Fluor Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 7, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Fluor secured more than $6 billion in Q2 awards, lifting backlog to $26.9 billion and supporting expectations for a full-year book-to-bill ratio well above one. Awards spanned nuclear fuels, mining, fertilizers, LNG, infrastructure, and other end markets.
  • Positive Sentiment: Q2 revenue rose 9% year over year to $4.3 billion, while adjusted EBITDA increased to $149 million from $96 million and adjusted EPS reached $0.91 versus $0.43. Management raised or maintained key expectations, including adjusted EBITDA of $500 million-$525 million, EPS of $2.70-$2.80, and operating cash flow of $300 million-$320 million.
  • Negative Sentiment: Urban Solutions recorded an additional $44 million loss on the Gordie Howe project, reflecting foreign-exchange effects, a subcontractor bankruptcy, and client-driven changes. Fluor still expects up to $94 million of additional funding for remaining loss projects, although the company believes those payments could be completed in Q3.
  • Positive Sentiment: Fluor is positioning for longer-term growth in nuclear, domestic gas-fired power, data-center-related infrastructure, mining and metals, and government services. The Centrus fuel-enrichment award should contribute some revenue in 2026, with heavier contribution expected in 2027 and beyond.
  • Positive Sentiment: The company sold its Mexican joint-venture interest for $175 million, generating a $90 million pretax book gain and strengthening liquidity. Fluor ended July with approximately $3.2 billion in cash and repurchased 6 million shares for $300 million in Q2, while retaining a full-year repurchase target of $1.4 billion.
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Earnings Conference Call
Fluor Q2 2026
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Operator

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to Fluor's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow management's presentation. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. A replay of today's conference call will be available at approximately 10:30 A.M. Eastern Time today, accessible on Fluor's website at investor.fluor.com. The web replay will be available for 30 days. At this time, for opening remarks, I would like to turn the call over to Jason Landkamer, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Mr. Landkamer.

Jason Landkamer
Jason Landkamer
VP of Investor Relations at Fluor

Thank you, Jade. Good morning, and welcome to Fluor's 2026 second quarter earnings call. Jim Breuer, Fluor's Chief Executive Officer, and John Regan, Fluor's Chief Financial Officer, are with us today. Fluor issued its second quarter earnings release earlier this morning, and a slide presentation is posted on our website that we will reference while making prepared remarks. Before getting started, I would like to refer to our safe harbor note regarding today's forward-looking statements, which is summarized on slide two. During today's presentation, we will be making forward-looking statements which reflect our current analysis of existing trends and information. There is an inherent risk that actual results and experience could differ materially. You can find a discussion of our risk factors, which could potentially contribute to such differences, in our 2025 Form 10-K and in our Form 10-Q, which was filed earlier today.

Jason Landkamer
Jason Landkamer
VP of Investor Relations at Fluor

During this call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these amounts to the comparable GAAP measures are reflected in today's slide presentation and posted in the investor relations section of our website at investor.fluor.com. I will now turn the call over to Jim Breuer, Fluor's Chief Executive Officer. Jim?

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Thank you, Jason, and good morning, everyone. I will start by reviewing some highlights from the quarter. Please turn to slide three. First, as we previewed on our call in Q1, the pull-through capture of our prospect pipeline is taking flight. New awards for the quarter were strong at over $6 billion, and backlog grew to almost $27 billion. These figures support a book-to-bill ratio above 1 for the full year. We didn't expect some of these awards until the back half of the year, so it's a positive outcome that our clients are accelerating these decisions. Second, and equally important, this growth is coming from a range of end markets. Clients are choosing Fluor for our ability to deliver large, complex projects. Third, in the quarter, we completed two legacy infrastructure projects and expect the other two remaining projects to complete by the end of the year.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Finally, with the award of the Centrus fuel enrichment project, Fluor continues to build its presence in the nuclear value chain. I will expand my thoughts on this in a moment. Turning to slide four. Last quarter, I discussed our prospect pipeline and the work required to mature these opportunities into full EPC awards, which then drive backlog and EBITDA. This quarter, we had significant front-end work translate into full EPC programs supporting nuclear fuels, fertilizers, copper, and midstream. This is shown in the dark blue area of the chart. Furthermore, as these front-end projects graduate to EPC status, we are replenishing the pipeline with new front-end opportunities in our target markets. Shown in the lighter blue, these opportunities include fertilizers in the U.K., data center work, copper in the Americas, domestic refining, nuclear power, chemicals in the Middle East, and LNG.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

