Cardinal Infrastructure (NASDAQ: CDNL) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Tuesday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

Cardinal Infrastructure（纳斯达克股票代码：CDNL）于周二举行了 2026 年第一季度财报电话会议。以下是会议的完整记录。

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

此内容由 Benzinga API 提供。有关全面的财务数据和记录，请访问 https://www.benzinga.com/apis/。

The full earnings call is available at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/pw2tq2sf/

完整的财报电话会议可在 https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/pw2tq2sf/ 获取。

Summary

摘要

Cardinal Infrastructure reported a 105% year-over-year revenue growth for Q1 2026, with organic growth at 64% and a record backlog of $854 million.

Cardinal Infrastructure 报告称 2026 年第一季度的收入同比增长 105%，有机增长为 64%，创下 8.54 亿美元的历史最高积压订单。

The company raised its 2026 revenue guidance midpoint from $672 million to $680 million, while maintaining an adjusted EBITDA margin expectation above 20%.

该公司将 2026 年收入指引的中值从 6.72 亿美元上调至 6.8 亿美元，同时维持调整后 EBITDA 利润率预期在 20% 以上。

Operational highlights include successful integration of ALGC, expansion into new markets, and notable project completions ahead of schedule, contributing to strong customer satisfaction and recurring business.

运营亮点包括成功整合 ALGC、扩展至新市场，以及提前完成的显著项目，促进了客户满意度和重复业务的增长。

Management emphasized the benefits of vertical integration and self-performing services, which have led to increased efficiency and schedule compression.

管理层强调了垂直整合和自我执行服务的好处，这些因素提高了效率并缩短了进度。

Cardinal Infrastructure's acquisition strategy remains focused on both tuck-in and platform deals, with a robust M&A pipeline across the Southeast, supporting its growth trajectory.

Cardinal Infrastructure 的收购策略仍然专注于小型并购和平台交易，在东南部拥有强大的并购管道，支持其增长轨迹。

Full Transcript

完整记录

OPERATOR

操作员

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Cardinal Infrastructure Group First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call and webcast. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker's presentation there will be a question and answer session. To ask questions during the session you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear a message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question. Simply press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Emily Lear, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

早上好，女士们、先生们，欢迎参加 Cardinal Infrastructure Group 2026 年第一季度财报电话会议和网络直播。目前所有参与者处于仅听模式。演讲者发言后将进行问答环节。在问答环节中，您需要按电话上的星号 11 键提问。您将听到一条消息，告知您已举手。要撤回您的问题，只需再次按星号 11 键。请注意，今天的会议正在录音。现在我将把电话交给投资者关系总监 Emily Lear，请开始。

Emily Lear (Director of Investor Relations)

Emily Lear（投资者关系总监）

Good morning everyone and welcome to Cardinal Infrastructure Group's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call and webcast. I'm pleased to be here today to discuss our results with Jeremy Spivey, Cardinal's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Benji Wood, Chief Operating Officer and Mike Rao, Chief Financial Officer. Please note there are accompanying slides available on the Events and Presentations section of our website. Today's call will present certain non-GAAP financial measures. For more information about these non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP measure, please see our earnings release. Today's call will also include forward looking statements as defined by the United States Securities Laws. These statements relate to future events, operating results or financial performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Cardinal Infrastructure Group undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements except as legally required, whether due to new information, future developments or otherwise. Information regarding these factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward looking statements is available in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jeremy.

早上好，大家好，欢迎参加 Cardinal Infrastructure Group 的 2026 年第一季度财报电话会议和网络直播。我很高兴今天能与 Cardinal 的董事长兼首席执行官 Jeremy Spivey、首席运营官 Benji Wood 和首席财务官 Mike Rao 一起讨论我们的业绩。请注意，我们网站的活动和演示部分有相关幻灯片。今天的电话会议将呈现某些非公认会计原则（non-GAAP）财务指标。有关这些非公认会计原则财务指标及其与最可比的公认会计原则（GAAP）指标的调节信息，请参见我们的财报。今天的电话会议还将包括根据美国证券法定义的前瞻性声明。这些声明涉及未来事件、运营结果或财务表现，并受到可能导致实际结果与预期结果显著不同的风险和不确定性的影响。Cardinal Infrastructure Group 没有义务公开更新或修订任何前瞻性声明，除非法律要求，无论是由于新信息、未来发展还是其他原因。有关可能导致实际结果与这些前瞻性声明显著不同的因素的信息可在公司的证券交易委员会文件中找到。说完这些，我将把电话交给 Jeremy。

