Summary
Management framed the quarter as broad-based organic strength, with larger utility and technology programs still ahead and acquisitions adding to the raised outlook.
- 15,500 employees were added over the year, including about eight thousand organically, while training remained a margin constraint.
- Technology work is increasingly broadening from data centers into balance-of-plant builds, grid interconnection, and front-end services.
- Large transmission and generation projects are mostly still in engineering; management expects backlog conversion to field work beginning in the second half of 2027.
Guidance
- $39.7B2026 revenue $39.3 to $39.7 billion
- $4.2B2026 adjusted EBITDA $4.1 to $4.2 billion
- $16.452026 adjusted EPS $16.45 to $16.95
- $2.5B2026 free cash flow $2 to $2.5 billion
- $1.4B2026 acquired-company revenue $1.2 to $1.4 billion
- $140M2026 acquired-company adjusted EBITDA $120 to $140 million
What analysts pressed on
- 01Utility and electric margins: management sees further improvement, citing mix and synergies, while maintaining a prudent guide.
- 02Gas generation risk: Quanta is pursuing EPC work but will avoid combined-cycle and some single-cycle projects without acceptable contract terms.
- 03Data-center exposure: management said technology represents 15% to 20% of business and called New York's moratorium immaterial to its activity.
- 04Free-cash-flow conversion: management expects potential at the high end of 55% to 60%, but said utility growth can pressure conversion.
- 05Underground margins: management sees a possible path toward electric-segment parity, conditional on work mix, but first targets double digits.
Notable disclosures
- 7M7 million square feet of fabrication capacity was cited, with about half a million square feet added through acquisitions.
- 800-volt data-center work has not appeared in RFPs yet, though Quanta is already involved in engineering.
- Large programs are mostly not in backlog yet; management expects bookings to become lumpier as major projects are awarded.
- Technology customers are generating book-and-burn work that may not appear in reported backlog.
Risks raised
- Combined-cycle and some single-cycle generation contracts carry risks Quanta is unwilling to accept without suitable terms.
- Utility work has a different working-capital profile and can pressure free-cash-flow conversion as it grows.
- Project timing remains difficult to predict; large bookings may create lumpy backlog quarters.
- Data-center development faces permitting, community, and policy uncertainty, though management said current backlog inclusion is disciplined.
Tone: Confident 0.88
Management raised full-year expectations and described broad demand, improving margins, and major multiyear programs, while acknowledging execution and timing risks.
Who spoke
Company
- Kip RuppVice President, Investor Relations
- Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
- Jayshree DesaiChief Financial Officer
- Unidentified Management
Analysts
- Stephen FisherAnalyst, UBS
- Unidentified AnalystAnalyst
- Julien Dumoulin-SmithAnalyst, Jefferies
- Chad DillardAnalyst, Bernstein
- Philip ShenAnalyst, Roth Capital Partners
- Alex RygielAnalyst, Texas Capital Securities
- Joseph OshaAnalyst, Guggenheim Partners
- Jamie CookAnalyst, Truist
- Michael DudasAnalyst, Vertical Research Partners
- Maheep MandloiAnalyst, Mizuho
- Andy KaplowitzAnalyst, Citigroup
- Nick AmicucciAnalyst, Evercore ISI
- Adam ThalhimerAnalyst, Thompson Davis
- Liam BurkeAnalyst, V. Riley Securities
Full transcript
Analyst questions are marked with a bar. Timestamps are into the recording.
Prepared remarks
Good morning and welcome to the Quanta Services second quarter 2026 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow management's prepared remarks, and we will ask that you please hold all questions until that time. I will then provide instructions for the question and answer session. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. If you have any objection, please disconnect at this time. I will now turn the call over to Kip Rupp, Vice President, Investor Relations, for introductory remarks.
Kip RuppVice President, Investor Relations
Thank you and welcome everyone to the Quanta Services second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. This morning, we issued a press release announcing our second quarter 2026 results, which can be found in the investor relations section of our website at Quanta Services. com. This morning, we also posted our second quarter 2026 operational and financial commentary in our 2026 outlook expectations summary on Qantas Investor Relations website. While management will make brief introductory remarks during this morning's call, the operational and financial commentary is intended to largely replace management's prepared remarks, allowing additional time for questions from the institutional investment community.
Please remember that information reported on this call speaks only as of today, July 30, 2026, and therefore you advise that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of any replay of this call. This call will include forward-looking statements intended to qualify under the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements reflecting expectations, intentions, assumptions, or beliefs about future events or financial performance.
You should not place undue reliance on these statements as they involve certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict or beyond Qantas control, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. We will also present certain historical and forecasted non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release and operational and financial commentary. Please refer to these statements for additional information regarding our forward-looking statements and non-GAAP financial measures.
Lastly, please sign up for email alerts through the Investor Relations section of Quanta Services. com to receive notifications of news releases and other information. Follow Quanta IR and Quanta Services on the social media channels listed on our website.
With that, I would like to now turn the call over to Mr. Duke Austin, Qantas president and CEO. Duke?
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Kip. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Qantas Services second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. I want to begin by recognizing our people in the field. Everything we are about to discuss starts with our more than 85,000 employees and the execution they deliver for our customers safely, on time, and on budget every day.
This morning, we reported second quarter results that meaningfully exceeded expectations with strong double-digit growth in revenues, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted earnings per share, robust cash flow, and record backlog of $53 billion. Given when these acquisitions closed, their contribution to the quarter was minimal. The strength you're seeing today reflects broad-based organic strength across our segments, service lines, and in markets, and the successful execution of our strategy and the investments we have made against it.
During the second quarter in July, we completed the acquisitions of Falcone, Interfab, Percheron, and PSD, and we welcome each of these excellent companies and their employees to the Quanta family. These acquisitions enhance our geographic presence and continue our strategy to scale self-perform craft skill capabilities across electrical, mechanical, civil, and fabrication, and to lean into the front end of our customers' programs, where the work takes shape and where getting involved early maximizes the value we can deliver.