We are leaning into these growth markets and investing time and effort with our clients during the planning phase to set projects up for success once they are fully funded and released. Turning to slide five. Urban Solutions continues to contribute a majority of our revenue and will drive further growth over the next several quarters. In Mining & Metals, our clients have signaled more robust capital spending over the next 18 months. Our in-house M&M pipeline includes nearly $30 billion of potential awards in this timeframe, and we expect to capture a significant amount of these opportunities. In infrastructure, we've had an active quarter. On the LBJ Project, all main lanes, toll lanes, and side roads have been turned over to TxDOT. We also completed the Oak Hill Parkway in Texas, the Red Purple Line elevated rail project in Chicago, and the Gordie Howe International Bridge.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

The bridge opened to traffic on July 27th. During the quarter, results for this project were impacted by the effects of foreign currency fluctuation, the bankruptcy of one of our subcontractors, and client-driven changes. We continue to work collaboratively with the client, our partners, and subcontractors to resolve the remaining commercial matters. For the quarter, Urban Solutions new awards were $3.2 billion and include construction management for a copper mine in Chile, a feasibility study for Anglo's fertilizer project in the U.K., an expanded scope for a fertilizer project in Canada, additional scope on a life sciences project in the U.S., and an infrastructure project in Europe. Looking ahead to our prospect pipeline, we're well-positioned for new life sciences work, a rare earth magnet facility, two copper projects in South America, and an aluminum rolling mill for an existing client in the Middle East.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

We're also advancing work for TeraWulf and their data center in Kentucky. On a limited release basis, we're currently providing project management and engineering services and are working towards finalizing the commercial terms of the EPC contract. Moving to slide six. In Energy Solutions, as you know, we have closed out several mega projects in recent months. We're now executing front-end work that we booked over the past few quarters, which will support the next wave of EPC projects. Starting with power, demand for electricity generation continues to build, driven by data center growth, industrial expansion, and broader electrification. That demand is creating a meaningful set of opportunities in domestic gas-fueled power, where clients are engaging us and seeking to advance work under reasonable commercial terms.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

We are working on a front-end basis for a combined cycle project on the East Coast. We recently submitted our proposal to another client for two single-cycle projects in the Midwest. We're also advancing a standardized combined cycle design for a third client. These collective efforts will support meaningful growth in our backlog in the first half of 2027. In nuclear, we're progressing the FEED work for the X-energy Dow project and are preparing a detailed cost estimate for the Cernavoda project in Romania. We're also in discussions with SMR and traditional nuclear technology providers for several opportunities. In the oil and gas space, we recently signed a long-term agreement with Aramco. This contract positions Fluor to support a broad portfolio of capital projects around the globe and extends our decades-long relationship with this important client.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Last month, we announced the sale of our equity in the Mexican joint venture for $175 million. Over the past 30+ years, our joint venture completed numerous projects across Mexico's oil and gas, power, mining, and manufacturing markets. We are grateful to our partner and to our employees for the tremendous successes we shared. We are proud of the legacy we have built together. Given our current strategic priorities and the expected capital spending cycle in Mexico for the rest of the decade, we determined it was the right time to conclude this joint venture. This step gives our former partner more autonomy to pursue opportunities independently. For Fluor, it sharpens our focus on our targeted growth areas and bolsters our liquidity further. New awards for the quarter include the limited notice to proceed for Phase 2 of the LNG Canada project.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

