我很高興今天能在這裡與 Sterling 執行長 Joe Cotillo 和 Sterling 財務長 Sharon Villaverde 討論我們的表現。喬將在電話會議開始時概述公司及其本季的業績。然後，Sharon 將討論我們的財務表現和指導，之後 Joe 將提供市場和全年展望。

We will then open the call up for questions. As a reminder, there are accompanying slides on the investor relations section of our website. These slides include details on our full year 2025 financial guidance. Before turning the call over to Joe, I will read the Safe Harbor statement. The discussion today may include forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from the statements made today.

然後我們將開始提問。提醒一下，我們網站的投資者關係部分有附帶的幻燈片。這些幻燈片包含我們 2025 年全年財務指導的詳細資訊。在將電話轉給喬之前，我將宣讀安全港聲明。今天的討論可能包括前瞻性陳述。實際結果可能與今天的聲明有重大差異。

Please refer to Sterling's most recent 10-K and 10-Q filings for a more complete description of risk factors that could affect these projections and assumptions. The company assumes no obligations to update forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Please also note that management may reference EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, or adjusted earnings per share on this call, which are all financial measures not recognized under US GAAP.

請參閱 Sterling 最新的 10-K 和 10-Q 文件，以獲得可能影響這些預測和假設的風險因素的更完整描述。本公司不承擔因新資訊、未來事件或其他原因而更新前瞻性陳述的義務。另請注意，管理層可能會在本次電話會議上參考 EBITDA、調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的淨收入或調整後的每股收益，這些都是美國 GAAP 未確認的財務指標。

As required by SEC rules and regulations, these non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled to their most comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings release issued yesterday afternoon. I'll now turn the call over to our CEO, Joe Cotillo.

根據美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 規則和條例的要求，這些非 GAAP 財務指標與我們昨天下午發布的收益報告中最可比較的 GAAP 財務指標進行了協調。現在我將把電話轉給我們的執行長喬·科蒂略 (Joe Cotillo)。

Thanks, Noelle. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Sterling's fourth quarter in full year 2024 earnings call. 2024 was another great year for Sterling. We achieved 37% adjusted EPS growth and 7% top line growth, reflecting our continued focus on driving margin expansion and returns. This is the fourth consecutive year we have generated adjusted EPS growth in excess of 35%.

謝謝，諾艾爾。大家早安，感謝您參加 Sterling 2024 年第四季及全年財報電話會議。 2024 年對斯特林來說又是偉大的一年。我們實現了 37% 的調整後每股收益成長和 7% 的營業收入成長，這反映出我們持續專注於推動利潤率擴張和回報。這是我們連續第四年實現調整後每股盈餘成長超過 35%。

Our gross profit margin reached 20.1%, exceeding the target we laid out a few years ago, and we generated nearly $500 million dollars of operating cash flow. Furthermore, our e-infrastructure backlog reached over $1 billion for the first time in our history. The opportunities we're seeing in our e-infrastructure business are unprecedented. Both the number and size of projects continue to increase, and we're having discussions with customers for projects that would start in 2027 and 2028.

我們的毛利率達到了20.1%，超過了我們幾年前所訂定的目標，並且產生了近5億美元的營運現金流。此外，我們的電子基礎設施積壓訂單量歷史上首次超過 10 億美元。我們在電子基礎設施業務中看到的機會是前所未有的。專案的數量和規模都在增加，我們正在與客戶討論 2027 年和 2028 年開始的專案。

Put simply, we are not seeing any signs of slowdown. If anything, activity is accelerating. We are extremely excited about the future and believe we will continue to drive strong earnings growth over the next few years. The Sterling Way, which is our commitment to take care of our people, our environment, our investors, and our communities. While we work to build America's infrastructure remains our guiding principle as we execute our strategy.

簡而言之，我們沒有看到任何放緩的跡象。無論如何，活動正在加速。我們對未來感到非常興奮，並相信未來幾年我們將繼續推動強勁的獲利成長。斯特林之道，是我們致力於照顧我們的員工、我們的環境、我們的投資者和我們的社區。在我們努力建立美國的基礎設施的同時，這仍然是我們執行策略的指導原則。

Now, I'd like to discuss the results for the full year and fourth quarter, 2024. For the year, we delivered adjusted EPS of $6.10 up 37% from 2023, and above the high end of our previously guided range of $5.85 to $6. Total revenue for the year grew over 7% to $2.1 billion. While revenue is slightly below our guided range, our adjusted EBITDA of $320 million grew 23% and also exceeded the high end of guidance.

現在，我想討論一下 2024 年全年和第四季的業績。今年，我們的調整後每股收益為 6.10 美元，較 2023 年增長 37%，高於我們先前預測的 5.85 美元至 6 美元的最高值。全年總收入成長超過 7%，達到 21 億美元。雖然收入略低於我們的指導範圍，但我們的調整後 EBITDA 為 3.2 億美元，成長了 23%，也超過了指導的高端。

For the fourth quarter, we delivered adjusted earnings of $1.46 per share. A 13% increase over prior year. We grew operating income by 12% on revenue growth of 3% as we continue to shift our mix towards higher margin services. This is also reflected in our gross margin, which exceeded 21% for the court.

第四季度，我們的調整後每股收益為 1.46 美元。比上年增加13%。隨著我們繼續將業務組合轉向利潤率更高的服務，我們的營業收入成長了 12%，收入成長了 3%。這也反映在我們的毛利率上，法院的毛利率超過了21％。

Backlog at the end of 2024 totaled $1.7 billion up 2% over the prior year and up 8% sequentially on a pro forma basis. Backlog alone does not capture the full scope of opportunity ahead of us. As our work is shifted towards large multi-phase projects in the infrastructure and transportation. We have greater visibility in the future phases of work.

2024 年底積壓訂單總額為 17 億美元，較上年成長 2%，以備考基礎計算較上年同期成長 8%。僅靠積壓訂單並不能抓住我們面前的全部機會。隨著我們的工作轉向基礎設施和交通領域的大型多階段項目。我們對未來的工作階段有了更大的了解。

Our historical award rate for these additional phases is near 100%. In the first quarter we have been awarded several $100 million worth of e-infrastructure work, which is a combination of firm backlog and future phases. In addition, we want a large project in transportation. Last quarter, we said we could have close to $1 billion of future phase work by mid-year.

我們這些額外階段的歷史得標率接近 100%。在第一季度，我們獲得了價值數億美元的電子基礎設施工程合同，這些工程包括公司積壓訂單和未來階段的工程。此外，我們也希望在交通運輸方面開展一個大型計畫。上個季度，我們表示到年中我們未來階段的工作價值可能接近 10 億美元。

Right now, we are tracking ahead of our expectations and believe we could end the first quarter with 3/4 of a billion dollars of future phase work. Now, I'd like to discuss our segment results. In e-infrastructure, full year segment operating income grew 44%, and operating margins reached 22%, nearly a 700 basis point increase.

目前，我們的進展超出了預期，並相信我們能夠在第一季末完成價值 25 億美元的未來階段工作。現在，我想討論一下我們的分部業績。在電子基礎設施領域，全年部門營業收入成長44%，營業利益率達22%，成長近700個基點。

This was driven by our shift towards large mission critical projects, including data centers, where our superior project management and our ability to finish jobs on or ahead of schedule are extremely valuable to our customers. In the fourth quarter, the infrastructure revenue increased 8% and operating profit grew 50%.

