Quanta Services (PWR) Tops Q3 Estimates as Backlog Hits a Record $64 Billion

Quanta Services (PWR) reported third-quarter revenue of $12.01 billion, up 57% from $7.63 billion a year earlier and well ahead of analyst estimates of $10.9 billion to $11.04 billion, according to 247 Wall St and GuruFocus. Adjusted earnings of $6.06 a share, up 82%, beat the roughly $5.00 consensus by about 20%; GuruFocus put the S&P Global consensus at $5.03. The results came out before the market opened on Thursday, and the stock rose 4.7% that day to close at $635.18.

Some of that gain came back on Friday. Quanta was down 4.1% at $609.00 as of 9:31 a.m. ET.

What stood out

The order book is the story. Quanta builds and maintains power lines, substations, and other grid equipment for utilities, and its backlog, the work customers have signed up for but Quanta hasn’t done yet, reached a record $63.7 billion at the end of September. That was about $10 billion more than three months earlier, according to the release and the call.

Management said on the call that the backlog doesn’t yet include large 765-kilovolt transmission projects in Texas, Ohio, and the MISO grid region, or several large power generation projects. Quanta said in its quarterly filing that utility demand is being driven by rising electricity use tied in part to data centers.

Profit grew faster than revenue. Adjusted EBITDA, a measure of operating profit before interest, taxes, and depreciation, rose 69% to $1.45 billion, and the margin widened to 12.1%, according to the release and GuruFocus.

The outlook

Quanta raised its 2026 forecast to revenue of $41.3 billion to $41.6 billion, $1.9 billion more at the midpoint than before, and adjusted earnings of $17.90 to $18.30 a share. Management said on the call that it sees room for strong double-digit growth in adjusted earnings per share in 2027 as the backlog keeps growing.

Thursday’s 4.7% rise came a day after a 4.8% gain on Wednesday. Quanta has moved 5% or more on 18 of the last 252 sessions, and it went into Friday up 50.5% this year but 19.1% below its 52-week closing high of $785.24 from 6 May.

Our take

This was a clean beat on every line, and a $10 billion jump in backlog in one quarter says the grid build-out tied to data centers is still accelerating. Friday’s dip followed a 50% run this year and two strong days, and we found no fresh news behind it. Next quarter we’d watch whether the big transmission projects management flagged turn into signed backlog.