These are companies that have executed successfully for decades and whose owners and leadership came up through the craft with customer relationships often built over generations. These acquisitions strengthen our position in technology and load centers while adding meaningfully diversification across end markets we've served for decades. Quanta runs it on a culture of absolute performance and is dedicated to the continuous improvement and the success of our customers.
Every acquisition has to fit our strategy and the culture has to fit. That is the first thing we evaluate and something we do not compromise. When a company that has built its name over 50 or 100 years decides to join Quanta, They are choosing a home that protects their legacy, keeps their management team, and gives the people more opportunity than they could create alone.
Our solutions-based model is performing well, creating markets and unlocking growth opportunities because it is a platform that brings our customers industry-leading capabilities, scope, and scale with the largest craft workforce in North America at the center. The rigor we built over decades serving utilities, the planning, the safety, and the programmatic execution is exactly what we are bringing to technology and load center and generation markets.
Technology is trying to move as fast as possible. Utilities are working to protect the rate payer, and Qantas sits in the middle of the nexus, providing solutions to both.
Our customers realize how important speed and certainty is. And the trust and track record we have built over decades is what differentiates Qwanta.
Qwanta's core strategy remains grounded in craft skill labor, execution certainty, and disciplined capital deployment. Craft is built over time, and we prioritize that investment for well over a decade. We self-perform 80 to 85 percent of our work, which is what allows us to deliver on time and on budget at scale. That certainty, quarter after quarter and year after year, is what our customers count on, is what has produced record-adjusted EPS for the last nine consecutive years, and why our customers keep asking us to do more.
As a result of our strong first half, improved visibility into the remainder of the year, and expected contributions from the acquisitions announced this morning, we are significantly increasing our full year 2026 financial expectations across all metrics. The record backlog we reported reflects the demand in front of us, but we're still in the early stages. The larger programs across the utility generation and technology load center markets are ahead of us, and we expect them to stack in the years to come. In many ways, we are just getting started.
We remain focused on executing for our customers' success, deploying capital with discipline, and compounding earnings and shareholder value over the long term. I will now turn the call over to Jayshree Desai, Qantas CFO, to provide a few remarks about our results and 2026 guidance, and then we will take your questions. Jayshree?
Jayshree DesaiChief Financial Officer
Thanks, Duke, and good morning, everyone. This morning, we reported historically strong second quarter results with revenues of $9.6 billion, net income attributable to common stock of $451 million or $2.96 per diluted share, adjusted diluted earnings per share of $4.24, and adjusted EBITDA of $1.1 billion. Those results included approximately $11 million of adjusted EBITDA from acquisitions made during the second quarter.
The performance in the first half of 2026 exceeded our initial expectations, led by the strength of our end markets and our strategies in action. The versatility of our workforce and our customer-centric delivery model are translating to greater scope, better resource utilization, elevated revenues, and improved margins. And our customers are increasingly recognizing how the breadth of our capabilities can contribute to their success, as evidenced by another quarter of record backlog.
Given the strength of our first-half performance, improved visibility into the second half, and expected contributions from recent acquisitions, we are raising our full-year financial expectations. We now expect revenues to range between $39.3 and $39.7 billion, adjusted EBITDA to range between $4.1 and $4.2 billion, adjusted EPS to range between $16.45 and $16.95, and free cash flow to range between $2 and $2.5 billion. As Duke described, subsequent to our first quarter earnings release, we acquired four companies for approximately $1.24 billion of upfront consideration net of cash acquired, plus approximately $242 million of contingent consideration that can be earned based on financial performance in the years following the closing. Included within our increased full-year financial expectations are $1.2 to $1.4 billion of revenues and $120 to $140 million of adjusted EBITDA from these acquisitions.
Importantly, as evidenced by the ratings upgrade by Moody's, our balance sheet and credit profile strengthened even as we deployed capital on the aforementioned acquisitions. As calculated under our senior credit agreement, at the end of the second quarter, our debt-to-EBIT-DIR ratio improved to 1.7, down from 1.95 at the end of 2025, and we had total liquidity of approximately $2.8 billion.
The larger programs, broader service offerings, and multi-year commitments we're negotiating every day are a direct reflection of the trust our customers place in our ability to execute at scale. Combined with the disciplined way we're allocating capital across our strategic initiatives, we believe we're well positioned to keep converting that trust into durable, attractive returns for our shareholders. Additional detail and commentary on our 2026 financial guidance can be found in our operational and financial commentary and outlook expectation summary, both available on our Investor Relations website.
With that, we're happy to take your questions.
Questions and answers
Thank you. We will now move to our question and answer session. For today's session, we'll be utilizing the raise hand feature via the webinar. If you'd like to ask a question, simply click on the raise hand button at the bottom of your screen. If you have dialed in, please press star nine to raise hand and star six to unmute. Once you've been called on, please unmute yourself and begin to ask your question. Again, that is star nine to raise hand and star six to unmute if you have dialed in. We ask that all participants limit themselves to one question. If you have additional questions, you may re-cue and those questions will be addressed, time permitting. Thank you. We will now pause a moment to assemble the cue. Your first question comes from Stephen Fisher with UBS. Please unmute and ask your question. Stephen, your line is open. You may ask your question.
Stephen FisherAnalyst, UBS
Can you hear me?
Unidentified Management
Yes, now we can.
Stephen FisherAnalyst, UBS
Okay, sorry about that. Yeah, just that with saying congrats on the strong beats across your business in the quarter, but maybe focusing on the strong margin performance. I know you've been, Duke, a little bit, you know, reserved and Jay Shree on the margin upside messaging. I guess to what extent are you now thinking maybe a little bit more positively longer term about the margin potential here? It's you have more self-perform and you've got more large load projects becoming more of the mix. I guess any reason why that wouldn't add to some margin upside over the longer term?