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

Jeremy Spivey（董事长兼首席执行官）

Thank you Emily. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today. Before I dive into the quarter, I would like to welcome and introduce a new team member to the call. Benji Wood, our Chief Operating Officer is joining us out of our Atlanta, Georgia operations. For those new to the Cardinal story, Benji led Al Grading as a Vice President and Operator and joined Cardinal as COO of the combined company when we closed the ALG acquisition in February. I'll talk about how we further vertical integration in our core markets and then hand it off to Benji to cover our M&A strategy. Mike will finish things up with a recap of financials and an update on our outlook for 2026. We reported very strong financial and operating results for the first quarter. Revenue grew approximately 105% year over year with organic growth of approximately 64% and backlog ended the quarter at $854 million, an all time high. These are exceptional numbers and they are the result of years of building this platform and a team that executes relentlessly at every level. I want to start by thanking everyone at Cardinal for what you delivered this quarter. Growth in the quarter was broad based with continued strength in residential paired with expanding contributions from commercial, manufacturing and industrial work across all our markets. The bidding environment across our footprint remains active with strong project flow giving us increased visibility into the second half of the year and into 2027. Beyond the headline growth, our operations are performing at a high level across the entire platform. Our crews did incredible work in Q1, executing safely through a higher than average number of winter weather events across the Southeast. We completed multiple projects in the quarter ahead of schedule and ahead of bid margin including a commercial site where we completed on site utilities approximately two months early, an industrial project where in house rock blasting drove an early pad delivery and a second consecutive on time delivery for a national grocery customer. We also delivered a complex residential project on schedule for a large regional developer that is new to Cardinal. As we continue to attract new residential developers and grow our share in core markets. These outcomes are generated by self performing the full scope and from running a workforce trained to execute across multiple trades. ALG and the talent that came with the acquisition are already making strong contributions. The integration is on track, the business is operating at a high level and the acquisition thesis is playing out in real time as we expected. Benji will walk you through ALG and our broader acquisition framework in a few minutes, but I will say up front that this is the strongest possible validation we could have asked for of the playbook we built in the Carolinas and are now applying in Georgia. We quickly deployed adjacent crews in drilling and blasting and paving, immediately reducing our reliance on subcontractor services. Backlog in Atlanta is growing nicely as is our customer base. Cardinal's performance oriented Safety first culture and operational playbook have been well absorbed and we are excited to this business as it continues to grow. As I mentioned, backlog entered the quarter at an all time high of $854 million. This is up 60% year over year and up 30% organically with ALG contributing just over $160 million to the total. Even more encouraging than the year over year growth is the pace at which our backlog is diversifying. Throughout the quarter, both new and recurring customers consistently told us that our ability to to deliver self performed turnkey site development is exactly what they have been looking for. We added strong volumes of work across single family, home, multifamily and retail developments as well as campus build outs for a global overnight delivery and logistics customer and a large format regional convenience and fueling site operator. Shortly after the quarter we announced further expansion into the mission critical end market with our first data center one, a $24 million contract under which we will self perform all services with completion expected in 2027. These are sophisticated customers who clearly see the value and differentiation that Cardinal brings to the market. Our strong start to the year, the visibility provided by our record backlog and our confidence in executing our growth strategy have given us the conviction to raise our full year 2026 revenue guidance we are increasing our guidance from a midpoint of $672 million to a midpoint of $680 million and continue to expect adjusted EBITDA margins above 20% for the full year with a clear path to further expansion over the medium term. Underpinning these Results and our 2026 outlook is the strength of our platform. Vertical integration is the foundation of how we operate and the workforce required to deliver. It is what makes the model so difficult to replicate. Vertical integration means we self perform and deliver the full civil scope on every project, clearing, erosion control, drilling and blasting, grading, wet utility installation and paving, all with our own crews and our own equipment. When we self perform every trade with our own workforce, there are no handoffs or delays waiting on subcontractor availability. Each service flows directly into the next without a gap, waiting for a sub to mobilize. That ability yields six to eight weeks of scheduled compression, which is why customers return to us project after project with over 80% of our customers recurring in Nature, Raleigh, which grew over 40% organically again this quarter is the clearest example of the model running at full scale in the Carolinas. In our newer markets, Charlotte and Greensboro, we are in the early innings of building out the labor force, the density and the equipment needed to execute on these turnkey projects. Both of these markets are dilutive to consolidated margins currently, but have significant Runway ahead. As we progress through the busy spring and summer, leverage across our portfolio improves, allowing our margins to scale in year longer term. As these markets mature and we are able to deploy our full playbook and vertical integration capabilities, we expect margins in these markets to expand meaningfully. Delivering turnkey site infrastructure at this level requires a workforce that can execute every trade at high quality, on schedule and across multiple geographies at once. Across our industry, the availability of skilled labor is the primary constraint on growth. We have built A workforce ahead of demand and our culture, commitment to safety and competitive wages enable us to recruit at a pace most of our peers cannot match, proven by what we believe is one of the largest owned wet utility labor forces in the country. Our workforce is the direct product of how we run the business. We equip our crews with the right tools and resources, deliver training that prepares them for any project, empower field teams to make decisions and we lead with safety so people look forward to coming to work. That culture produces crews that execute complex projects quickly and to the high standards our customers expect. And it is exactly why we are winning new work in adjacent end markets, including the data center contract we announced in mid April. This same dynamic explains how we have broadened our end market mix so quickly. Pre IPO, Cardinal was approximately 75% residential focused. In just a few short months we reduced that to 65% as customers continue to ask Cardinal to take on more of the complex multi trade work that our platform is built to deliver. Alongside our organic investments, we look to strategic M&A to help us build density across core markets and to continue deploying the Cardinal Playbook across the Southeast. With that I'll turn it over to Benji.

