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Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (NYSE: STRL)—the company formerly known as Sterling Construction Company—reported 90% year-over-year revenue growth and $5.80 in adjusted diluted EPS for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. Its Form 10-Q reported GAAP diluted EPS of $5.00. The distinction matters: adjusted earnings, GAAP results, backlog and unsigned awards measure different things. For a useful assessment, start with the latest filing, separate contracted work from potential awards, then examine segment trends and execution risks.
Start with the latest filings, not the company name alone
Search for Sterling Infrastructure, Inc., ticker STRL, in current filings and investor materials. The company’s earlier name was Sterling Construction Company, which explains why older references and the topic phrase may use “Sterling Construction.” It currently reports three operating segments: E-Infrastructure Solutions, Transportation Solutions and Building Solutions.
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- Open the company’s Investor Relations Financials page and locate the newest quarterly and annual filings.
- Read the latest Form 10-Q for GAAP results, segment performance, cash flow, debt and the current backlog disclosures.
- Use the Form 10-K for the business description, accounting context, annual trends and enduring risk factors.
- Read the earnings release alongside the filings. It gives management’s framing, guidance and adjusted measures; check non-GAAP measures against the release’s reconciliations and the filed GAAP statements.
- Before comparing periods, check what changed in acquisitions, deconsolidations and the company’s definitions of backlog.
The latest figures below are from Sterling’s Q2 2026 release and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. The annual baseline is the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.
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What Sterling reported in Q2 2026
For the three months ended June 30, 2026, the company reported 90% year-over-year revenue growth, approximately 50% organic growth, adjusted EBITDA margins of 22% and adjusted diluted EPS of $5.80. Those growth and adjusted figures are from the August 3, 2026 earnings release; adjusted EPS and EBITDA are non-GAAP measures, so use the release’s reconciliation when evaluating them.
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The Form 10-Q gives the GAAP comparison: diluted EPS was $5.00 for Q2 2026, versus $2.31 for Q2 2025. For the six months ended June 30, 2026, GAAP diluted EPS was $8.09, versus $3.59 in the first half of 2025. Do not compare those GAAP figures as if they were the release’s adjusted EPS figures.
Following the quarter, Sterling raised its full-year 2026 expectations. These are guidance, not reported results:
| 2026 company guidance after Q2 | Range | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.00 billion–$4.15 billion | Company expectation |
| Diluted EPS | $17.25–$17.85 | GAAP |
| Adjusted diluted EPS | $19.70–$20.30 | Non-GAAP |
Acquisitions contributed to the growth: the release identifies CEC and Stone Ridge, and the 10-Q describes substantial acquired electrical and mechanical business contributions to E-Infrastructure revenue. The reported total increase is therefore not attributable to organic growth alone; keep the company’s approximately 50% organic-growth figure distinct from overall growth.
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At June 30, 2026, Sterling reported $4.23 billion of remaining performance obligations (RPOs) and $100.0 million of master service agreements (MSAs), totaling $4.33 billion in backlog. It separately reported $1.28 billion in unsigned awards. The company’s “combined backlog” adds those unsigned awards to backlog, producing $5.62 billion.
| Measure | June 30, 2026 | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| RPOs | $4.23 billion | Remaining performance obligations on projects |
| MSAs | $100.0 million | Estimated orders from master service agreements included in the company’s backlog measure |
| Backlog | $4.33 billion | RPOs plus MSAs |
| Unsigned awards | $1.28 billion | Apparent-low-bid contracts not yet formally executed by the customer |
| Combined backlog | $5.62 billion | Backlog plus unsigned awards |
Sterling defines backlog as future revenue it expects to recognize from contract commitments. Typical completion takes six to 36 months, but that range is not a promise that all listed work will be completed or recognized on a particular schedule. Unsigned awards remain outside backlog until a customer formally executes the contract. Some Building Solutions revenue is recognized at a point in time upon completion and is never included in backlog.
Accordingly, backlog is an indicator of contracted work and management visibility—not guaranteed revenue, timing or profit. Combined backlog includes unsigned work and should not be treated as equivalent to executed contractual obligations.
Compare backlog periods on a consistent basis
At December 31, 2025, Sterling reported $3.01 billion in backlog and $300.7 million in unsigned awards, or $3.31 billion combined. The Q2 2026 filing says the backlog measure was expanded to include estimated orders from MSAs following the Stone Ridge acquisition. That basis change affects comparisons with the earlier figure.
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For the six months ended June 30, 2026, book-to-burn was 1.7x for backlog and 2.3x for combined backlog. For full-year 2025, Sterling reported 1.6x for backlog and 1.7x for combined backlog. These ratios describe bookings relative to work burned through during their respective periods; the measures are not interchangeable, and the periods differ.