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, thanks, Steve. Thanks for the comments about the quarter. I think when we're looking at the margin profile, we said the UI segment had some room, and we felt like it would move up. You know, the businesses that we've acquired, how we look at that business today, the risk we're willing to take, you know, certainly is moving that profile up, and you're seeing that in the quarter. And I believe you'll see that on a go forward basis.
So that moved up electric as well. I think we moved that up as well on the backside. That look structurally, fundamentally, the business has changed. We're seeing it change. We have two addressable TAMs, both of which are growing. So I do that mix. We're looking at it constantly to make sure that we're giving you good prudent guidance. yeah I do think we posted a real nice quarter we were prudent in the guidance that we give we gave you in the back half you're seeing synergy show up we're seeing a lot of book to burn so I I do believe like there is some room in the margins in the back side we took prudent approach to it there's no you know you got climbs and northern climbs weather we take everything into risk project slips all that's already baked into to our numbers so yeah I think there's upside and the back.
And, you know, as we see it, as we see the work mix, as we see the mix in the electric segment, it's a big segment. So, you know, we have to really take into account everything in there. And I think we've done a nice job of that. But I do think there's room for margin improvement in the backside. You know, we've always said that the electric segment has the ability to operate 10 to 12 on the utility set. 12 would be the utmost margins that you would see. And that's when you stacked in large transmission and all aspects at once. So you get full utilizations.
You're also training a lot of people. I mean, we've added 15,500 people over the year, you know, seven of which or eight of which, seven or eight, I can't remember, is organic. I believe it's eight. So in saying that, I mean, significant amount of training going in. We're getting better at training. If we can get better at training, we can get, you know, scale out of that as well. I do think we have the ability to improve margins. It's still something we're trying to compound it. We have rate payers on the utility side. It's very much regulated.
And so that said we doing a nice job on the technology TAM and we also getting some synergies out of our training and you know getting people to the field So super happy with where we at Terrific. Thank you.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst
Sure.
Thank you. Your next question will come from Julian Dumoulin-Smith with Jefferies. Please unmute and ask your question.
Julien Dumoulin-SmithAnalyst, Jefferies
Hey, guys. Good morning. Hopefully you can hear me okay. Just wanted to ask, one, we've seen a large utility in Midwest recently indicate for at at least for their gas generation RFP, that they're electing to self-perform because of inadequate resources. Again, given this backdrop, how do you think about your willingness to participate in the gas generation side of the business? Obviously, we saw a press release from you guys on NiceHorse earlier. How do you think about leaning further into that? And what would that look like in as much as a JV structure is not obvious? I'm curious for your thoughts about the Xamarin CPCM.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, no, look, Julian, we're seeing the same thing. I mean, I do think some of the utilities, a few of the utilities are trying to self-perform.
Yeah, it sounds easy. It's not. So I think in general, we saw that in the past back in, I don't know, it was probably 20 years ago, my age myself.
Look, we know the risk. We know the risk of the people that we need to employ. Our cross-skill labor is there. we're doing a nice job of building that business. You know, it's something meaningful in the future. We talked about it. You know, as far as, like, the robust nature of EPC on generation, not only, you know, in front of the meter, behind the meter. You know, someone was saying not too long ago that we're just in front of the meter, I mean, behind the meter. So we're on both sides of that. We're seeing some, you know, small engines. We're seeing big engines. We're seeing all types of generation, and we're installing it, EPC in it.
I like the business. We're just not willing to take the risk on the combined cycle side and, you know, some of the single cycle engines. So that's the issue. If we can get the type of contracts that we need to feel comfortable with it, we'll do it. And, you know, certainly the inbounds and ask of our customers, we did mention the NICE course. I do believe a significant amount of that will go into backlog in the third quarter.
That's moving nicely. There's some other, what I believe, opportunities in that part of the world that will continue to compound. And not only them, but every customer we have, we're working with them on their capital plans to build both Generation and T&D.
Julien Dumoulin-SmithAnalyst, Jefferies
Hey, guys, I appreciate it. Just a quick one on the technology side. Can you speak a little bit to how you're scaling that business? Is this just a way that you expand with existing customers? What exactly is going on within the details, if you can? Obviously, it's a nation business model for folks. You've got a lot of new entrants. Just curiously, you have a lot of interest relationships we're hearing about out there.
How much of this is new customers and new platforms? And what do you intend to do from a strategic M&A perspective to continue to build this business too?
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
A lot to that. So when we thought about it, when we acquired Cupertino, we acquired a platform. We talked about the technology customers that we thought, you know, that we could take our collaborative approach and build another TAM that's every bit as big as our utility TAM. We're doing that. It's showing up direct to the hyperscaler, direct to the larger customers, showing them, you know, what we can do. Our self-perform capabilities, we show up, we're on time, we're certain, And that's leading to balance of plant-type builds in multiple areas.
So, you know, call it 80% of what a data center would build, less chips. And I think 90% maybe. So we have the abilities to do that. And as people see that we're certain and our projects are on time, on budget, self-perform, more and more adjustable market comes our way. So I think we really like what we see, the collaborative nature. We talk about synergies a lot, and, you know, we don't put them in anything. But you can see from the quarter they show up. You know, we're crossing, we're fungible with labor. We're crossing both T and D as well as going into data centers with our people. You can see the queues on the utility side of substations, all the substations that are out there.
We're right in the middle of that. And I think as that nexus, I'm not sure people understand that nexus and how difficult it is to interconnect to the grid and how much we're right in the middle of that interconnection. So that interconnection along their vertical supply chains, the very strategies that we've discussed are showing up and the synergies are right there with them. So I do believe, Julian, as we look at technology, we're in a collaborative way helping them be certain on not only costs but getting it done on time. So we really like where we sit.
Your next question will come from Chad Dillard with Bernstein. You may now unmute and ask your question.