這是由於我們轉向大型關鍵任務專案（包括資料中心）所致，在這些專案中，我們卓越的專案管理和按時或提前完成工作的能力對我們的客戶來說極其有價值。第四季度，基礎建設收入成長8%，營業利潤成長50%。

Operating margins expanded over 680 basis points to reach a very strong 24.1%. The data center market was again the primary driver of the infrastructure revenue growth in the quarter, increasing more than 50% over the prior year period. The infrastructure backlog ended 2024 at over $1 billion a 27% increase from prior year period. Mission critical work now represents the vast majority of our infrastructure backlog, including data center work at over 60%.

營業利益率擴大超過 680 個基點，達到強勁的 24.1%。資料中心市場再次成為本季基礎設施收入成長的主要驅動力，比去年同期成長了 50% 以上。到 2024 年，基礎設施積壓金額將超過 10 億美元，比去年同期成長 27%。關鍵任務工作目前佔據了我們基礎設施積壓工作的絕大部分，其中資料中心工作佔超過 60%。

Moving to transportation solutions. For the full year, revenue grew 24% and operating profit grew 21%, driven by strong market demand in the Rocky Mountain region and an increase in the number of projects that meet or exceed our margin thresholds. For the quarter, revenue declined slightly compared to prior year period. Operating profit margins were 5%, reflecting more typical fourth quarter seasonality.

轉向運輸解決方案。受落基山地區強勁的市場需求以及達到或超過我們利潤門檻的項目數量增加的推動，全年收入增長 24%，營業利潤增長 21%。本季營收與去年同期相比略有下降。營業利潤率為 5%，反映了更典型的第四季季節性。

However, margins declined from the fourth quarter 2023, which benefited from great weather and timing of project closeouts. We ended the quarter with transportation solutions backlog of $622 million down 20% year over year on a pro forma basis. This was driven by the timing of awards. In the first two weeks of January, we were awarded close to $200 million of new work.

然而，利潤率從 2023 年第四季開始下降，這得益於良好的天氣和專案結束的時機。本季結束時，我們的運輸解決方案積壓訂單為 6.22 億美元，以備考基礎計算年減 20%。這是由頒獎時機決定的。一月份的前兩週，我們獲得了近2億美元的新工作。

If these awards would have hit in December, backlog would have been up 5%. Shifting to building solutions, annual revenue growth was 1% and operating profit grew 6%. For the fourth quarter, revenue declined 3% and operating income declined 17%. The operating income decline was entirely attributable to the earnout expense of $1.8 million related to PPG.

如果這些獎項在 12 月頒發，積壓數量將會增加 5%。轉向建築解決方案，年收入成長 1%，營業利潤成長 6%。第四季度，營收下降3%，營業收入下降17%。營業收入的下降完全歸因於與 PPG 相關的 180 萬美元獲利支出。

Revenue from a residential slab business declined 14%, driven primarily by softness in the DFW market. Overall demand for homes has been impacted as potential home buyers struggle with the affordability challenge. With that, I'd like to turn it over to Sharon to give you more details on some of our financial metrics and our year guidance, Sharon.

住宅樓板業務收入下降 14%，主要原因是 DFW 市場疲軟。由於潛在購屋者面臨負擔能力的挑戰，住房整體需求受到了影響。說到這裡，我想把時間交給 Sharon，她會向你詳細介紹我們的一些財務指標和年度指導，Sharon。

Thanks, Joe, and good morning. I'd like to begin by touching on the impact to our financial reporting as a result of the amendment to our RHB operating agreement. In the quarter, we recorded a non-cash gain on the deconsolidation of $67.9 million net of tax. Under GAAP, this contractual change requires that Sterling no longer consolidate RHB's results.

謝謝，喬，早安。首先，我想談談 RHB 營運協議修訂對我們的財務報告的影響。本季度，我們記錄了 6,790 萬美元的稅後非現金合併收益。根據 GAAP，此合約變更要求 Sterling 不再合併 RHB 的業績。

Therefore, starting in 2025, 50% of RHB's operating income will be presented on one line in Sterling's consolidated statement of operations. RHB's revenue, which was $236 million in 2024, will no longer be included in our consolidated revenue.

因此，從 2025 年開始，RHB 的 50% 營業收入將在 Sterling 的合併經營報表的一行中呈現。RHB 的收入（2024 年為 2.36 億美元）將不再計入我們的合併收入。

Amortization and depreciation on the fair value of RHB's intangibles and property plan and equipment is expected to approximate $9 million in 2025. Excluding these non-cash items, there is no impact to operating income or net income. Moving to our backlog metrics, our fourth quarter backlog totaled $1.69 billion, a 1.9% increase over the year ago period when excluding RHB backlog. RHB's backlog at December 31 was $491 million a 21% increase from the prior year period.

預計 2025 年 RHB 無形資產及財產計畫及設備的公允價值攤提和折舊約為 900 萬美元。除這些非現金項目外，對營業收入或淨收入沒有影響。轉到我們的積壓訂單指標，我們第四季的積壓訂單總額為 16.9 億美元，比去年同期（不包括 RHB 積壓訂單）增加 1.9%。截至 12 月 31 日，RHB 的積壓訂單為 4.91 億美元，較去年同期成長 21%。

The gross margin of our backlog was 16.7%, a 150 basis point improvement from the same quarter last year. An increase of both the amount of infrastructure backlog and its margin drove this improvement. Unsigned awards totaled $137.9 million in the quarter. We closed the quarter with combined backlog of $1.83 billion, which was in line with prior year levels excluding RHB.

我們的積壓訂單毛利率為 16.7%，比去年同期提高了 150 個基點。基礎設施積壓量及其利潤的增加推動了這項改善。本季未簽署的合約總額為 1.379 億美元。本季結束時，我們的總積壓訂單量為 18.3 億美元，與去年同期（不包括 RHB）的水平一致。

Fourth quarter 2024 book to burn ratios were 1.32 times for backlog and 0.99 times for combined backlog. 2024 book to burn ratios were 1.02 times. Shifting to our cash flow metrics, cash flow from operating activities for 2024 was a strong $497.1 million compared to $478.6 million in 2023. Cash flow used in investing activities for 2024 included $70.8 million of net CapEx.

2024 年第四季，積壓訂單的購書量與銷售量的比率為 1.32 倍，合併積壓訂單的購書量與銷售量的比率為 0.99 倍。 2024年圖書焚燒比率為1.02倍。轉向我們的現金流指標，2024 年經營活動現金流強勁，達到 4.971 億美元，而 2023 年為 4.786 億美元。2024 年投資活動所用現金流包括 7,080 萬美元的淨資本支出。

2024 cash flow from financing activities was an outflow of $118.6 million primarily driven by share repurchases of $70.6 million at an average price of $116.85 per share. $129.4 million remains available under the existing repurchase authorization.

2024 年融資活動現金流出為 1.186 億美元，主要因為以平均每股 116.85 美元的價格回購了 7,060 萬美元的股票。根據現有的回購授權，仍有 1.294 億美元可用。

We ended the year with a very strong liquidity position consisting of $664.2 million of cash and debt of $316.3 million for a cash net of debt balance of $347.9 million. In addition, our $75 million revolving credit facility remained unused during the period. As we look forward, our preferred use of cash remains a creative acquisitions that complement our service offerings and enhance our competitive position.

我們在本財年結束時擁有非常強勁的流動性，包括 6.642 億美元的現金和 3.163 億美元的債務，現金減去債務餘額為 3.479 億美元。此外，我們的 7,500 萬美元循環信貸額度在此期間仍未使用。展望未來，我們對現金的首選用途仍然是進行創意收購，以補充我們的服務產品並增強我們的競爭地位。

In addition, we continue to be opportunistic with our share repurchases. Now I'd like to discuss our guidance. As we look ahead to 2025, the ongoing strength of our e-infrastructure business and margin expansion opportunities in all of our segments position us for another record year at Sterling. In line with our historical seasonal trends, the first quarter remains our lowest revenue period.