This award enables early planning and advances key activities in support of the client's proposed final investment decision expected later this year. We also started execution of a FEED package for a new aromatics facility in Bahrain and booked a gas compression project for a West Coast client. Over the next few quarters, we are positioning for front-end work in the Canadian oil sands. We're seeing a notable uptick for front-end refinery work domestically that could translate into EPC work in 2027 and 2028. With regards to the Middle East, we continue to monitor the evolving situation. The well-being of our employees and their families continues to be our highest priority. We have been able to execute the work in backlog without significant disruption.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

We remain engaged with our clients on additional opportunities and are well-positioned to support them once the situation stabilizes and they're ready to move forward. Turning to slide seven. Mission Solutions continues to work for the Departments of Energy and War while expanding into additional EPC opportunities. During the quarter, we received an additional task order to support Operation Epic Fury and an extension to an intelligence services contract. When combined with a two-year extension received last month, every ongoing intelligence contract in our portfolio has been extended this year. Prospects for the next few quarters include the rebid for the Savannah River program. As a reminder, under the rebid, the M&O scope and the Plutonium Pit project will be combined. Our proposal is in. We're confident in our value proposition.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

While we anticipate a decision early next year, we do expect a six-month extension for our current work at this site later this year. Finally, during the quarter, we booked an award on the Centrus fuel enrichment facility. This significant award demonstrates our ability to apply our project delivery experience to the combined mission of national security and energy independence. While we're on the topic of nuclear, and before I turn the call over to John, I'd like to expand on our broader nuclear offering and how it supports our growth strategy. Please turn to slide eight. Fluor's experience spans the full life cycle of the industry, including commercial power generation, plant operation and maintenance, SMRs, nuclear fuels, national security, lab management, decontamination, and decommissioning. Starting with conventional power gen, Fluor has performed design or construction work on 21 nuclear power plants.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Beyond initial construction, we have supported ongoing operation of the domestic nuclear fleet through maintenance, outage, and operational services at more than 90 reactors nationwide. Internationally, we're currently executing front-end development work for a two-reactor expansion at an existing power gen station in Europe. In SMR technology, we continue to build capability across multiple platforms, including NuScale, X-energy, and a third technology partner, which we hope to unveil in the near future. Across nuclear fuels, Fluor is helping expand uranium enrichment capability in the U.S. with our recent award. This work complements decades of experience spanning uranium mining, conversion, and enrichment. In national security and site management, Fluor supports some of the nation's most critical nuclear security and strategic infrastructure programs across DOE and NNSA sites.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Finally, in environmental cleanup and decommissioning, Fluor has led some of the world's largest and most complex nuclear remediation, waste management, and site closure programs. Taken together, Fluor has meaningful experience across the full nuclear value chain. As global investment in nuclear infrastructure accelerates in the coming years, we believe this capability will continue to create attractive opportunities for us. I'll now turn the call over to John for a financial update.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Thanks, Jim, good morning, everyone. Today, I want to spend some time covering a few topics, namely Q2 results, the divestiture of our JV in Mexico, and our updated 2026 guidance, including the capital returns expected in the second half. Please turn to slide 10. For the second quarter, revenue was $4.3 billion, up 9% from a year ago, as we saw strong execution across our portfolio. This also drove adjusted EBITDA to $149 million, compared to $96 million a year ago. Q2 adjusted EPS was $0.91, compared with $0.43 last year. Ending backlog was $26.9 billion and reflects our sizable Q2 awards and the removal of just over $650 million of backlog related to our now former JV in Mexico. We decided to remove the backlog preemptively, even though we didn't close the sale until Q3.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