Chad DillardAnalyst, Bernstein
Hey, good morning, guys. So my question is on the modular and prefab side of the business. It's increasingly clear that, you know, you guys are investing in that organically and inorganically. So I'd be curious to hear, you know, what share of your RFPs have that capability? and how do you think about that on the next five years? And maybe you can talk about just like the labor cost savings that you see when you deliver that and the extent to which you can, you know, value-based price with your customers on that.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I mean, look, we talked about having 7 million square feet. We just added, call it half a million square feet with the acquisitions that we've made. So, yes, we're adding to that. We've always done some what I would consider fabrication, But I do think this integrated fabrication that we're doing, it's different. It's a solution-based approach. It has a lot of video engineering, a lot of technology in front of it. We can really design from a construction nature and work with the client on what they're trying to accomplish. Less water, closed-loop systems, no water, all kinds of things. We're able to really, really work with the client up front.
I think we have some of the best engineers in the world because they've been in the field and they know how to construct. So that allows us to really lean into these projects, become much, much more efficient if we work in a collaborative manner with our client, much like we've done with AAP on 765. I mean, I think when we look at it, we work together.
And if we can do that, the fabrication is exponential. You know, I don't – but whether it's cost less or more, it's going to cost less. It's less people to some degree depending on where you're at in your logistics. So logistics costs, you know, a significant amount. So you really need to be close to where you're building. And I think that northeast environment and what we've done there with the acquisition of Falcon really gives us a lot of opportunity in the east and the fabrication in the east. But, yeah, look, you're certain as well. You're inside, and it allows us to really have a certain outcome. And the engineering in front of it allows the cost to come down.
So, yeah, the more collaborative the client is with us, what I would consider the total cost goes down significantly for them.
Chad DillardAnalyst, Bernstein
Great. That's helpful. And then have you started to see RFPs for 800-volt work yet? When is that starting? and just from a labor standpoint, is there any difference in complexity, the mix of labor force, or even the use of modular when you're shifting from 54 to 800-volt architecture?
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
I'll just say it this way. We haven't seen it show up. We're in the middle of engineering with it. We're all over it from the high-voltage side as well as equipment.
Anything complicated, anything with a higher voltage, the higher the voltage, the better for Qwana. So I'll just say it like that. We love complicated high-voltage infrastructure. The more, the better.
Chad DillardAnalyst, Bernstein
Thanks.
Your next question will come from Justin Hawk with Baird. You may now unmute and ask your question.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst, Baird
Great. Thank you. I've just got kind of one to focus. Obviously, there's a lot of positives on this quarter, but, you know, one to stand out as well is the free cash flow. So I just wanted to, I guess, maybe ask, are you seeing changes in kind of, you know, maybe like prepayments or, you know, other things that are kind of favorable to work in capital from some of these large load customers that, you know, maybe it's a sustainable dynamic that, you know, maybe improves the free cash flow conversion over time? Or is it kind of just a one-off here this quarter? Thanks.
Jayshree DesaiChief Financial Officer
Hey, Justin. No, we're very pleased with what's happening with free cash flow in our business. The first half of the year was very strong. I think it's a real testament to the operators, how well they're performing. We are getting favorable contracting terms across the business. But the growth of the MEP business, our EPC business, and our renewables business is contributing to that free cash flow growth.
So we believe that we're going to continue to see those types of factors coming into our pre-cash flow profile. It's improving our working capital, as you said. Having said that, we do think the right way to think about our business continues to be that conversion rate of around 55%. I talked about it in the investor day that we have the opportunities to be higher than that, 55% to 60%.
Do I believe that we can be at the high end of that even this year and going forward? I do. I think there's opportunities even to beat it. But growth, where the growth comes from matters.
The strong utility business is continuing to grow in the back end as well. And as you know, that has a slightly different working capital profile and it can pressure free cash flow. We've taken all that into account in our guide. But I think you can expect, Justin, that we have real abilities to be at the high end of those free cash flow ranges and even better.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst, Baird
Great. That's all for me. Thank you.
Your next question will come from Sujita Jain with KeyBank. Please unmute and ask your question.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst, KeyBanc
Great. Thank you for taking my question. Can I ask one on Percheron, if I'm pronouncing that right, the acquisition that you made? How much of the revenue that they do is already revenue from Quanta and how much is third party? And as you bring it in, are you going to focus it more on just working for Quanta? And then does this allow you to do more front end work with data centers or is it purely just a T&D type operation? Thank you.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Sangita. So Percheron, when we looked at that, really it's right-of-way acquisition. It's things of that nature, none of which is for Kiwana. Very little, if any, was Kiwana revenue. So it's all outside. The customer base would be utilities, hyperscalers. So both sides of that. The way we think about it, anything that, from our standpoint, it doesn't allow our field forces to move forward, or we can collaborate with a client in a constructability way, we want that to be a part of the solution. So they were very much a solution for us on the front end. We believe added to Qwana and our constructability, we can work with the client on routes. You hear about permitting quite a bit, land acquisition quite a bit.
I'm getting tired of it. So as we see it, we felt like you can either gripe about it or you can fix it. So First Run will allow us to provide a unique solution to the client on the front end where we believe we can move right away faster in a more economical way to get our people in the field, both on the technology market and the, actually, technology pipeline and utility T&D. So super proud, great company. I believe we can exponentially grow that, and the synergies are endless.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst, KeyBanc
Thank you.
As a reminder, we ask that all participants limit themselves to one question. If you have additional questions, you can raise your hand and rejoin the queue. Our next question will come from Nick Amakuchi with Evercore ISI. Please unmute and ask your question.
Nick AmicucciAnalyst, Evercore ISI
Hey, guys. Good morning. I just had a quick one, too. Just given, I mean, obviously it seems like pretty strong organic performance within the quarter. I just wanted to see, I mean, if we could kind of break that out. How much was that – was there any kind of pull forward of timing or weather implications within there, just given kind of more of a mild spring season?