此外，我們將繼續把握機會回購股票。現在我想討論一下我們的指導。展望 2025 年，我們電子基礎設施業務的持續強勁表現以及所有部門的利潤擴張機會將使 Sterling 再創紀錄。與我們的歷史季節性趨勢一致，第一季仍然是我們收入最低的時期。

In conjunction with our 2025 guidance, we are introducing a new methodology for the calculation of non-GAAP adjusted EPS and EBITDA. This new methodology includes adjustments for non-cash equity-based compensation and amortization of intangible assets. In addition, we are expanding our definition of acquisition-related costs to include earnouts.

結合我們的 2025 年指引，我們引入了一種計算非 GAAP 調整後每股收益和 EBITDA 的新方法。這項新方法包括對非現金股權薪酬和無形資產攤銷的調整。此外，我們正在擴大收購相關成本的定義，將獲利納入其中。

Our full year 2025 guidance ranges are as follows. Revenue of $2 billion to $2.15 billion, gross profit margin of 21% to 22%. Diluted EPS of $6.75 to $7.25. Adjusted EPS of $7.90 to $8.40. EBITDA of $370 million to $395 million and adjusted EBITDA of $395 million to $420 million. Considering the diversity and strength of our portfolio of businesses, our strong liquidity position, and our comfortable EBITDA leverage, we are well positioned to take advantage of additional opportunities to generate significant shareholder value in 2025 and beyond. Now I'll turn the call back to Joe.

我們對 2025 年全年的指導範圍如下。營收20億美元至21.5億美元，毛利率21%至22%。稀釋每股收益為 6.75 美元至 7.25 美元。調整後每股收益為 7.90 美元至 8.40 美元。 EBITDA 為 3.7 億美元至 3.95 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 3.95 億美元至 4.2 億美元。考慮到我們業務組合的多樣性和實力、我們強大的流動性狀況以及我們舒適的 EBITDA 槓桿，我們完全有能力利用更多機會在 2025 年及以後創造可觀的股東價值。現在我將把電話轉回給喬。

Thanks, Sharon. There's been a lot of conversation out there about infrastructure spending, including data centers and transportation. With the backlog we have today and what we are seeing from our customers, these markets remain as strong or stronger than ever. In the infrastructure solutions, we anticipate that the current strength and data center demand will continue for the foreseeable future.

謝謝，莎倫。關於基礎設施支出（包括資料中心和交通運輸）的討論很多。從我們目前的積壓訂單以及我們從客戶那裡看到的情況來看，這些市場仍然保持強勁，甚至比以往更強勁。在基礎設施解決方案方面，我們預計目前的實力和資料中心需求將在可預見的未來持續下去。

Our customers are discussing multi-year capital deployment plans and are focused on how to align with the right partners to support these plans. On the manufacturing front, we believe that in 2025, we'll see a fairly steady pace of mid to large size onshoring projects. As we look out to 2026 and 2027, there remains a big pool of mega projects on the horizon.

我們的客戶正在討論多年資本部署計劃，並專注於如何與合適的合作夥伴合作來支援這些計劃。在製造業方面，我們相信到 2025 年，我們將看到中型到大型在岸專案以相當穩定的步伐發展。展望 2026 年和 2027 年，仍有大量大型專案即將面世。

This would include planned semiconductor fabrication facilities. Given the complexity involved in their development. We believe it will take some time before these awards start to flow. The e-commerce and small warehouse markets are continuing to show signs of strengthening. These dynamics support strong growth opportunities over a multi-year period.

這將包括計劃中的半導體製造設施。考慮到其開發所涉及的複雜性。我們相信這些獎項的頒發還需要一些時間。電子商務和小型倉儲市場繼續顯示出加強的跡象。這些動態支持了未來多年的強勁成長機會。

For 2025, we expect to deliver strong infrastructure revenue growth in excess of 10%. In operating profit growth north of 25%. In transportation solutions, we are now in the second half of the federal funding cycle. We have built over two years of backlog and continue to see good levels of that activity. For 2025, we anticipate continued growth in our core Rocky Mountain and Arizona markets.

到 2025 年，我們預計基礎設施收入將強勁成長 10% 以上。營業利益成長率超過25%。在交通解決方案方面，我們目前正處於聯邦資助週期的後半段。我們已經累積了兩年多的積壓訂單，並且繼續看到這些活動的良好水平。到 2025 年，我們預計核心落基山和亞利桑那市場將繼續成長。

We have made a strategic decision to accelerate the shift away from low bid work in Texas. This will result in some moderation of transportation solutions top line and backlog, but should drive meaningful margin improvement as we move through the year. These dynamics are expected to drive relatively flat transportation solutions revenue after excluding RHP from 2024.

我們已做出策略決策，加速擺脫德州低價的投標工作。這將導致運輸解決方案營收和積壓訂單放緩，但隨著全年推進，應該會推動利潤率的顯著提高。在 2024 年排除 RHP 之後，這些動態預計將導致運輸解決方案收入相對相當。

However, we anticipate operating profit growth in the low to mid-teens on an adjusted basis. In building solutions, the business is well positioned for growth over a multi-year period. Our key geographies of Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Phoenix are expected to see continued population growth, driving demand for new homes. Additionally, there is a significant opportunity for share gain in Houston and Phoenix.

然而，我們預計調整後的營業利潤成長率將在15%至17%之間。在建立解決方案方面，該業務已做好多年成長的準備。我們的主要地理區域達拉斯-沃斯堡、休士頓和鳳凰城預計將出現持續的人口成長，從而推動對新房屋的需求。此外，休士頓和鳳凰城的市佔率也有很大成長機會。

For 2025, we anticipate building solutions revenue growth to be in the low single digits. This reflects a combination of some recovery in our DFW residential business in the second half of the year and share gains in Houston and Phoenix. We anticipate margin expansion in 2025 as we continue to shift our mix towards higher margin, residential slab, and plumbing work and away from lower margin commercial.

到 2025 年，我們預計建築解決方案收入成長率將達到個位數。這反映了我們下半年 DFW 住宅業務的一些復甦以及休士頓和鳳凰城的份額成長。我們預計，隨著我們繼續將業務組合從利潤較低的商業轉向利潤更高的住宅樓板和管道工程，利潤率將在 2025 年擴大。

We are working hard to find the right acquisition to grow the company and enhance our service offerings. The e-infrastructure market remains our top priority for M&A. Additionally, we are seeing some interesting opportunities in building solutions.

我們正在努力尋找合適的收購機會，以發展公司並增強我們的服務。電子基礎設施市場仍然是我們併購的首要重點。此外，我們在建立解決方案方面看到了一些有趣的機會。

We will remain patient and disciplined in our inorganic growth strategy. The midpoint of our 2025 guidance would represent 10% revenue growth on a pro forma basis. 15% adjusted EPS growth. And 18% adjusted EBITDA group. With that, I'd like to turn it over for questions.

我們將在無機成長策略中保持耐心和自律。我們 2025 年指引的中點將代表形式上 10% 的營收成長。調整後每股收益成長 15%。調整後的 EBITDA 集團成長 18%。好了，現在我想把這個問題提交給大家提問。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, we'll now begin the question and answer session. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝女士們、先生們，我們現在開始問答環節。（操作員指示）

Noah Levitz with William Blair.

諾亞·萊維茨和威廉·布萊爾。

Joe, Sharon, Noel, good morning and thanks for taking my questions.

喬、莎倫、諾埃爾，早安，謝謝你們回答我的問題。

Good morning.

早安.

To start, to start off the morning, there's been a lot of new data center developments across the US, for example, Project Stargate, the $500 billion mega data center investment project. A lot of these projects are outside of the typical geographic range for your Plateau and Petillo businesses.