I hope this kind of transparency helps our investors better digest the impact of our portfolio decisions. From a legacy project perspective, the remaining backlog decreased to $120 million at the end of Q2 and will continue to wane across the back half of 2026. Let's review our business segments starting on slide 11. Urban Solutions reported a Q2 segment profit of $38 million, compared to $29 million a year ago. Profits did include $44 million in additional losses on the Gordie Howe project, which stem from the factors Jim discussed earlier. Energy Solutions reported a segment profit of $88 million, compared to only $15 million a year ago, largely arising from higher contributions on projects nearing completion. This evidences the high quality of our closeout efforts on these projects.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Mission Solutions had a segment profit of $44 million versus $35 million last year, driven primarily by improved fee performance across our DOE portfolio. Let's move to slide 12. We ended Q2 with $3 billion in cash and cash equivalents, compared to $3.2 billion at March 31st, meaning we have robust liquidity to support continued share repurchases and pursue inorganic opportunities. Looking ahead to July 31, that cash balance has seen a slight increase back to $3.2 billion. As reported, operating cash flow for the quarter was a -$317 million. This includes a tax payment of $357 million associated with the conversion of our NuScale shares in 2025. The result without the tax effects would have been $40 million of positive OCF on a more normalized basis.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

As a reminder, we had signaled the tax payment since Q4 of last year, so it should come as no surprise. As it relates to our loss projects, having completed $96 million in Q2 funding, including $43 million reflected inside of OCF, we only see an additional $94 million in future funding, all of which could be concluded in Q3. We certainly have the liquidity to make those payments now, but we don't complete the funding until our partners also fund. It will be momentous to put this execution chapter behind us. As Jim mentioned, in July, we sold out of our JV in Mexico for $175 million. This triggers a pre-tax book gain of $90 million and a tax payment of $33 million, which we funded earlier this month.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Through the end of the decade, we saw diminishing backlog and limited prospects, so it made sense for both parties to pursue other opportunities aligned to our different growth strategies. Turning to our revised guidance on slide 13, I want to walk you through the components of our EBITDA bridge from our previous midpoint to our new target. First, we have incorporated the foregone profit of about $23 million in the second half of the year that would've been generated by our former JV in Mexico. This makes the comparable starting point $519 million. By laying this out, we're trying to provide more of that heightened transparency. Second, we are managing the remaining impact from our lost contracts. The good news is that with the Gordie and LBJ projects now complete, we can focus our remaining efforts on completing LAX and I-35 Phase 2 by the end of this year.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Third, we continue to see improved performance across our portfolio with segments delivering at or above expectations in most cases. Fourth, despite the continued hostilities in the Middle East, we saw no impact to our guidance directly related to the conflict. We do continue to evaluate the implications for our clients and any residual impacts on our supply chain efforts across the existing portfolio. While the region remains a source of uncertainty, our Q2 new awards demonstrate confidence from clients generally moving forward with capital projects outside the region. Turning to slide 14. With these considerations, our revised adjusted EBITDA guidance is $500 million-$525 million, which implies an adjusted EPS range between $2.70-$2.80 at our current repurchase tempo.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Our key full year assumptions are outlined on the slide, including an adjusted operating cash flow guide of $300 million-$320 million, which exclude the Q2 tax payment directly related to NuScale and the Q3 tax payment for our JV sale, both of which represent the tax bill on transactions reported within investing cash flow. I'll point out this is a slight raise to our earlier guidance. We expect a new awards book-to-burn ratio well above one. G&A of $170 million-$180 million, excluding up to $15 million across the full year for a potential replacement of our ERP and for other technology enhancements. An assumed tax rate of 28%-30%, which includes the effect of taxes for the Q3 sale of our Mexican JV. A revenue split of approximately 65% urban, 20% energy, and 15% mission, which is unchanged from our May guide.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Assuming these splits, as reported full year segment margin expectations are 2.5%-3% in urban, 6%-7% in energy, and 6% in mission. As we outlined last quarter, our capital allocation priorities remain centered on returning meaningful value to shareholders while preserving flexibility to invest in our own business. In the second quarter, we continued to execute against that framework, repurchasing 6 million shares and deploying $300 million. We still model $1.4 billion of repurchases for all of 2026. Beyond the share repurchases, we will seek to drive long-term growth in our chosen end markets. This includes continued investment in our capabilities, systems, and people. It also considers a disciplined evaluation of inorganic opportunities in selected growth markets that are aligned to our strategic objectives. As we reflect on the quarter, our core business remains healthy.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

We delivered strong awards in the quarter, we have taken decisive steps to further simplify the portfolio, complete our legacy projects, and put capital to work in ways that support long-term growth. With that, operator, let's open the line for questions.

