Tutor Perini sees $200 billion in bids ahead and says data centers aren't its focus

The Los Angeles heavy civil contractor reported results on Nov. 4. Backlog was $20.4 billion, below the record $21.6 billion a year earlier but up from $19.9 billion at the end of June, Construction Dive reported. Net income rose to $20.7 million from $3.6 million. The quarter brought $2.2 billion in new awards and contract changes, including $1 billion of added work on a civil project, $577 million of federal building awards for Perini Management Services and $126 million of Midwest bridge work for Lunda Construction.

Asked on the earnings call about data centers, Smalley said the company had booked about $70 million of that work, 0.2% of backlog. Tutor Perini could take on more, he said, but with so much traditional work in its pipeline it sees no reason to, and it will not make that market a priority.

The company raised its 2026 adjusted earnings guidance to $5.90 to $6.10 a share, from $5.15 to $5.45, and said over three-quarters of the revenue it expects in 2027 is already booked. Bids Smalley named include the first contract of the roughly $12 billion Sepulveda Transit Corridor in Southern California, the Merced-Madera stretch of California high-speed rail, Newark airport's $3 billion Terminal B and a $1.2 billion Newark Bay Bridge job. Its Black Construction unit is chasing over $4.6 billion in work across the Indo-Pacific.

Smalley said most of the firm's civil work is paid for by state and local money, and its 2027 outlook assumes no new federal funding. The stopgap extension of funding under the federal infrastructure law (IIJA) runs out Dec. 11, Construction Dive noted. Smalley said the midterm results may add momentum for a new transportation bill.