首先，從早上開始，美國各地已經有許多新的資料中心發展，例如星際之門計劃，這是一個價值 5000 億美元的大型資料中心投資項目。許多項目超出了 Plateau 和 Petillo 業務的典型地理範圍。

You mentioned in the prepared remarks about your plans for M&A, but can you talk about your ability? The bid for these projects organically as well as kind of how it expedites your plans for M&A to increase your presence in these areas.

您在準備好的演講中提到了您的併購計劃，但您能談談您的能力嗎？對這些項目的有機競標以及如何加快您的併購計劃以增加您在這些領域的影響力。

Sure. I think there's a couple things, I will tell you that we continue to get more and more pressure from our customers which is a good thing to expand further and further with our geographic footprint. Some of the things we've been able to do is leverage, some of our assets in the transportation business. So, we are working on several data centers throughout the Rocky Mountains.

當然。我認為有幾件事，我會告訴你，我們繼續受到來自客戶越來越大的壓力，這對我們進一步擴大地理覆蓋範圍是一件好事。我們能夠做的一些事情是利用我們在運輸業務中的一些資產。因此，我們正在落基山脈的幾個資料中心開展工作。

We're looking hard at the Texas market, and up into Ohio, but some of that we can do organically. It's a little bit of a disadvantage when we have to ship crews, halfway across the country and put them up for the length of time. It's certainly costlier for us to do that. And in some instances it's cost prohibited, frankly, there's some range that we get to. However, we're also looking at acquisitions in those markets or for the right acquisitions to do that.

我們正在認真關注德克薩斯州市場以及俄亥俄州市場，但其中一些我們可以有機地開展。當我們必須將工作人員運送到半個國家以外的地方並在那裡安置很長時間時，這有點不利。對我們來說，這樣做的成本肯定更高。在某些情況下，成本是被禁止的，坦白說，我們可以達到一定的範圍。然而，我們也在考慮在這些市場進行收購，或尋找合適的收購來實現這一目標。

And the challenge with it is getting somebody with enough size and breadth and capabilities that can perform at the level we can or that we can help them get to that level. We've seen a lot of small businesses, but we just don't have the confidence that they could execute to the levels we are. In addition, I will tell you we're, strategically looking at this year and next year, should we organically put some locations, in other geographies and leverage our existing skill sets, and move some of our existing resources to those locations and build what we call it a kind of a spoken hub model, in some different areas.

而其中的挑戰在於找到一個擁有足夠規模、廣度和能力的人，能夠達到我們的水平，或者我們可以幫助他們達到那個水平。我們見過很多小企業，但我們並不相信它們能夠達到我們的水平。此外，我要告訴你們，從戰略角度來看，展望今年和明年，我們是否應該在其他地區有機地設立一些分支機構，利用我們現有的技能，將我們現有的一些資源轉移到這些地點，並在一些不同的地區建立所謂的口語中心模型。

Awesome, that's helpful. And then shifting over to the transportation business, you're forecasting flattish growth, this year, and you mentioned that a lot of it is, attributable to, shifting from the Texas low bid heavy highway work. Is that it, or are you also seeing an impact in IIJA funding related activity, whether it be from executive orders, doge cuts, potential tariffs, or is it just a shift? Thanks.

太棒了，很有幫助。然後轉向運輸業務，您預測今年的成長將持平，並且您提到，這在很大程度上歸因於從德克薩斯州低價重型公路工程的轉變。是這樣的嗎？或者您也看到了 IIJA 融資相關活動的影響，無論是來自行政命令、總督削減、潛在關稅，還是只是一種轉變？謝謝。

Yeah, I think first of all, so many people are confused with those cuts and Tariffs and all that If you step back in the transportation world, you have to keep in mind 50% of these projects are funded by the state, 50% are funded by the Feds. The projects that we have in place and the projects that are being bid are already funded in one way, shape, or form.

是的，我認為首先，很多人對這些削減和關稅等感到困惑，如果你回顧交通運輸領域，你必須記住這些項目中 50％ 是由國家資助的，50％ 是由聯邦政府資助的。我們已實施的項目和正在競標的項目已經以某種方式獲得了資金。

So we have not seen $1 of impact related to anything. I'll never say there won't be anything, but we are not concerned that anything that they're talking about or working on would have any significant impact on our transportation business. What gets a little confusing is if you remember at the beginning of the IIJA program. There is roughly a 30% increase in spending.

因此，我們尚未看到與任何事情相關的 1 美元影響。我永遠不會說不會發生任何事情，但我們並不擔心他們談論或開展的任何事情會對我們的運輸業務產生任何重大影響。如果您還記得 IIJA 程式的開頭，可能會有點困惑。支出大約增加了30%。

Now some of that's been eaten up by inflation, but if you follow our kind of growth trends, the first year the IIJA came out, you're bidding work, it's relatively slow. You're getting prepared. The second year, you're feeling the impact of that. Last year we grew about 24% in transportation, which is the biggest growth we've had in a long time. Once that spending hits that level, it doesn't continue to increase every year in the IIJA. It kind of flattens out at that level.

現在，其中一部分已經被通貨膨脹吞噬，但如果你遵循我們的成長趨勢，你會發現在 IIJA 推出的第一年，你競標工作，速度相對較慢。你正在做好準備。第二年，你會感受到它的影響。去年，我們的運輸業務成長了約 24%，這是我們長期以來的最大成長。一旦支出達到該水平，IIJA 的支出就不會每年持續增加。在那個水平上，它變得有點平坦了。

So I would tell you, we saw the ramp up last year and now it's kind of relatively flat, growing at 3% to 5%. There's still some growth in it, but it's not those double digit growths that you see at the beginning of a program. So we're riding that wave and we feel very good, that's consistent. The delta of that is exactly what you talked about.

所以我想告訴你，去年我們看到了成長，現在則相對平穩，成長率在 3% 到 5% 之間。其中仍有一些成長，但這並不是專案開始時所看到的兩位數的成長。所以我們正乘著這股浪潮，感覺非常好，這是一致的。其增量正是您所談論的。

As we reduce low bid work in Texas, it offsets some of that 3% to 5% growth that we're seeing in the market. So we think net, we're going to be about flat on the revenue line, but still feel very confident on profitability growth and to be able to deliver results that look like a heck of a lot more than flat revenue growth.

隨著我們減少德克薩斯州的低價投標工作，它抵消了我們在市場上看到的 3% 到 5% 的增長。因此，我們認為，淨收入將基本持平，但對獲利成長仍然充滿信心，並且能夠提供遠超平穩收入成長的成果。

Perfect. That's all for me. Thank you.

完美的。對我來說就這些了。謝謝。

Adam Thalhimer with Thompson Davis.

亞當泰爾希默 (Adam Thalhimer) 與湯普森戴維斯 (Thompson Davis) 在一起。

Hey, good morning guys, nice quarter and great outlook.

嘿，大家早上好，這是一個美好的季度，前景也很好。

Good morning Adam. We're excited about it.

早安，亞當。我們對此感到很興奮。

Should be, I wanted to start on e-infrastructure margins. You know that's a high margin of business. You've done 20% plus margins before, but still those were record kind of exceptional results in the back half of '24, and this is the question I get most from clients, so I'll just throw it back at you. What drives those exceptional margins Joe?