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question, and if you're muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Jamie Cook from Truist. Please go ahead.

Jamie Cook
Jamie Cook
Analyst at Truist

Hi, good morning. I guess my two questions. One, obviously we had the favorable closeout in Energy Solutions. John, just any way you can help us think about the underlying profitability of that business, excluding the favorable closeout, understanding that's good that you guys got the favorable closeout. Just any help there so we can think about normalized margins. Then I guess my second question, Jim, it was nice to see the $6.1 billion in new awards. Obviously, things are moving quicker than you had anticipated. That's a positive. How are you thinking about the book-to-bill? I'm just wondering, given what we saw in the first quarter, are you seeing any other projects move forward at a more rapid pace than you initially expected versus last year? Does that contribute at all to the 2026 guidance? Thank you.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Yeah. Maybe I'll start on the closeout. Energy has been in a space where some of their mega projects have been drawing to conclusion. When we generally refer to closeout efforts, we are talking about subcontractor settlements. We are talking about warranty satisfaction. The closeout efforts themselves really represent profits that could have been recognized theoretically earlier in the process. That said, those efforts did contribute meaningfully to Energy Solutions in the quarter. Looking ahead to the back half of the year, you do see some diminution in the PGM or the segment profit percentage in Energy Solutions as they begin to reload their business with things like maybe a large LNG project and with some of the power opportunities that Jim talked about.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

What you'll see in the back half of the year is a shift in the portfolio whereby Urban Solutions is more meaningfully contributing to the absolute quantum of EBITDA, as opposed to Energy Solutions. It'll be a slight inversion to what we saw in the first half of the year.

Jamie Cook
Jamie Cook
Analyst at Truist

John, just one clarification. Sorry, one clarification, John. Was the favorable closeouts embedded in your original guidance? I wanted to thank you on the EBITDA bridge for guidance. That was very helpful.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Thank you. Yeah, I would say in large part, yes, those closeout efforts were part of our original guide. It may be just an acceleration.

Jamie Cook
Jamie Cook
Analyst at Truist

Okay.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

From back half or maybe from third quarter specifically coming back into the first half.

Jamie Cook
Jamie Cook
Analyst at Truist

Okay. Thanks. Go ahead, Jim, on the new awards.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

On the new awards, we are very pleased with the 6.1 in Q2. The prospects that we're tracking for Q3 and Q4 are looking very good, whether it's LNG or it's copper, or it's rare earth magnets. There's a big data center prospect. It's always a little challenging for us to predict the exact timing of these full releases. I will tell you that we have enough resilience in that plan that we feel very good about a book-to-bill well above 1. I don't know that I see a trend in many of them being accelerated, but I feel pretty good about a pretty good book-to-bill ratio by the end of the year.

Jamie Cook
Jamie Cook
Analyst at Truist

Now we're saying well above 1 versus above 1?

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

We did say that, yes.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

That's what we have said, yes.

Jamie Cook
Jamie Cook
Analyst at Truist

Okay. Well above. Okay. All right. Thank you. I'll get back in queue. I appreciate the call.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Andy Kaplowitz from Citigroup. Please go ahead.

Andy Kaplowitz
Andy Kaplowitz
Analyst at Citigroup

Good morning, everyone.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Good morning, Andy.

Andy Kaplowitz
Andy Kaplowitz
Analyst at Citigroup

Jim and John, it's good to see the progress on the legacy projects. I think that backlog is now only at $119 million. Maybe you can just update us on where you are on the remaining projects, and particularly the mining project. It seems like no news is good news. Maybe talk about percent complete there and how that's progressing.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Thanks, Andy. I'll take that. The project continues to advance. We have already started handing over early portions of the project to the client, and we'll continue to do so throughout this year. Now, that being said, we're working with the client on some additional scope items, Andy, that once agreed, would likely impact the timing and the schedule of the project. We've made some good progress in certain areas. Some other areas we need to resolve with the client to further advance them.