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
No, I do think, you know, you bring up a good point on seasonality. We used to have a much more pronounced seasonality in the business. with being inside and having, you know, kind of the electricians and the places that we're at. I do fabrication facilities. You're going to see that level out in the fourth and the second. It'll start to level. So it won't be as pronounced as it was in the past. So I do think that's part of it. But as far as pull in, I mean, you know, it is different from a standpoint. Nothing pulled in at all that I'm aware of. Just nothing. But what is happening, we're getting on sites and people are starting to see us perform and they're asking for more services immediately.
So we may book and bill $300 million on a site in a quarter. You never see it show up in backlog. You know, that's part of MEP. And that happens quite a bit. So we're working through that about how to look at those MSAs on the technology side, especially when we're building balance of plant in multiple areas. we need to look at that internally to decide is a PO against an MSA or is it an MSA so we're following GAP but I would tell you the book and burn on that type of work is certainly prevalent in the quarter and it will be prevalent as far as we can see because we continue to capture more balance of plan opportunities and full scale data center opportunities and you'll see us on quite a few sites in the future.
Our next question will come from Adam Thelhimmer with Thompson Davis. Please unmute and ask your question.
Adam ThalhimerAnalyst, Thompson Davis
Hey, good morning, guys. Congrats on another great quarter and a great year to date. Hey Duke I guess I wanted to dial in on your traditional T business How would you say that other than the obvious that it good how would you parse that how it trending versus your initial expectations at the beginning of the year And I wanted to get an update on, you know, your long-term expectations from electric utility customers.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
I think we're right on target. You know, we kind of – you haven't seen the compounding effect. I mean, we're not in backlog on any of the bigger work yet. Even the generation work, most of it is, I would say, 95% of it is not in backlog either. So those big projects, the 765 corridors, 345, 500, all that bigger work is just starting.
A lot of it's in engineering. You'll start to see it hit backlog in the later half of the year and, you know, throughout what I would consider the decade. So it's a long-term build, well past 2030 on both sides of the business. So we're seeing those projects today. They'll show up. The backlog will go to the field and call it second half of 27. We'll start to see incremental gain there. And the compounding stacking effect will start to hit the backlog. I continue to expect us to have record backlog into the third and probably even into the fourth. But definitely we see the work there. and it has not started. So kind of what I would say upper single-digit growth in the business as it sits, doing nicely, working with clients.
So I think, you know, double-digit type growth is there today, and it's going to get much greater than that as we start compounding big work. It will look much like it did, you know, call it 15, before 15, what is it, 12 to 15, somewhere in there when we were on a bunch of big projects and started compounding. We see that type of effect. Yes, it's big numbers, but the big numbers are going to compound as well. So we're super excited about where that's going. Early stages, and it'll start to show up, call it, in backlog this year and in the field next year.
Adam ThalhimerAnalyst, Thompson Davis
Perfect. Thanks, Duke.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Thanks.
Your next question will come from Liam Burke with V. Riley Securities. Please unmute and ask your question.
Liam BurkeAnalyst, V. Riley Securities
Yeah. Thank you, Duke. Just a quick follow-on on what we just discussed on your longer-term planning on the electric side. Going back to the backlog, so your backlog, similar to what you discussed last quarter, is more broader based across the businesses rather than you bringing in these larger projects?
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
That's right. I mean, I do think those larger projects, you're going to get some lumpy quarters where you're one-to-one, one-to, you're going to start to see one-five, one-six, as you bring in the big chunks of projects, and it's going to happen. You know, we saw some of it when we brought in 765 last quarter. You saw, you know, a big boost up. It was broad-based, but it also had a big project in it.
You know, that's going to happen. It's not going to be a straight line. You're going to see some lumpy kind of quarters, but all kind of lower lows, higher highs all the way through the way we see it. Because I just think we can't predict timing and bookings on that big work. It just takes time. And, you know, we're in LNTPs all over the place and Verbal's all over the place with lots of clients in a collaborative way. I just really like the collaboration the company is doing, really trying to help our clients. and I think giving them certainty, working with them, driving the cost down to the rate payer. The company is highly focused on driving the cost down to the rate payer.
I think that's the deal we're really working hard with throughout on the T&D side. I like where that's going. It's certainly given us a multi-year, even decade look outward. You can see their capital budgets. It's something we can point our finger to. We're working hard together. I like where the industry is going.
Liam BurkeAnalyst, V. Riley Securities
Great.
Thank you, Derek. Your next question will come from Philip Shen with Roth Capital Partners. You may unmute and ask your question.
Philip ShenAnalyst, Roth Capital Partners
Hey, guys. Congrats again on the strong results. Hey, wanted to check in with you on the recent New York state ban or pause on data centers. We published recently that we could see as many as 10 more states pursue data center bans or pauses by the end of this year. What are your thoughts on this potential risk? How could it impact your business? And then when you add data center work to your backlog, have these projects been cleared of all permitting, environmental approvals, community support? You know, I'm guessing the answer is yes, but just was wondering if you can talk through, is there any risk that some of these state bans or pauses could take some of the projects out of backlog?
Thanks.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Sure. So just a couple of things. It's a good question because it gives me an opportunity to freelance a little bit here. What I would say is 15% of the business is technology. Call it 15 to 20 right in there. And, you know, that's a spectrum of chips to everything, not just data centers. So it's not a huge piece of the business, number one.
We've grown to that range over the last two years, which I think is phenomenal. We've built a hell of a business already and got a long way to go, so very early stages. And the quality of the companies that we've acquired is just phenomenal. phenomenal. Super proud of the platforms. So in saying that, look, we're involved in lots of data centers. I haven't seen much in New York. Nothing really gets built there. So it's very difficult to build in New York. And having a moratorium in New York doesn't bother me at all.
