Sterling Reports Record Second Quarter 2022 Results

Earnings Continue to Outpace Expectations

Increases 2022 Full Year Guidance

Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (NasdaqGS: STRL) (“Sterling” or the “Company”) today announced financial results for the second quarter 2022.

Second Quarter 2022 Results

• Total Revenue of $510.6 million, an increase of 27% compared to the second quarter of 2021

• Net Income was $26.0 million, or $0.86 per diluted share, an increase of 29% and 25%, respectively, compared to the second quarter of 2021

• EBITDA(1) of $54.3 million, an increase of 33% compared to the second quarter of 2021

• Cash and Cash Equivalents totaled $72.9 million at June 30, 2022

• Backlog at June 30, 2022 was $1.54 billion, an increase of 3% over December 31, 2021

• Combined backlog(2) at June 30, 2022 was $1.73 billion, an increase of 14% over December 31, 2021

(1) The Company defines EBITDA as GAAP net income attributable to Sterling’s common stockholders, adjusted for depreciation and amortization, net interest expense, taxes and net gain or loss on extinguishment of debt.
(2) Combined Backlog includes Unsigned Low-bid Awards of $184.0 million and $22.5 million at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively.

For the three months ended June 30, 2022, the Company reported net income of $26.0 million, or $0.86 per diluted share, versus $20.1 million, or $0.69 per diluted share, in the second quarter 2021. Revenue increased by 27% over the prior year quarter, with 8% from organic growth and 19% growth generated from the acquired Petillo business. EBITDA increased 33% to $54.3 million in the second quarter of 2022, versus $41.0 million in the prior-year period. Second quarter EBITDA benefited from solid operating income growth from each segment, partially offset by ongoing supply chain and inflation challenges.

CEO Remarks and Outlook

“We are pleased with our strong second quarter performance and continue to feel positive about our position in all of our markets. Our teams have done an amazing job across the organization and continue executing remarkably well in this challenging economic environment,” stated Joe Cutillo, Sterling’s Chief Executive Officer.

“The growth in our E-Infrastructure Solutions once again made it our largest segment, and E-Infrastructure and Building Solutions continue representing 89% of our total segment operating income. Our disciplined approach coupled with our continued focus on execution of our strategic objectives resulted in an increase in gross profit of $12.1 million; however, we experienced a decrease in gross margin of sixty basis points to 13.4% from the prior year period driven predominately by inflation and material availability,” continued Mr. Cutillo.

“With the continued demand for complex site development, we broadened our customer base with industrial and manufacturing opportunities in E-Infrastructure Solutions, we continued experiencing growth in the Phoenix and Houston markets for Building Solutions and we began seeing an increase in infrastructure bill activity in Transportation Solutions.

Material availability and inflation remain a concern in all of our markets; however, we are closely monitoring these developments and we will continue to work with customers to recover the additional material and labor cost. In light of our performance to date, our increased backlog levels and our disciplined culture, we are adjusting our full year 2022 guidance. The mid-point of our guidance would improve our net income by 48%, our revenue by 19% and our EPS by 42% over 2021,” Mr. Cutillo concluded.

Full Year 2022 Guidance:

• Revenue of $1.865 billion to $1.885 billion

• Net Income of $90 million to $96 million

• EPS of $2.95 to $3.15

• EBITDA of $192 million to $202 million

Conference Call

Sterling’s management will hold a conference call to discuss these results and recent corporate developments on Tuesday, August 2, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. ET/8:00 a.m. CT. Interested parties may participate in the call by dialing (201) 493-6744 or (877) 445-9755. Please call in ten minutes before the conference call is scheduled to begin and ask for the Sterling Infrastructure call. To coincide with the conference call, Sterling will post a slide presentation at www.strlco.com on the Events & Presentations section of the Investor Relations tab. Following management’s opening remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

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

About Sterling

Sterling operates through a variety of subsidiaries within three segments specializing in E-Infrastructure, Transportation and Building Solutions in the United States (the “U.S.”), primarily across the Southern, Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic and the Rocky Mountain States, California and Hawaii, as well as other areas with strategic construction opportunities. E-Infrastructure Solutions projects develop advanced, large-scale site development systems and services for data centers, e-commerce distribution centers, warehousing, transportation, energy and more. Transportation Solutions includes infrastructure and rehabilitation projects for highways, roads, bridges, airports, ports, light rail, water, wastewater and storm drainage systems. Building Solutions projects include residential and commercial concrete foundations for single-family and multi-family homes, parking structures, elevated slabs and other concrete work. From strategy to operations, we are committed to sustainability by operating responsibly to safeguard and improve society’s quality of life. Caring for our people and our communities, our customers and our investors – that is The Sterling Way.

Joe Cutillo, CEO, “We build and service the infrastructure that enables our economy to run, our people to move and our country to grow.”

Important Information for Investors and Stockholders

Non-GAAP Measures

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

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

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

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

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

(1) The Company defines EBITDA as GAAP net income attributable to Sterling common stockholders, adjusted for depreciation and amortization, net interest expense, taxes, and net gain on extinguishment of debt.

(1) The Company defines EBITDA as GAAP net income attributable to Sterling common stockholders, adjusted for depreciation and amortization, net interest expense, taxes, and net gain on extinguishment of debt.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220801005723/en/