應該是的，我想從電子基礎設施邊緣開始。你知道這是一筆利潤很高的業務。您之前已經實現了 20% 以上的利潤率，但在 2024 年下半年，這仍然是創紀錄的出色成績，這是我從客戶那裡聽到最多的問題，所以我就把這個問題拋回給您。喬，是什麼推動了這些卓越的利潤？

Yeah, it's really mix, a combination of our execution and ability on these larger projects that drive productivity and synergies, certainly helps us gain some incremental margin, but the fact of the matter is the larger the job out of the shoe, the better the margin. And one of the, it's a yin and a yang, I guess. We've been crying because the e-commerce business had been slow and the small industrial warehousing business had gone away, but the reality is that shifts the vast majority of our work towards these mission critical projects and that's our sweet spot, right?

是的，這確實是一種混合，我們在這些大型專案上的執行力和能力的結合可以提高生產力和協同效應，這無疑有助於我們獲得一些增量利潤，但事實是，鞋子的工作量越大，利潤就越高。其中之一，我想，是陰和陽。我們一直在哭泣，因為電子商務業務進展緩慢，小型工業倉儲業務也消失了，但現實是，我們的絕大部分工作都轉向了這些關鍵任務項目，這是我們的最佳狀態，對嗎？

Now, the good news on top of it is we are starting to see both e-commerce activity pick back up, and we're at the early stages, but as we said before, we think of the second quarter, and I still think of the second quarter, we're going to see a significant pickup at bid activity in that small industrial space. So as we look at it, we're positioned great with the best margin products we can is the vast majority of our backlog.

現在，最重要的是，我們開始看到電子商務活動回暖，而且我們處於早期階段，但正如我們之前所說，我們認為第二季度，而且我仍然認為第二季度，我們將看到小型工業領域的競標活動顯著回升。因此，從我們的角度來看，我們處於非常有利的位置，我們所能提供的最佳利潤產品占我們積壓訂單的絕大部分。

And now we can start augmenting that with some of the fill-in work that we've historically had. And when we look at that, we don't think that's going to bring the net margins down just because of the growth rate differential, but it should really help us accelerate some stuff on the revenue side as we go through the year and it will actually help us leverage assets better in between those big jobs. So we, that will help maintain those margins or allow us to even, we believe, get even better margins in '25 than we had in '24.

現在我們可以開始透過一些我們過去做過的填補工作來增強這一點。當我們考慮這一點時，我們認為這不會僅僅因為成長率差異而降低淨利潤率，但它應該真正幫助我們在全年加速收入方面的一些事情，它實際上會幫助我們在這些大工作之間更好地利用資產。因此，這將有助於維持這些利潤率，或者讓我們甚至相信，25 年的利潤率會比 24 年更好。

Okay, makes a lot of sense and then can you just remind us what your what your current scope is for projects for the typical project in the infrastructure and whether there's, M&A out there similar to what you did with PPG if you could expand your, the current e-infrastructure scope.

好的，很有道理，那麼您能否提醒我們您目前的基礎設施項目範圍是什麼，以及是否存在類似於您對 PPG 所做的併購，您是否可以擴展您當前的電子基礎設施範圍。

Yeah, so right now, we start with a mountain and we make it flat with the with the wet utilities in place, right? So they're ready to put the slab in or ready to if it's a data center, we've dug all the duct banks, they're ready to run the conduit in the wiring for the duct banks. We are actively and organically starting to move into the dry utility side of that.

是的，所以現在，我們從一座山開始，然後用濕式公用設施把它弄平，對嗎？因此，他們準備將平板放入，或者如果它是一個資料中心，我們已經挖好了所有的管道組，他們準備在管道組的佈線中運行導管。我們正在積極、有組織地開始進入乾式公用事業領域。

So the next phase of the data center is once we dig those duct banks, we now have some electrical licenses and stuff that we've done and got, to now we can start putting in that conduit and take that next step from there what we're really. Looking for and we've looked at a lot of businesses. I feel like there's we're going to find something we really like the electrical and mechanical that we touch next. That's the next natural phase for us to move into, and we want to find a business.

因此，資料中心的下一個階段是，一旦我們挖好這些管道庫，我們現在就有了一些電力許可證和我們已經完成和獲得的東西，現在我們可以開始放入管道，然後從那裡採取下一步行動。我們正在尋找並且檢視了很多企業。我覺得我們將會找到一些我們真正喜歡的東西，也就是接下來要接觸的電氣和機械。這是我們進入的下一個自然階段，我們希望找到一門生意。

That is in data center and preferably in semiconductor space that helps pull us into the semiconductor area and helps us pull them into the data center business even more that would be the perfect deal for us. We haven't found it yet. I will tell you we're looking sleeplessly for these, and we're seeing some opportunities out there that I think hopefully will work in '25.

這是在資料中心，最好是在半導體領域，這有助於將我們拉入半導體​​領域，並幫助我們將他們拉入資料中心業務，這對我們來說是完美的交易。我們還沒找到。我可以告訴你，我們正在不眠不休地尋找這些，我們看到了一些機會，我認為這些機會有望在 2025 年實現。

Great color. Good luck in Q1.

顏色很棒。祝第一季好運。

Brent Tillman with DA Davidson.

布倫特·蒂爾曼 (Brent Tillman) 和 DA Davidson。

Hey, thanks, good morning, great finish of the year as well. Joe, maybe just back on the infrastructure. I mean it looks like you're alluding to. Sort of mid-twenties operating margins on guidance. I was just wondering if you could put a little more context around the range of margins you're seeing on new work coming in between mission critical and more of the short cycle business that you'll take on and had those margins on mission critical.

嘿，謝謝，早安，今年也圓滿結束了。喬，也許只是回到基礎建設問題。我的意思是，這看起來就像你在暗示。預計營業利潤率在 25% 左右。我只是想知道您是否可以提供更多關於您在關鍵任務和您將承擔的更多短週期業務之間的新工作中所看到的利潤範圍的背景信息，並將這些利潤率應用於關鍵任務。

I mean any context how those have moved over the last couple of years that they moved up because they're even more in demand I think just be helpful to understand that in context margins there.

我的意思是，無論它們在過去幾年中是如何變化的，它們都是因為需求量更大而上升的，我認為這有助於理解那裡的利潤背景。

We've seen, what I'll call base pricing, certainly better, on the larger projects as we said. I would say that's very stable. I don't think it's gone up significantly. It certainly has not gone down, but what we've been able to do as these jobs continue to get larger and larger, we're really able to leverage some things internally to pick up those extra few points of margin that you're seeing.

正如我們所說，我們已經看到，在較大的項目上，我稱之為基本定價，當然更好。我想說這非常穩定。我認為它並沒有大幅上漲。當然它沒有下降，但隨著這些工作變得越來越大，我們能夠做的是，我們真的能夠在內部利用一些東西來獲得你所看到的額外的幾個利潤點。

And as we get these multi-phase jobs, there are a lot of things that we can do along the way to stage ourselves for those future phases that actually will help us drive even more productivity amongst them. So the good news is we haven't seen any backwards, motion. If anything, we've probably seen a slight pick up in pricing, but we're really able to leverage this stuff. And candidly after you do, 100 or so data centers you just get a hell of a lot better at it too.

當我們完成這些多階段工作時，我們可以做很多事情來為未來階段做好準備，這實際上將幫助我們提高生產力。好消息是我們沒有看到任何倒退的動作。如果有的話，我們可能已經看到價格略有上漲，但我們確實能夠利用這些東西。坦白說，在這樣做之後，100 個左右的資料中心，你也會變得更好。

Yeah makes sense thanks Joe and then. Back on maybe on building solutions, and I'm sorry I didn't catch the outlook for revenue for the year, but it sounds like you're more optimistic around a potential rebound in the second half, I guess I just want to understand what's embedded in the outlook for the group in 2025 and then.