I just hope we can get enough power to continue to keep the lights on. So that's our highly focused there on that. What I would say is in general, when we think about data centers, it's such a fallacy of the amount of water and what it does for an economy. I mean, in rural areas, the school districts and the kids and the teachers, we employ people there. I mean, it's such a benefit to everyone that is building in those areas. And, you know, it's not a one-year build. These are eight, ten-year areas that build, and you're providing jobs. And if you look at northern Louisiana, where they're building there, yeah, they're using a little bit more water than some other areas.
I would say there's better designs today, and you can use less water. But what that's done for teachers, teachers were the lowest paid in all of Louisiana. They will be the highest paid in Louisiana in that area, all the teachers. All what it does for the rate-based, the economies. I just don't think it gets the press. We're not doing a good enough job talking about the good things about data centers, national security, everything else that I see. It reminds me a lot of the fracking rhetoric that was out there. So it's just something that I think we have to do a great job to tell the benefits to the industry and how we see it and what it's done to create jobs and good jobs.
I think you can look at our median wage and see. Like it's very, very good for us and the economy. So look, we're not seeing any shortage of places to go to work. And we're moving forward, really working in local areas to provide jobs. And as long as we do that, and I believe we're on the right side of the rhetoric with data centers and not like where it's going. Yeah.
Jayshree DesaiChief Financial Officer
And Phil, just on the backlog, I think it's important to add that we take all those into account. The way we treat our backlog, just like we do on the TND side, just like we do on the generation side, we want to make sure that we have a constructive and prudent way of what goes into backlog. So on the data center side, we tend to put in things that have only LNTPs, and we don't put the rest of it until the project is a go. So I think you can be confident in what we have in our backlog as a result.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, and we're seeing multi-year projects, too. So, I mean, we're out well beyond 2030.
Philip ShenAnalyst, Roth Capital Partners
Got it. Thanks again.
Your next question will come from Alex Riegel with Texas Capital Securities. Please unmute and ask your question.
Alex RygielAnalyst, Texas Capital Securities
Thank you. Good morning. Great quarter. Could you speak a bit more about underground and infrastructure and in particular pipelines? And are you seeing any green shoots develop?
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I mean, look, I think we certainly have opportunities. I think we've probably – we booked a little bit of Canada work in the quarter. So a real nice job there with Atco. So proud about that one. I think we'll book more in Canada. The opportunities, you know, I would say later half of 2016 and 27 for us are there.
That business is getting better. So, yeah, I mean, it's something we're looking at. And as a kind of how we look at it, you know, we kind of put 500 million in our head, and that's where it's at. We're well past that for the year probably and beyond. So we'll relook at that as how we guide. But, no, Alex, I think it's all risk. We'll be cognizant of how we look at the risk. And, you know, our generation business is growing nicely, some things there. So we're able to use some of those assets and people and project management teams on the generation side.
There's a lot of pipe feeding generation that we can bundle that in as well. So that solution-based approach on the technology side applies to the pipeline as well and gives us a lot of opportunity there to do some unique things with the pipe.
Alex RygielAnalyst, Texas Capital Securities
And Jay Sheree, earlier you mentioned contract terms have improved. Can you expand upon that a little bit and maybe in particular how they've changed across various end markets?
Jayshree DesaiChief Financial Officer
Yeah, we're just, as we sit here, we're looking at our renewables business, our MEP business, our EPC business on the T&D side. It allows us to have really favorable cash flow terms, and the working capital profile on those things are very positive. We're seeing that across our business, not just in certain markets. the MEP and renewables business and EPC work on our traditional business tends to have the more pronounced favorable working capital profile, and that is getting baked in. But we've talked about this a lot, right? As we sit here today in these markets and the strength of our portfolio and our ability to help our customers, we're very much focused on compounding and growing with them.
And so our contracting terms are a reflection of that. And while we're not necessarily trying to take advantage of our customers in any way, it is allowing us to make sure that we're doing things in the way that allows us to be confident about our execution capabilities and delivering for them in the right manner. So that's what's getting reflected across our business.
It's not just on working capital, but it's in terms across the company.
Alex RygielAnalyst, Texas Capital Securities
Excellent. Thank you.
Your next question will come from Brian Brokery with Spifle. Please unmute and ask your question.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst, Spifle
Yeah, thanks. Good morning. Congrats on a really great quarter. Obviously, there was a meaningful uplift in the technology and large load outlook. Curious if there was any notable large bookings on the integrated fabrication part of the business in the quarter. and if that was a core driver of the upside, or is it more broad-based in MEP? Thanks.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
I think it's broad-based the way we see it. Certainly, the MEP business is growing faster than the rest of the business, just percentage-wise. But what I would say is if you look at the whole outlook, I would tell you it's all of it's pushing upward. You know, both segments are pushing upward. The electric segment is moving up. I mean, our renewable business is really good.
It's moved up nicely. So I would tell you all things that we discussed are at least double digits. Some are double digit plus, but, you know, everything is moving upward, at least double digits. And I'm sure it's probably 9.9 in some area, but, like, very close to double digits, and some of it much greater, some of the parts, obviously.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst, Spifle
Appreciate it. And then just one quick one, if you wouldn't mind. Did you see any notable Sunsia closeout benefits in the quarter or anything that was more one time? Thanks.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
No, I think you can just the closeouts happen all the time. We're so large. You can have projects close out. You can have projects start. There was nothing one time in our quarterly results.
Appreciate it. Thank you. I do like it when they go up, though. I'd rather them go up than down. But in general, they typically go up, and it's nothing out of the ordinary. It's normal course.
Understood.
Your next question will come from Joseph Osha with Guggenheim Partners. Please unmute and ask your question.
