Yesterday, Sterling announced it had closed on its acquisition of CEC facilities Group (CEC; originally announced June 17, 2025), for an upfront purchase price of $505 million, funded with $450 million in cash and $55 million in stock.
For the remainder of 2025, guidance indicates CEC will contribute $130-$138 million in sales and $0.22-$0.24 in adjusted EPS (excluding purchase accounting).
Accordingly, we raise our 3Q:25 EPS estimate by $0.05 to account for an incremental month of contribution (we assumed a September 30 closing). We now model 2025 EPS of $8.98 (from $8.93), while maintaining our 2026-2027 estimates intact.
Our thesis is unchanged: As projects increase in size and complexity in the coming years, we think the scarcity of STRL's services will drive pricing power and margin expansion, which will, in turn, drive multiple expansion for the stock.
We maintain our $380 price target, based on an unchanged 30x our 2027 adjusted EPS estimate (including stock-based compensation expense) of $12.68.
03 Sep 2025
Adjust 3Q:25 Estimates For Early Closing Of The CEC Acquisition; 4Q:25 And 2026-2027 Estimates Unchanged, As CEC Was Already Embedded In Our Forecast; Maintain $380 Price Target
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Adjust 3Q:25 Estimates For Early Closing Of The CEC Acquisition; 4Q:25 And 2026-2027 Estimates Unchanged, As CEC Was Already Embedded In Our Forecast; Maintain $380 Price Target
STERLING CONSTRUCTION CO (STRL:NYSE) | 0 0 0.0%
- Published:
03 Sep 2025 -
Author:
Julio Romero -
Pages:
11 -
Yesterday, Sterling announced it had closed on its acquisition of CEC facilities Group (CEC; originally announced June 17, 2025), for an upfront purchase price of $505 million, funded with $450 million in cash and $55 million in stock.
For the remainder of 2025, guidance indicates CEC will contribute $130-$138 million in sales and $0.22-$0.24 in adjusted EPS (excluding purchase accounting).
Accordingly, we raise our 3Q:25 EPS estimate by $0.05 to account for an incremental month of contribution (we assumed a September 30 closing). We now model 2025 EPS of $8.98 (from $8.93), while maintaining our 2026-2027 estimates intact.
Our thesis is unchanged: As projects increase in size and complexity in the coming years, we think the scarcity of STRL's services will drive pricing power and margin expansion, which will, in turn, drive multiple expansion for the stock.
We maintain our $380 price target, based on an unchanged 30x our 2027 adjusted EPS estimate (including stock-based compensation expense) of $12.68.