Backlog margin is not a forecast of company-wide margin
Sterling reported a company-defined gross margin embedded in year-end 2025 backlog of 17.8%, versus 16.7% at year-end 2024. This is a margin measure for backlog, not a forecast of consolidated results. The 2025 Form 10-K says substantially all backlog was on fixed-unit-price or lump-sum terms. Under those arrangements, estimating mistakes, unexpected site conditions, changes in labor or material costs, subcontractor performance, delays and contract modifications can change the economics ultimately realized.
Read the three segments separately
Consolidated growth can conceal very different business conditions. Sterling’s Q2 2026 results showed a sharp contrast between E-Infrastructure’s expansion and declines in Transportation and Building Solutions.
| Segment | Q2 2026 revenue trend year over year | Other reported context |
|---|---|---|
| E-Infrastructure Solutions | Up 192% | Growth reflected existing operations and acquired electrical and mechanical work. Mission-critical projects—including data centers, manufacturing and semiconductor facilities—accounted for 92% of segment backlog at quarter-end. |
| Transportation Solutions | Down 20% | Adjusted operating income rose 8%. Management said the revenue decline partly reflected shifting resources from transportation projects toward higher-margin E-Infrastructure opportunities. |
| Building Solutions | Down about 1% | The company cited relatively flat homebuilder activity and pressure from housing affordability. |
The segment picture suggests different questions for an investor or analyst to investigate: whether E-Infrastructure’s expansion can be executed profitably, whether Transportation’s lower revenue reflects a deliberate resource shift or weaker demand, and how housing conditions affect Building Solutions. The 92% mission-critical share of E-Infrastructure backlog also indicates concentration in those end markets: it is both a source of opportunity and an exposure to their project demand.
Risks that can affect earnings and backlog conversion
Sterling’s 2025 Form 10-K identifies the following exposures. These are company-disclosed risks, not predictions that any one will occur.
- Project execution and cost risk: estimating and bidding errors, site conditions that differ from assumptions, materials, fuel or labor cost increases, subcontractor performance, delays and contract changes can affect fixed-price project economics.
- Demand and customer cycles: economic downturns, customer spending changes and competition can reduce bidding activity or awards. Mission-critical construction demand, public-project funding and homebuilding activity have distinct cycles.
- Public funding and policy: changes in government budgets or funding can affect transportation work; trade-policy shifts and tariffs can change input costs.
- Financial and cash-flow timing: interest-rate changes may affect financing costs. The Q2 2026 filing says collections on receivables, contract assets and liabilities, and payment timing influence contract capital and operating cash flows.
- Weather and seasonality: conditions can disrupt schedules and the timing of work.
- Customer concentration and joint ventures: dependence on particular customers and the performance of joint-venture partners can affect results.
The Q2 2026 filing reported $285.0 million of variable-rate debt at June 30, 2026, and states that the term loan was repaid on July 2, 2026. The June 30 balance is therefore a dated snapshot, not a description of debt remaining after that repayment.
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Two corporate changes affect comparisons. First, RHB was deconsolidated on December 31, 2024; its revenue and backlog are excluded from Sterling’s consolidated 2025 results and subsequent backlog figures. Second, CEC and later acquisitions affect reported growth, including the acquired contribution to Q2 2026 E-Infrastructure revenue. Alongside the MSA-related backlog-definition change, these mean headline year-over-year percentages and backlog totals should be read with their stated bases, not assumed to reflect an unchanged portfolio and definition.
For context, the 2025 Annual Report reported $2.49 billion in revenue, $290 million in net income and adjusted diluted EPS of $10.88. The EPS figure is non-GAAP. These annual figures provide a baseline, but they do not by themselves establish a like-for-like comparison with 2026 after acquisitions and the portfolio changes described above.
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- Use the 10-Q for reported GAAP performance and current financial and backlog details; use the earnings release for guidance and adjusted measures, checking its reconciliations.
- Keep RPOs, MSAs, backlog, unsigned awards and combined backlog distinct. Do not count an apparent-low-bid award as contracted backlog before execution.
- Compare segment revenue alongside operating income, backlog mix and the demand cycles each segment serves; separate organic growth from acquired contributions where the company reports them.
- Test the backlog narrative against fixed-price execution risks, customer and end-market concentration, cash-flow timing and the company’s disclosed risk factors.
- When comparing dates, account for acquisitions, RHB’s deconsolidation and Sterling’s expanded MSA backlog measure.
Primary sources: Sterling Infrastructure 2025 Form 10-K; Q2 2026 earnings release, August 3, 2026; Sterling Infrastructure Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026; Investor Relations Financials archive.
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