Joseph OshaAnalyst, Guggenheim Partners
Hi. Thanks, everybody. So, Duke, you've been adding manufacturing capabilities in a couple of areas, transformers. You bought a utility pole company. I'm wondering if there are other areas that you're thinking about in terms of where you might want to add capabilities. Thank you.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I mean, look, we did the breaker deal with HICO. I thought that was the, you know, critical path for us and the high voltage breakers. They're very difficult to get. So you've seen us build them. You've seen us partner. We certainly have great relationships with the suppliers. Anywhere is a critical path that we think we can invest capital and move it forward. That's what you've seen us do. So as we're looking outward, we're taking advantage of areas where there's underinvestment or we believe it's something that is a critical path for us. We're working with our clients to really innovate as well with R&D and some things we can do there. So that innovation technology how we look at it but we made those investments in that vertical supply chain I think it showing up in some of the synergies I think you continue to see it We be selective in how we invest there That's something that we look at all the time, but we do believe we can do some unique things with our vertical supply chain and have done.
So it'll be a broad-based investment in things that are what you would consider a critical path.
Joseph OshaAnalyst, Guggenheim Partners
we see a lot of people buying e-boss companies is that something that you think might be a good fit for quanta yeah look i we're not looking at e-boss companies that's fine i mean look i'm sure they're great companies and everyone's doing well with them but i it's not something that we're looking at today we're looking at all kinds of things that it could be a component thereof or whatever it may be, but it's, you know, traditionally the core of the business is craft skill labor.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
We're focused, highly focused on craft skill labor and bringing that to the field in a way that solution-based. If the eBoss or anything else can help us with the solution, we're certainly leaning into those opportunities.
Joseph OshaAnalyst, Guggenheim Partners
Thank you.
As a reminder, we ask that all participants limit themselves to one question. If you'd like to ask another question, you can rejoin the queue. Our next question will come from Jamie Cooke, Truist. Please unmute and ask your question.
Jamie CookAnalyst, Truist
Hi, congrats on another fantastic quarter. Can you hear me? Yeah, thank you. Oh, good, you can hear me. Oh, so Duke, I just guess one question. I mean, I've been, you know, beating you up on your undergrad margins for years, and finally it sounds, you know, these margins are really starting to improve. I guess with some of these acquisitions that you're doing and some of the structural improvements you're making, I'm wondering over time, although it's not in your sort of longer term margin targets, is there a path in particular with some of these higher margin acquisitions for your underground margins to approach the electric business? Like, is that totally off base?
Thanks.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I mean, there's always opportunity. It just depends on the work mix. I mean, some of those margins you can pull up and it depends on the risk. It depends on some of the fabrication. Yeah, look, I do think you can pull them up. Let me get to the double digits first, and then I'll go from there. But I do think we have opportunities to get a parity electric. You can do it.
It just depends on, you know, what the mix looks like. We're certainly, you know, I think that's one thing the company is highly focused on is increasing our efficiencies. Some of the labor is fungible, so it's moving across segments. It's moving over into the electric segment. They move back and forth. I mean, we can have someone on, you know, what I would consider a data center and go to an industrial base, come back into, you know, compression on gas side. So we can move electricians and underground folks across multiple segments, which I really like a lot.
So it's hard to say because they are making the margins in the electric side on one side of the business as that labor is fungible. But the, you know, kind of the outlook on the customer base in the UI segment, yeah, we can move it up, and you'll see that move up, and we could get it to parity electric.
It's possible.
Your next question comes from Michael Dudas with Vertical Research Partners. Please unmute and ask your question. Michael, your line is open. Please unmute and ask your question.
Michael DudasAnalyst, Vertical Research Partners
Thank you, everyone.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Hey, Mike. Hello. Duke, just your sense of what your customers, maybe on the MSA side or even just across the board, how far out in the future are they asking to secure your specialized craft labor generally? And I'm sure there's ranges of months to years. How has that changed, say, in the last 12 to 18 months? And do you anticipate to get even further tighter out into the future where you have to allocate these resources a little bit more judiciously? Yeah, I mean, we're nowhere near capacity. I know that's been something that people are worried about. So look, you've seen us had 15,000 employees in the quarter. And well, let me back up. 15,000 in the year, significant amount of which is in the second quarter.
Some through acquisitions, some through organic growth, but well over 7,000 in organic growth. We're very much in line with the customer building out programs. We're as far out as their capital plans, at least, and beyond. So when you're looking at their capital plans, they're out five, seven years. We're helping them with capital. We're helping them all the way through in a collaborative manner across the board. I'm having great collaborative conversations on it. And I would say the inbounds are significant.
The company is in a different place than it's ever been. How we sit, how we're viewed, you know, I think the number one thing is, you know, how do people feel about us? And, you know, I feel real good about how we sit in the industries we serve. And we've done a real nice job. The men and women in the field are executing at a phenomenal level. And, you know, we see, you know, decade-plus type arrangements out there.
Your next question comes from Maip Mandloy with Miziho. You may unmute and ask your question.
Maheep MandloiAnalyst, Mizuho
Hey, thanks. Congratulations on the quarter as well. Maybe just like a little question, Duke, Where are you seeing the bottlenecks as you go into data centers or for generation and transmission distribution? Is it still the craft labor? And is there a scenario where you foresee potential competition or oversupply on that aspect a few years down the line?
Maybe labor or craft moves from other industries with this so you have more training or more automation? Thanks.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Look, we're not seeing any shortage of – I mean, we're not seeing any oversupply of craftskill labor for the near future. It takes about four years to make a craftsman and a journeyman. We happen to have more journeymen in all crafts than most. Well, probably in the electric side, MEP side, I would say, you know, we're gaining. We're very close. And, you know, our training facilities and things that we've invested in over a decade, we spend about 250 million a year in training so that's something we're highly focused on and have been for a decade i know it i know we're making it look a little easy it is not easy whatsoever and that it's just the fact is we we've done this for a long time and i don't think you're going to see an oversupply in any means in the near future and we see a lot of money getting thrown at it It takes a journeyman to make a journeyman.