是的，有道理，謝謝喬。回到構建解決方案的話題，很抱歉我沒有了解今年的收入前景，但聽起來您對下半年的潛在反彈更為樂觀，我想我只是想了解 2025 年及以後集團的前景中蘊含著什麼。

Joe, if you could just expand on PPG's performance, whether you're sort of yet leveraging some of the customer relationships I think they have that might be unique on their side to the core business and you know just the other things you're doing sort of through this lull that can help you take advantage of the market when it bounces back.

喬，如果你能詳細說明一下 PPG 的業績，你是否正在利用一些我認為他們擁有的客戶關係，這些關係對他們的核心業務來說可能是獨一無二的，你知道你在這段低迷時期所做的其他事情，可以幫助你在市場反彈時利用它。

Yeah, we think first quarter or first half, I should say, is going to be relatively slow. We're going to, we definitely are seeing a weather impact in the first quarter. I mean, Dallas was down 14 days in January and 16 or 18 days, some crazy thing in February. So we're definitely seeing that, which will put a damper on some of it. But we think, based on what the builders are telling us and what they're putting for their full year projections and how they're starting the year, what they are, everything indicates the second half will be stronger than the first half.

是的，我們認為第一季或上半年將會相對緩慢。我們肯定會在第一季看到天氣的影響。我的意思是，達拉斯在一月份停工了 14 天，二月停工了 16 或 18 天，這真是太瘋狂了。所以我們肯定會看到這一點，這會對其中一些產生抑製作用。但我們認為，根據建築商告訴我們的情況、他們對全年的預測以及他們如何開始新的一年，一切都表明下半年將比上半年更強勁。

I don't have exact numbers, but that's the conversations that we, that we're having with them. And I think also, you've got so many dynamics going on. We have a new administration, a lot of activity in DC. I think people thought interest rates. Would have dropped a little quicker. So there's just some natural dynamics and some noise in there that are probably have people a little more concerned than they should be, and we think that sorts out as we go through the year where we have opportunities.

我沒有確切的數字，但這就是我們與他們進行的對話。我還認為，你們已經發生了許多動態變化。我們有一個新政府，在華盛頓特區有很多活動。我認為人們考慮的是利率。下降得會更快一些。因此，其中存在一些自然的動態和噪音，可能會讓人們比應有的更加擔心，我們認為，隨著我們度過充滿機會的一年，這些問題將會得到解決。

We love the PPG business. They had a great year last year. They're off to a good start this year. We have just started levering cross customers with them we you part of it is getting them a little more capacity and capabilities to do it. I will tell you we're actively looking and I believe in 2025, we will put another location probably out in the Fort Worth area, is the Dallas market expands further west.

我們熱愛 PPG 業務。去年他們過得很愉快。他們今年有了一個好的開始。我們剛開始利用交叉客戶來與他們合作，其中一部分就是讓他們擁有更多的能力和技能來實現這一點。我會告訴你，我們正在積極尋找，我相信在 2025 年，我們可能會在沃斯堡地區設立另一個地點，達拉斯市場將進一步向西擴展。

Most people think of Dallas-Fort Worth is one thing. If you're in Dallas and you're trying to get to the west side of Fort Worth, it could take you three hours. So it's really, even though it's on the map on in our brains, it's the same market, it's really a new geography for us, so we're really looking hard at that. We think there's a great opportunity and when we do that, that's going to be a joint.

大多數人認為達拉斯-沃斯堡是一回事。如果您在達拉斯並試圖前往沃斯堡西側，則可能需要三個小時。所以事實上，儘管它在我們的腦海中出現在地圖上，它是同一個市場，但對我們來說這確實是一個新的地理位置，所以我們真的在認真研究它。我們認為這是一個很好的機會，當我們這樣做時，這將是一個聯合。

A joint business which will be the plumbing and the slat business. So we'll go at it and attack it that way. In Houston continues to grow. We have not seen a slowdown in the Houston market. We really, we like the growth trajectory and, our whole opportunity there is we're working hard on how do we continue to gain share and add capacity down there and we think we'll continue to do that through '25 and '26. Phoenix, the markets, it's an interesting market where we're, Houston and Dallas are very steady and very consistent.

一項涉及管道和板條業務的聯合業務。所以我們會繼續努力並採取這樣的攻勢。休士頓繼續增長。我們並未看到休士頓市場出現放緩。我們真的很喜歡這個成長軌跡，我們在那裡的整個機會是，我們正在努力研究如何繼續獲得份額並增加產能，我們認為我們將在 25 年和 26 年繼續這樣做。菲尼克斯市場是一個有趣的市場，休士頓和達拉斯市場非常穩定，而且非常一致。

Houston's or Phoenix is a little more rocky, it'll be really strong for a quarter or two and then slow down for a quarter and come back. But what we're looking at there is we, we're looking hard to add plumbing, to the Phoenix market, because we believe there's a competitive advantage around bundling, plumbing and slabs there. Right now, believe it or not, it takes longer in Phoenix, to get the plumbing, the rough in plumbing done, which takes literally day, a couple days max to do, than it does to build the rest of the house.

休士頓或菲尼克斯的情況稍微不穩定一些，它會在一兩個季度內表現強勁，然後在一個季度內放緩並回落。但我們正在考慮的是，我們正在努力為鳳凰城市場增加管道服務，因為我們相信那裡在捆綁、管道和板材方面具有競爭優勢。現在，不管你信不信，在鳳凰城安裝管道，完成管道的粗加工，實際上需要一天，最多幾天的時間，比建造房子的其他部分所花的時間還要長。

So we think if we can add that in and guarantee a delivery time of the plumbing and slab, we will rapidly pick up market share, in the Phoenix market in 2025. So we're not down. I think also the long range look if you just look at the population growth and the bubble of housing needs in all of those markets, it's pretty strong. At the Scottsdale markets seeing a lot of influx from California right now after the fires and the tragedies that took place out there. So we think it's only going to get better as the year goes on.

因此我們認為，如果我們能夠添加這一點並保證管道和板坯的交付時間，我們將在 2025 年迅速搶佔鳳凰城市場的市場份額。所以我們沒有失望。我認為，從長遠來看，如果只看人口成長和所有這些市場的住房需求泡沫，就會發現它們相當強勁。在斯科茨代爾發生火災和悲劇之後，大量來自加州的遊客湧入斯科茨代爾市場。因此我們認為隨著時間的推移情況只會變得更好。

That's great. Joe, if I could just ask one more, back on the infrastructure and a lot going on with, obviously new administration seems like day to day there's something new and, obviously the chips Act is out there maybe some questions where that goes.

那太棒了。喬，如果我可以再問一個問題，回到基礎設施和很多正在發生的事情上，顯然新政府似乎每天都有新的事情發生，顯然晶片法案已經出台，也許有人會問它會走向何方。

I guess the question I have is how dependent is I guess your optimism looking beyond 2025 and '26, '27. On some of these semiconductor facilities, things that might be associated with chips Act versus the other things you do.

我的問題是，你對 2025 年、2026 年、2027 年以後的樂觀程度有多高。在一些半導體設施中，與晶片相關的事務可能與您所做的其他事務不同。

Yeah, I mean, certainly these big projects are going slower than not slower than we anticipated, but I think slower than a lot of people anticipated. We've always said '26, '27 is where anything's going to take place. I think, reading through the tea leaves and everything, I think there's going to be more pressure to bring technology back to the US, and I think that's in chips and I think it's going to be in some other things.

是的，我的意思是，這些大專案的進展確實比我們預期的要慢，但我認為比許多人預期的要慢。我們總是說 26、27 年是一切事情都會發生的年份。我認為，透過分析各種情況，我認為將技術帶回美國的壓力會更大，我認為這是在晶片領域，而且我認為在其他一些領域也是如此。

So if we take a look at it, Brent, where I feel really good is. I know what we have for '25 with this billion dollars of backlog and three quarters of a billion dollars of future phase work. I know where we are in '26 right now. We're working on '27 and '28, and what we're seeing is a litany of projects that are on the books, not only for data centers, we see strong growth through there, but we think there's going to be onshoring of manufacturing of some sort.