Andy Kaplowitz
Andy Kaplowitz
Analyst at Citigroup

Okay. When would we find out about that scope changes?

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Conversations are ongoing. I would say it would take a couple of months to resolve that.

Andy Kaplowitz
Andy Kaplowitz
Analyst at Citigroup

Got it. Jim, maybe just sort of backing up and I'll call it sort of the data center ecosystem projects. You sound more positive on the power projects, more customers. Obviously there's TeraWulf, and I guess I'll include the Magnum facility in the U.S. on that. Do you sense that there's just a wider variety of projects that you can get on your terms, and what does that mean over the next few quarters for your bookings and your potential earnings?

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

That's right, Andy. We see power to be the best play for us in the whole data center ecosystem, and we made some great progress in recent months. I mentioned in my prepared remarks several projects we're working on the front end with various clients, not just with one client. We're advancing these projects nicely towards an EPC negotiation and award. We're doing it in a methodical way, and we don't want to convert to lump sum until we can properly understand and price the risk. My sense is that these things will happen first half of next year. That's why we're saying these front-end activities are going to lead to meaningful awards first half of next year. Around data centers, we are working very closely with the one client for the data center in Kentucky.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

We are looking at other opportunities, as we said before, many of those projects don't quite match our selectivity and our sweet spot. We will continue to look at the data center market selectively, and if we can find the right opportunity, we'll go after it with full force. Power, number one. Data centers, number two.

Andy Kaplowitz
Andy Kaplowitz
Analyst at Citigroup

Appreciate it.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Thanks, Andy.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Sangita Jain from KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Sangita Jain
Sangita Jain
Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets

Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. If I can start with the Centrus booking first. Can you walk us through when we should start to see that project burn in revenue for you and what the margin profile would look like versus your current MS margin?

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Let me start with the timing of the project. We have been working on that project, Sangita, for at least six months. In the early phases, we took the bigger award in Q2. We have a full team, several hundred people working on that. We have started some early procurement. Because this is a percent of cost completion, the margin take-up is a function of the procurement and the construction. We're going to see some of it this year.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Yep.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

I think the heavier side of it, we're going to see next year and beyond.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

That's right. Sangita, maybe I'll say that when you look at the EBITDA bridge that were in the prepared materials, certainly, the Centrus Award is part of that pull-forward effect that is giving rise to, I think what was a gray bar in there. The pull-forward effect of Q2 new awards was really important. Closeout effects were certainly a factor there. As a part of the overall bridge, that pull-through was a part of it.

Sangita Jain
Sangita Jain
Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets

Got it. On the new EBITDA guide, I just want to see if you're including any probability-adjusted potential charges on the mining project that Andy referenced earlier or LAX or LBJ or vice versa, if there are any positives there.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Maybe I'll somewhat evasively answer the question. We're not going to get into the mechanics of exactly how we develop the guidance range, but we are looking across the portfolio and looking at our risk-adjusted outcome suite on those. I would say we feel pretty comfortable of the landing spot that we printed this morning.

Sangita Jain
Sangita Jain
Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets

Perfect. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Michael Dudas from Vertical Research. Please go ahead.

Michael Dudas
Michael Dudas
Analyst at Vertical Research

I'll take that. Good morning, Jason, Jim, and John.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Good morning.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Good morning, Michael.

Michael Dudas
Michael Dudas
Analyst at Vertical Research

Maybe Jim, again, encouraging on the bookings. Seems like we're going to get some more here in the second half into 2027 of a good pace. Are you sure what the margins, the as-sold margins coming into the backlog of these suites of projects, more of the EPC relative to some of the FEED, relative to what we've seen booked maybe over the last 6-12 months? Is that de-risked and is the terms and conditions on these contracts leading to more visible profit pickup as you move through the cycle?