I'll say it again. And it takes multi-years, and the more years under their belt, the better they are and more productive. So I think when we look at it, no oversupply, the bottlenecks would be generation to some degree. And I know the generation is going to say it's EPC. So, yeah, look, some of it's technical. It is difficult to have the capacity to build combined cycles at the levels that everyone wants to build them at and as quick as they want to build them at. We're working hard to build those capabilities internally. We've done a real nice job. We have what I consider a significant business in front of us in the generation side.
So that's organic growth for us. We really like where it's going. and we're putting the resources in it and the training and getting great people here that want to work for Qantas. So real happy with both sides of that. There is bottlenecks here or there. I do think for the most part, most data centers want to go back to the grid at some point.
And not to say that last time I got in trouble for saying something about, you know, behind the meter generation or whatever it was. I can't remember what it was, but someone was mad. Look, the faster you can go right now in generation, people are going to buy it. But over time, you're going to try to connect to the grid. It balances things out.
And so utilities do it much better than anyone. They've been doing it for decades. So that bottleneck, that queue is extremely important. What does it take to get to the queue? It takes generation and substation. But we're very much involved in both sides of that. And I do think that would be the bottleneck is getting to the, you know, what I would consider utility-scale generation.
And they're moving very fast. So we're working with them all over the place. And I do believe utilities are in a growth mode. They've been underinvested in for a while on generation. And you're starting to see that significant investment. And if you start an engine today, if you order an engine today, you're five years out, probably six, before you get them built. So it just shows you the longevity, and I'm sure I didn't listen to you's call, but I'm confident Renova had a really nice book, and it's going to continue for a bit here. So we're super happy with where we sit.
Your next question will come from Andy Kaplowitz with Citigroup. Please unmute and ask your question.
Andy KaplowitzAnalyst, Citigroup
Good morning, everyone. So, Duke, you just added like 10% more employees to the Qwana family again in one quarter through acquisitions. I know how you're going to answer this question, but I'll ask it anyway. At some point, do you worry about the acquisition flywheel moving too fast and maybe it could, you know, hurt underlying performance? Or alternatively, can you keep the pace of the recent acquisition trajectory that you've had over the last few years up, as it obviously has been a significant acceleration?
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
yeah that's a good question we're buying great companies i mean you know one of them was over 100 years old maybe two we're not passing on great family businesses with great management teams it will depend on the management teams do they fit here we're super excited with the ones we bought a lot of that too is i mean i i would tell you a couple of them we had talked to for 36 months, maybe, maybe longer, maybe five years about acquisitions.
We just can't tell you when exactly how that's going to work out. You know, last quarter we did zero. This quarter we did four.
We're not seeing the shortage of people wanting to sell their businesses here. I mean, I do believe culturally it matters. We view that more so than anything else, because if we continue down the path, the cultural path, we get the synergies. They want to work together. People want to work here. We're creating great jobs. I mean, we have a lot of journeymen here that are executive vice presidents, CEOs. They're all over. And we have a path for craft here that's remarkable. So I do believe if you want to exit your business, it makes tons of sense for you.
And we're excited about that. I do think creating those opportunities, watching Kraft do very well, we push equity down to 10,000 plus people.
You know, I pinch myself on how lucky we are to be in the space we're in and be able to do the things we can do for Kraft. So I'm super happy, and that's why people want to sell their business here.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst
your next question will come from chris song with wolf research please unmute and ask your question hey good morning guys nice quarter um to sunday acquisitions can you give us like the annualized evita run rate or the purchase more full you under wrote just the 120 to 140 contribution seems like it's just partial year and i just want to make sure we're comparing it correctly with the purchase price. Thanks.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I think you can just do the math. It's about six, seven months worth of what we gave you, so you could annualize it based on just that, and I can give you a good sense of the run rate.
Our last question comes from Alexa Petrick-Breno from Goldman Sachs. Please unmute and ask your question.
Unidentified AnalystAnalyst, Goldman Sachs
Hey, good morning, team, and thanks for taking our question. The guidance revision this quarter was notable. Can you just talk more about the drivers of that revision? What are you seeing in the market and in your backlog that gives you confidence in this new guide?
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, I mean, look, you can see the headcounts moving up. You can see both electric and gas moving up. Obviously, the contribution from electric, it's a bigger segment. It's going to be up. So it was broad-based. You know, I think the synergies that we have and the things that we saw coming together, we're doing a lot of balance of plant work, you know, on the data side and technology side. But it's not just data centers. I mean, we're involved in all kinds of manufacturing, lily plants starting, all kinds of different things. Tesla's got plenty going on.
They're onboarding, manufacturing. I mean, you know, kind of on-shoring, manufacturing, medical. Across the board, you know, we're picking up. you know, on both sides of that. So I would say our T&D business is growing nicely, our renewable business. I know everyone was worried about that for a while. We're setting records there, so super happy with what they're doing.
So broad-based growth, we will stack both generation and large transmission on the business, and that'll be the outward growth in the foreseeable future. So you'll start to see that stacking effect as well. We're not on a lot of big, large transmission. we're cleaning a few of them up and then, you know, we're starting a few of them ourselves. But in general, I do think that stacking hasn't started yet and it's going to, you know, I think it's probably second half of 27. You'll start to see us go to the field in a meaningful way and that'll stack on out through the decade. So we're happy with that.
We have no more questions at this time. I will pass it back to the Quanta team for closing remarks.
Earl (Duke) Austin, Jr.President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you. I want to again thank the 85,000-plus men and women in the field. Their sacrifice to build infrastructure tomorrow is noted, and we thank them. And I also want to thank you for participating in our conference call. We appreciate your questions and ongoing interest in quantum services. Thank you.
This concludes our call.
Done reading? Open Quanta Services with the chart, filings, and estimates next to this call.
About this transcript
The summary, guidance, analyst focus, and tone are automated and should be checked against the call before being relied on. Names and figures can be misheard. Listen to the replay.