所以如果我們看一下，布倫特，我感覺真的很好。我知道，對於 25 年來說，我們有 10 億美元的積壓工作，還有 7.5 億美元的未來階段工作要做。我知道我們現在處於 26 年的什麼位置。我們正在為 27 年和 28 年做準備，我們看到的是一系列已列入計劃的項目，不僅是數據中心，我們看到那裡的強勁增長，但我們認為將會有某種形式的製造業在岸化。

Now, I can't tell you exactly what it is. We've seen some pharma stuff, we've seen some basic manufacturing. I don't think it's going to be solar. I don't think it's going to be wind. But the beauty of our business is we don't care. It doesn't matter if it's a chip plant or a data center or a pharma manufacturing plant or Nissan's talking about bringing stuff from Mexico, Mercedes is talking about bringing stuff into the US. None of those matter to us.

現在，我無法確切地告訴你它是什麼。我們看到了一些製藥產品，看到了一些基礎製造業。我不認為它會是太陽能的。我不認為會有風。但我們業務的美妙之處在於我們不在乎。無論是晶片工廠、資料中心、製藥廠，還是日產汽車談論從墨西哥進口產品，梅賽德斯-賓士談論將產品進口到美國。這些對我們來說都不重要。

It's really do they fall on the footprint and being in the Southeast and the East Coast, if anything comes back in auto, that's generally where it's been going. Some of the farmer stuff we're seeing, is in that kind of mid-Atlantic region, that's taking place. So we feel very good that we have great visibility and great tailwinds and data centers. If chips come, that's a huge Take up for us. If they don't come, we think we've got other opportunities to fill that GAAP, but I'm not down on chips at all.

它們確實落在了東南部和東海岸的足跡上，如果汽車行業有什麼復甦的話，那通常就是它們的發展方向。我們看到的一些農民活動發生在大西洋中部地區。因此，我們感到非常高興，因為我們擁有良好的可視性、良好的順風和資料中心。如果有晶片的話，這對我們來說是一個巨大的好處。如果他們不來，我們認為我們還有其他機會來填補這個 GAAP，但我對籌碼一點也不失望。

I think, I still think they're coming. I just think people, you've been around this long enough. The complexity of a, $100 billion dollar project, that starts flat-footed is it's, there's a lot more upfront work on this stuff than people realize before you start breaking ground and building anything.

我想，我仍然認為他們會來。我只是覺得，各位，你們已經在這裡待得夠久了。這項耗資 1000 億美元的項目非常複雜，一開始就措手不及，在破土動工和建造任何建築之前，需要做很多前期工作，比人們想像的要多得多。

Very good thanks I appreciate you taking the questions.

非常好，謝謝您回答這些問題。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Julio Romero with Sidati and Company.

Julio Romero 與 Sidati and Company 合作。

Thanks. Hey, good morning Joe, Sheridan, Noel.

謝謝。嘿，早安，喬、謝裡丹、諾埃爾。

Good morning.

早安.

Hey, so you know I didn't hear much negative on the data center side either from your prepared remarks or from the previous questions and your answers. So my first question is just more of a kind of a sanity check that you're not really seeing a change in tone from either the hyper scalers or the developers doing DC work and then hand in hand with that, are you seeing any change in terms of the willingness of the GCs or developers to kind of accept the contractual terms sterling typically insists on that are kind of necessary for you guys to properly manage risk.

嘿，所以你知道，無論是從你準備好的發言還是從之前的問題和你的回答中，我都沒有聽到關於數據中心方面的太多負面消息。因此，我的第一個問題更像是一種理智檢查，您是否真的看到超大規模企業或從事 DC 工作的開發人員的語氣發生變化，然後，與此同時，您是否看到 GC 或開發人員在接受合同條款方面的意願方面有任何變化，這些條款對於您們妥善管理風險是必要的。

Yeah, well, I will say we're seeing a change in tune, but it's the opposite of what the messaging out in the world is. The change of tune is that they are more aggressive and more hungry, to grow faster every time we talk to them. And I think people are confusing some of the, I'll call it facts, in turning it into fiction. Microsoft's a perfect example, but a lot of these guys are doing the same thing. They are trying to grow this so fast that even Microsoft, Google, Amazon, these guys have limited capital.

是的，我想說我們看到了態度的轉變，但這與世界所傳達的訊息相反。每次我們和它們交談時，它們都會變得更具攻擊性、更渴望成長，而且長得更快。我認為人們混淆了一些事實，將其變成了虛構。微軟就是一個很好的例子，但很多公司都在做同樣的事情。他們正試圖快速發展，甚至連微軟、谷歌、亞馬遜這些公司的資本都有限。

They can't spend it all in one year. So they are coming up with more creative ways, whether those are at least buyback models or people building shelves that they can get into. And people are confusing that with them cutting back on capital budgets. Well, they're really not cutting back on their total spend or their total build out. They're just doing it in more financially beneficial ways, to leverage your capital better.

他們不可能在一年內花光所有錢。因此，他們想出了更有創意的方法，無論是至少回購模式還是人們建造可以進入的貨架。人們將此與削減資本預算混為一談。嗯，他們實際上並沒有削減總支出或總建設量。他們只是以更具財務效益的方式來做這件事，以便更好地利用你的資本。

For us, it doesn't matter if it's a speculative data center or it's Google's data center or it's Amazon's data center. A data center to us is a data center, dirt is dirt, rock is rock, mountains are mountains. So we're seeing it not only from our core customers, we're getting inundated from all these players, and some of them are very new to the market that we haven't even really talked to in the past, saying what capacity you have, how much can you do?

對我們來說，它是一個投機資料中心、Google資料中心或亞馬遜資料中心並不重要。對我們來說，資料中心就是資料中心，泥土就是泥土，岩石就是岩石，山脈就是山脈。因此，我們不僅在核心客戶那裡看到了這一點，而且還被所有這些參與者淹沒了，其中一些人是市場新手，我們過去甚至沒有真正與他們交談過，他們會問你有什麼產能，你能做多少？

Can we block capacity for '26, '27, '28, and, I wake up every morning, I read the paper and I think I'm on a different planet because I talked to our guys, I hear what our customers are saying. I hear what the news is saying, and it's the polar opposites right now so we're really excited about it. No issues, contractually. I haven't seen any changes in contractual language or how we go about the projects. It's all very steady. I think if anything we see kind of a different opportunity out there where with all of these new data centers coming on. Some of the smaller players are trying to get into the space.

我們能否為 26、27、28 年預留運力？我每天早上醒來，讀報紙，感覺自己彷彿身處另一個星球，因為我與我們的員工交談過，我聽到了客戶的心聲。我聽到了新聞報道，目前情況截然相反，所以我們對此感到非常興奮。合約上沒有問題。我沒有看到合約語言或我們處理專案的方式有任何變化。一切都非常穩定。我認為，隨著這些新資料中心的建成，我們看到了一個不同的機會。一些規模較小的公司正試圖進入該領域。

They are failing miserably, and it's only creating more opportunities for us, in the future. So our model is working great. It's all about delivery and speed, and I know everybody thinks it's more complicated than that. It's about delivery and speed and. It's interesting watching the dynamics that take place, but we are the number one guy in that area.