谢谢你，Emily。大家早上好，感谢你们今天的参与。在我深入讨论本季度之前，我想欢迎并介绍一位新团队成员。我们的首席运营官 Benji Wood 将从乔治亚州亚特兰大的运营团队加入我们。对于那些不太了解 Cardinal 故事的人来说，Benji 曾担任 Al Grading 的副总裁和运营主管，并在我们于二月份完成 ALG 收购时加入 Cardinal，成为合并公司的首席运营官。我将讨论我们如何在核心市场进一步实现垂直整合，然后将时间交给 Benji，让他介绍我们的并购战略。Mike 将总结财务情况，并更新我们对 2026 年的展望。我们报告了第一季度非常强劲的财务和运营结果。收入同比增长约 105%，有机增长约为 64%，而未完成订单在季度末达到了 8.54 亿美元，创历史新高。这些都是卓越的数字，是我们多年构建这个平台和团队在各个层面上不懈执行的结果。我想首先感谢 Cardinal 的每一位员工，感谢你们在本季度的贡献。本季度的增长是广泛的，住宅市场持续强劲，同时商业、制造和工业领域的贡献也在不断扩大。我们在整个业务范围内的投标环境仍然活跃，强劲的项目流使我们对下半年和 2027 年有了更清晰的预期。除了显著的增长外，我们的运营在整个平台上表现出色。我们的团队在第一季度做了出色的工作，安全地应对了东南部地区高于平均水平的冬季天气事件。我们在季度内提前完成了多个项目，并超出了投标利润，包括一个商业项目，我们提前大约两个月完成了现场公用设施，一个工业项目通过内部爆破实现了提前交付，以及为一家全国性杂货客户提供的第二次按时交付。我们还按时交付了一个复杂的住宅项目，客户是一家新的大型区域开发商。随着我们继续吸引新的住宅开发商并在核心市场中扩大我们的份额，这些成果是通过自我执行全面范围的工作和运行经过多种工种培训的劳动力实现的。ALG 及其随收购而来的人才已经开始做出强有力的贡献。整合进展顺利，业务运营水平高，收购理论正如我们预期的那样在实时发挥作用。Benji 将在几分钟内向您介绍 ALG 及我们更广泛的收购框架，但我想提前说，这对我们在卡罗莱纳州建立的操作手册的强有力验证是我们所能要求的最强验证，我们现在正在乔治亚州应用。我们迅速部署了相邻的钻探、爆破和铺路团队，立即减少了对分包服务的依赖。亚特兰大的未完成订单正在良好增长，客户基础也在扩大。Cardinal 以绩效为导向的安全第一文化和运营手册得到了很好的吸收，我们对这个业务的未来发展感到兴奋。正如我提到的，未完成订单在季度开始时达到了历史新高的 8.54 亿美元。这比去年增长了 60%，有机增长了 30%，其中 ALG 贡献了超过 1.6 亿美元。比起同比增长，更令人鼓舞的是我们未完成订单多样化的速度。在整个季度，新客户和回头客一致告诉我们，我们能够提供自我执行的交钥匙现场开发正是他们一直在寻找的。我们在单户住宅、多户住宅和零售开发方面增加了大量工作量，以及为一家全球快递和物流客户和一家大型区域便利店和加油站运营商的校园建设项目。