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Yeah, Mike. Not only are we encouraged by the revenue side of these new awards, but we're also very pleased to see that margins continue to tick up in our new awards compared to what we had in backlog. It's an encouraging trend. Overwhelmingly, the awards were on the reimbursable side. Even then, the margins are ticking up. That is a combination of very selective commercial negotiations, which is us pursuing projects where we think we can add value and the client recognizes that. Now, as we take on some lump sum work in the future, whether it's in LNG or power, you would also expect those margins to be higher. We're making sure that those estimates have enough contingency in there so that we protect our margin well. That's part of the smart lump sum strategy.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

My hope and my plan, Mike, is to continue to drive margin up in the backlog. As that backlog grows, we had a good step in this quarter, we need more of that. We need to continue to see backlog growth in the next few quarters. As that happens, I think you'll start seeing that margin translate into the income statement.

Michael Dudas
Michael Dudas
Analyst at Vertical Research

Excellent. Appreciate that. John, you mentioned with the significant cash balance and the profile you have, you're starting to sharpen up a little bit more on inorganic opportunities. I'm wondering if you could share a little bit about early stage, what do you think, what do you need, and since we haven't had many acquisitions before for the last several years, the process, development team, and what we should be thinking about on size and kind of what skill sets you need in your now new asset-light business, I guess.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Yeah. Well, it won't be heavy steel business. I'm confident we can say that. Look, I think whatever we're looking at is certainly aligned to our strategic end markets. That's going to mean power, mining, government services, particularly those that feature security clearance, and then certainly in the life sciences pharma space. In terms of size, that is kind of the art of the deal behind the curtain. We certainly feel like management has the bandwidth and the breadth of resources necessary to pull those across the finish line. I think you'll understand that we can't really talk much more about specifics on anything until we have a deal in hand.

Michael Dudas
Michael Dudas
Analyst at Vertical Research

Excellent. Appreciate that. Thanks, gentlemen.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Yeah, thanks, Mike.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Thanks, Mike.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Andy Wittmann from Baird. Please go ahead.

Andy Wittmann
Andy Wittmann
Analyst at Baird

Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Jim, I wanted to ask about the mining. The press release talks about how some of your metals and mining revenue is starting to ramp and your comments about $30 billion of relatively nearer-term opportunities. I was hoping you could drill into that a little bit more. Do all these $30 billion have you guys listed as the FEED agent on this one? And I'm guessing that's what gave you the confidence. What is it going to take for some of these to actually wind up as final investment decisions? Do these need governmental approvals, other permitting, things like that? What should we be looking for? And then also, I'd be kind of curious as to where the margin profile on these jobs and risk profiles stand. Thanks.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Thank you, Andy. Happy to answer the question. Yeah, we did say in remarks roughly $30 billion of in-house pipeline. We're doing the studies on these. There's other projects that we're tracking outside of the $30 billion that are not currently in-house, but the $30 billion is just in-house. It's copper. Let me step back. When we say mining and metals, we're talking about primarily copper, fertilizers. The fertilizer market is picking up. Mined fertilizer, potash, and the like. Metals, metals being steel and aluminum. That's the primary universe of commodities. Geographically, fairly widespread. South America, North America, Australia, U.K., Middle East. Our mining and metals market is more global than any of our other markets, I would say. What are the main hurdles to overcome to get to a full release combination?

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Some of it is regulatory and permitting. I would say that the majority of it is clients are looking for capital efficiency, Andy. They want to make sure that their investments are going to pan out and be profitable. We are working very closely with our clients to make sure that we're only designing what's actually needed in that plan. Minimum viable solutions is the term. We're working very closely to try to minimize the impact of escalation, supply chain disruption, and all the noise that you hear in the market. I would say that's the biggest hurdle is how do we work together with the clients to make sure these projects are economically sound. We feel very good because the commodity pricing for these things are pretty high. There's demand for copper, fertilizers, aluminum, steel, etc.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

There's demand in those end markets. We feel that I can't say that all of them are going to go forward, I think a good chunk of them will go forward.

Andy Wittmann
Andy Wittmann
Analyst at Baird

Thoughts on risk that you might be taking and/or margins associated with those?

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Most of the vast majority of the work is going to be reimbursable, lower risk, therefore attracting margins that have been historic margins in the Mining and Metals business.