他們慘敗了，但這只會為我們未來創造更多的機會。所以我們的模型運作良好。一切都與交付和速度有關，我知道每個人都認為這比這更複雜。這與交貨和速度有關。觀察其中發生的動態很有趣，但我們是該領域的頭號人物。

Really helpful context there, and then thinking about the longer term potential for e-infrastructure margins, your guidance for the segment in '25 implies pretty significant operating margin expansion about 25% by my math, but you sound more excited about '26, '27 than you do about '25, particularly around the advanced manufacturing side, so I guess. If you could help us contextualize how much higher can the operating margins go for e-infrastructure over the next half decade or so.

這確實很有幫助，然後考慮電子基礎設施利潤率的長期潛力，根據我的計算，您對 25 年該部門的指導意味著相當顯著的營業利潤率增長約 25％，但您似乎對 26 年、27 年比對 25 年更興奮，特別是在先進製造業方面，所以我想。如果您能幫助我們了解未來五年左右電子基礎設施的營業利潤率能提高多少。

Well I think it'll continue to go around project size and project takes, again, if the projects continue to get larger, there's, there are drawings of, our projects on the drawing board, I should say, of mega data centers that are exponentially bigger than anything we're building today. I still find them almost impossible to believe, but they continue to move forward. Those would be greater opportunities and better margin.

嗯，我認為這將繼續圍繞著專案規模和專案需求展開，如果專案繼續變大，那麼，我們的專案圖紙就在繪圖板上，我應該說，大型資料中心的規模比我們今天正在建造的任何東西都要大得多。我仍然覺得他們幾乎難以置信，但他們仍在繼續前進。這將帶來更大的機會和更好的利潤。

We don't see margins slowing down in '25, and I think we'll continue to see margins uptick in '26, in the infrastructure, just based on what we're. Seeing we're really bullish on '25. When I talk about '26 and '27, normally we're not talking about, are we almost full or are we getting close and '26 and '27 projects already talking about them, right?

我們認為 25 年的利潤率不會下降，而且我認為，基於我們所採​​取的措施，26 年基礎設施領域的利潤率將繼續上升。看來我們對 25 年非常看好。當我談論 26 年和 27 年時，通常我們不會談論我們是否已經滿了或是否已經接近滿了，而 26 年和 27 年的專案已經在談論它們了，對嗎？

We just, we're so much further ahead of the curve than we historically have. When we bought Plateau, let me just give you a kind of a benchmark. We were always happy if we had six months of backlog. That was our metric that we were very comfortable if we had six months. I'll tell you, we have a hell of a lot more than six months of backlog sitting in Plateau and Petillo right now.

我們只是比歷史上任何時候都領先很多。當我們收購 Plateau 時，讓我給你一個基準。如果有六個月的積壓訂單，我們總是很高興。這是我們的標準，如果有六個月的時間，我們會感到非常舒適。我告訴你，我們現在在 Plateau 和 Petillo 積壓的訂單遠遠超過六個月。

Very helpful. And then last one for me would just be on the transportation solution side. Any way we could put a finer point on how to think about the sales dollar headwind that the move away from low bid heavy highway, kind of puts for the transportation segment in '25.

非常有幫助。對我來說最後一個是關於交通解決方案方面。無論如何，我們可以更詳細地闡述如何看待從低價重型高速公路轉向 25 年運輸領域所帶來的銷售美元逆風。

We do annually in the Texas market is call it $75 million a year, so as we shrink that you can kind of put some boundaries on that, yeah. But we've baked in all of our guidance we've baked that in so.

我們每年在德州市場的營業額是 7500 萬美元，因此，當我們縮小營業額時，你可以對此設定一些界限，是的。但我們已經把所有的指導都融入了。

Great, really helpful thanks again.

太棒了，真的很有幫助，再次感謝。

Tom Bishop with BI Research.

BI Research 的 Tom Bishop。

Hi, good morning. It's interesting that the stock was at $198 the day before the deep seek. Kind of hit the fan. And what I'm hearing is that this is the decline. I don't know if investors are thinking that the footprints are going to get smaller because somehow deep six has a smaller footprint or that less data centers are going to get built. But it seems like none of that is true. And if anything, it's intensifying. So it seems like that whole selloff was.

嗨，早安。有趣的是，在深度搜尋的前一天，該股的價格為 198 美元。有點讓人震驚。而我聽到的是，這就是衰退。我不知道投資者是否認為佔地面積會變小，因為深六層的佔地面積較小，或者建造的資料中心會更少。但看起來這些都不是真的。如果有的話，這種現象正在加劇。因此看起來整個拋售都是如此。

We, I mean, we were as shocked as anybody, in the sense that it doesn't matter let me kind of keep it really simple. It doesn't matter if they use the high end the video chip or the low end of the video chip because there's a data center, we build the data center, right? So we don't do the chips, we don't do any of that stuff doesn't matter to us. We had just had meetings, two days before that or three days whenever it came out.

我們，我的意思是，我們和其他人一樣震驚，從某種意義上說，這無關緊要，讓我把事情說得簡單一點。無論他們使用高階視訊晶片還是低階視訊晶片都沒關係，因為有一個資料中心，我們建立了資料中心，對嗎？所以我們不做晶片，我們不做任何與我們無關的事情。我們剛剛開過會，無論是在那之前的兩天還是在它發布後的三天。

With core customers saying here's our build schedules, here's what we're looking at '27, '28, what do we do to get capacity for '27, '28 and all that comes out and everybody thinks everything's stopping. So we are, we're seeing the opposite. I'm not smart enough to understand all the elements of deep six, but here's what I do understand is.

核心客戶說這是我們的建設計劃，這是我們對 27、28 年的展望，我們要做什麼才能獲得 27、28 年的產能，所有這些都出來了，每個人都認為一切都停止了。所以我們看到的是相反的情況。我不夠聰明，無法理解深六的所有元素，但我確實理解的是。

Do we really believe that US companies and the US government is going to allow AI to go through China, to manage what we're doing? I don't believe that's going to happen, okay? Do we even believe that we're going to use Europe and other countries with the cables that have been cut and all the stuff that's happened recently.

我們真的相信美國公司和美國政府會允許人工智慧透過中國來管理我們的工作嗎？我不相信那會發生，好嗎？我們是否甚至相信我們會利用歐洲和其他國家被切斷的電纜以及最近發生的所有事情。

Maybe more likely, but still less likely. The development is going to be in the US. The technology is going to be developed in the US. I think if anything, it will ultimately, in a crazy way, drive the US companies to run faster and harder to make sure that they don't get bypassed by anybody else. That's my personal opinion with two brain cells in my head, but yeah, that's how I look at it. And our customers again kind of support that because they have they're not backing down.

或許可能性更大，但可能性仍然較小。該開發項目將在美國進行。該技術將在美國開發。我認為，如果真有什麼影響的話，它最終會以一種瘋狂的方式驅使美國公司跑得更快、更賣力，以確保它們不會被任何其他公司超越。這是我腦中兩個腦細胞的個人觀點，是的，我就是這麼看待它的。我們的客戶再次支持這一點，因為他們不會退縮。

I agree with you. Okay, well, I'm just want to get that clarified.

我同意你的看法。好的，我只是想澄清一下。

Yeah. Thank you.

是的。謝謝。

There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the call over to CEO Joe Cotillo for closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。我想將電話轉給執行長喬·科蒂略 (Joe Cotillo) 來做最後發言。

Thank you, Marissa. I want to thank everybody again for joining today's call. If you have any follow-up questions, you can reach out to Noelle Dilts. Her contact information is in the press release, and I hope everybody has a great day.

謝謝你，瑪麗莎。我要再次感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。如果您有任何後續問題，可以聯絡 Noelle Dilts。她的聯絡方式在新聞稿中，我希望大家度過愉快的一天。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call and webcast. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議和網路直播到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。