季度结束后不久，我们宣布进一步扩展到关键任务终端市场，签署了我们的第一个数据中心合同，合同金额为 2400 万美元，我们将自我执行所有服务，预计在 2027 年完成。这些都是复杂的客户，他们清楚地看到了 Cardinal 为市场带来的价值和差异化。我们开局强劲，创纪录的未完成订单提供了可见性，我们对执行增长战略的信心使我们有信心提高 2026 年全年的收入指引，我们将指引从 6.72 亿美元的中点提高到 6.8 亿美元，并继续预计全年的调整后 EBITDA 利润率将超过 20%，并在中期有进一步扩展的明确路径。这些结果和我们 2026 年展望的基础是我们平台的强大。垂直整合是我们运营的基础，以及交付所需的劳动力。这使得我们的模型难以复制。垂直整合意味着我们在每个项目上自我执行并交付全面的土木工程范围，包括清理、侵蚀控制、钻探和爆破、平整、湿公用设施安装和铺路，所有这些都是由我们自己的团队和设备完成的。当我们用自己的劳动力自我执行每个工种时，就没有分包商可用时的交接或延误。每项服务直接流入下一项，没有等待分包商动员的间隙。这种能力使得计划压缩六到八周，这就是为什么客户在一个项目又一个项目中回到我们这里，超过 80% 的客户是回头客。Raleigh 在本季度再次有超过 40% 的有机增长，是卡罗莱纳州模型全面运行的最清晰例证。在我们较新的市场 Charlotte 和 Greensboro，我们正处于建立劳动力、密度和执行这些交钥匙项目所需设备的早期阶段。这两个市场目前对合并利润有稀释作用，但前景广阔。随着我们在繁忙的春季和夏季的推进，整个投资组合的杠杆作用改善，使我们的利润在年长的长期内得以扩展。随着这些市场的成熟，我们能够部署我们的完整操作手册和垂直整合能力，我们预计这些市场的利润将显著扩大。在这个水平上交付交钥匙现场基础设施需要一支能够在高质量、按时和跨多个地理区域同时执行每个工种的劳动力。在我们的行业中，熟练劳动力的可用性是增长的主要限制。我们已经建立了一支超前于需求的劳动力，而我们的文化、安全承诺和竞争性薪资使我们能够以大多数同行无法匹敌的速度进行招聘，这一点通过我们认为是全国最大的自有湿公用设施劳动力之一得到了证明。我们的劳动力是我们如何运营业务的直接产物。我们为我们的团队配备了合适的工具和资源，提供培训以使他们为任何项目做好准备，授权现场团队做出决策，并以安全为首要任务，让人们期待上班。这种文化培养了能够快速执行复杂项目并达到客户期望的高标准的团队。这正是我们在相邻终端市场赢得新工作的原因，包括我们在四月中旬宣布的数据中心合同。这种动态也解释了我们如何如此迅速地扩大我们的终端市场组合。在 IPO 之前，Cardinal 大约 75% 专注于住宅市场。在短短几个月内，我们将这一比例降低到 65%，因为客户继续要求 Cardinal 承担更多复杂的多工种工作，而我们的平台正是为此而构建的。除了我们的有机投资外，我们还寻求战略性并购，以帮助我们在核心市场建立密度，并继续在东南部部署 Cardinal 操作手册。接下来我将把时间交给 Benji。