Andy Wittmann
Andy Wittmann
Analyst at Baird

Okay. John, just one question on you, just on backlog conversion here. Obviously, the backlog and the awards for the quarter are one of the highlights here. You drill a little bit deeper and we look at remaining unperformed performance obligations here. Actually looks like the within one year content there has been trending a little lower. Should we assume that this backlog is extending in its duration? What does it mean about when you see the earnings growth profile or EBITDA accelerating? Is that really more of a 2027 event than or is it beyond that? I'm just kind of curious as to how we should read the RPOs versus backlog and how you see that conversion.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Yeah. On the RPO front, which we do kind of cascade across in horizon, as we think about that next year or the succeeding 12 months, what you're seeing is the impact of a lot of those large energy mega projects rolling out. With the Q2 new awards, those having an horizon of several years of execution. I don't think there's anything anomalous about it, but it does just reflect the difference between some of those maybe energy projects that are drawing to conclusion vis-a-vis the reload in Q2 extending meaningfully into 2027, but with peak execution in late 2027 and in early 2028.

Andy Wittmann
Andy Wittmann
Analyst at Baird

That's helpful. Thanks, John.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Judah Aronovitz from UBS. Please go ahead.

Judah Aronovitz
Judah Aronovitz
Analyst at UBS

Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my question. On for Steven Fisher today. I just wanted to ask one further clarification on the EBITDA guide, if I could. You mentioned that the $90 million pre-tax gain from the sale. Is that also factored in? Just wanted to gauge your confidence in achieving the new guide for the year. You're implying a small step up in the second half relative to the Q2 run rate. What are the moving pieces between Q2 versus Q3 and Q4? Is there anything else you still need to book, or are you covered for the year? Thanks.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

The $90 million gain is outside of the guide, so we would not consider that part of the run rate of earnings. With respect to the guide, you're right, it does kind of imply a similar trajectory from Q2 into the back half of 2026. As I said, it is a very different profile in terms of the contribution from our segments. By and large, you'll see a similar contribution from the first half of the year into the back half of the year on the mission side. Energy kind of goes from a larger contributor in the first half to a lesser contributor in the back half. Urban Solutions meaningfully picks up their EBITDA generation in the back half. That's part of the overall resilience of the business that we've built.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

In terms of new awards in the back half of the year necessary to attain the guide, that's not really critical because the things that we would book in Q3 generally are not going to contribute a lot in the way of EBITDA within the back half of the year. We'd look for those to begin burning into our income statement more meaningfully in 2027 and beyond. I think that leads us to the conclusion that a majority of the expected EBITDA in the second half already reposes within our backlog today.

Judah Aronovitz
Judah Aronovitz
Analyst at UBS

Okay. Just one clarification on that. The $90 million gain outside of your guide, would that be excluded once recognized? Is that what you're saying?

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

Yeah, that's essentially what I'm implying. Yeah.

Judah Aronovitz
Judah Aronovitz
Analyst at UBS

Okay, thanks. That's helpful. You mentioned a bit of a ramp in urban in the second half. In Q2, I guess excluding the charge, margins were still below. I think you target 3%-4% in that business, so it was a little bit below that. Could we see margins improve in the second half, or is it more on the revenue side? In terms of margins, what are the key drivers in getting the margins higher? Is it better utilization or is the mix changing at all? Thank you.

John Regan
CFO at Fluor

There is a little bit of a mix implication there. Yes, we do expect a slight uptick in Urban margins in the back half. I think that's more just the way the portfolio is going to perform and what the different margins are within their individual business lines. I don't think there is anything that will be earth-shattering in terms of the print when we get there for the back half.

Operator

At this time, there are no further questions. I will now turn the call back to Jim Breuer for closing remarks.

Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer
CEO at Fluor

Thank you, operator. Thank you for joining today's call. I am pleased to see solid momentum across our end markets and continued strength in our opportunity pipeline, as evidenced by a strong Q2. Thank you. Have a good day.

Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you all for attending. You may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Jason Landkamer
      Jason Landkamer
      VP of Investor Relations
    • Jim Breuer
      Jim Breuer
      CEO
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