Benji Wood (Chief Operating Officer)

本杰·伍德（首席运营官）

Thank you Jeremy and good morning everyone. I appreciate the opportunity to introduce myself and walk you through how Cardinal thinks about growth through acquisitions. The perspective I bring this morning is grounding in having been on both sides of the table. I helped run AL Grading as Vice President prior to Cardinal's acquisition and now sit as Cardinal's Chief Operating Officer. I went through Cardinal's diligence and acquisition process firsthand. Am now part of the team responsible for operating platforms that continues to grow through M and A. What attracted me to Cardinal was simple. The culture is built around the same values that built ALG. The team is the most disciplined acquirer I've seen in this space and the platform Jeremy has built is one I wanted to be a part of and help grow across the Southeast. The reason is the platform itself. Across North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, Cardinal operates with over 2,500 employees and 160 wet utility related crews. An all time high backlog, all in one of the fastest growing construction regions in the United States. The scale and density we have built across this footprint is something a new acquirer would take a decade to replicate. We have two distinct acquisition tracks that solve different problems, tuck-ins, make us deeper and more vertically integrated and in markets where we already operate we add crews, we fill service line gaps and we pull subcontract work back in house in Atlanta. That can mean growing our wet utilities labor base and reducing our reliance on third party offerings like installation of retaining walls, concrete work and paving install over the near term. Platform deals such as ALGC serve as a geographic expansion engine. When Cardinal acquired us, they kept our leadership team in place, began integrating us onto their systems and standards, gave us the operational tools to help facilitate increased pace of growth going forward. That is the model. We see the same setup opportunities available in adjacent southeast states. The pipeline today is the most active it has ever been. We have strong tuck in opportunities around Charlotte, Greensboro and Atlanta and platform style opportunities under evaluation in adjacent southeast geographies. We will remain patient and disciplined on price and we will only pursue deals that meet our criteria. Our track record speaks for itself. Cardinal has completed seven acquisitions since 2021 bringing in approximately $310 million in acquired pro forma annual revenue across multiple geographies and end markets. Our target deal economics are outlined on slide 7, but at a high level. Tuck ins are acquired at around 4 times EBITDA and platform acquisitions around 6 times EBITDA. Platform acquisitions will be accretive to or in line with our consolidated margin profile and as strong as the margins were at ALG. We are seeing opportunities in the pipeline with even better margin profiles at multiples consistent with our framework. Cardinal has a defined operating model, growth playbook and acquisition framework. Each has been proven across multiple acquisitions and multiple geographies. What you should expect from here is consistency. The same discipline applies to a larger and more diversified platform. I'll now hand the call over to Mike for a review of the financials and our updated guidance.

谢谢你，杰里米，大家早上好。我很感激有机会自我介绍，并向大家讲解卡迪纳尔如何通过收购来实现增长。我今天带来的视角是基于我在桌子两边的经历。我曾在卡迪纳尔收购之前担任 AL Grading 的副总裁，现在是卡迪纳尔的首席运营官。我亲身经历了卡迪纳尔的尽职调查和收购过程。现在我成为了负责运营平台的团队的一部分，该团队通过并购持续增长。吸引我加入卡迪纳尔的原因很简单。公司的文化建立在与 ALG 相同的价值观之上。团队是我在这个领域见过的最有纪律的收购者，而杰里米所建立的平台是我想参与并帮助在东南部地区发展的平台。原因在于平台本身。在北卡罗来纳州、南卡罗来纳州和乔治亚州，卡迪纳尔拥有超过 2500 名员工和 160 个湿公用事业相关的团队。创纪录的积压订单，位于美国增长最快的建筑区域之一。我们在这一地区建立的规模和密度是一个新的收购者需要十年才能复制的。我们有两条不同的收购路径，解决不同的问题，收购附加业务，使我们更深入和更具垂直整合性，在我们已经运营的市场中，我们增加团队，填补服务线空缺，并在亚特兰大将分包工作拉回内部。这意味着在短期内扩大我们的湿公用事业劳动力基础，减少对第三方服务的依赖，例如挡土墙的安装、混凝土工作和铺路安装。像 ALGC 这样的平台交易充当地理扩展引擎。当卡迪纳尔收购我们时，他们保留了我们的领导团队，开始将我们整合到他们的系统和标准中，给予我们运营工具，以帮助促进未来增长的加速。这就是我们的模式。我们在东南部相邻州看到相同的设置机会。今天的项目管道是有史以来最活跃的。我们在夏洛特、格林斯伯勒和亚特兰大周围有强大的附加机会，并在相邻的东南地理区域评估平台风格的机会。我们将保持耐心和价格上的纪律，只追求符合我们标准的交易。我们的业绩记录不言自明。自 2021 年以来，卡迪纳尔完成了七项收购，带来了约 3.1 亿美元的收购前年度收入，涵盖多个地理区域和最终市场。我们的目标交易经济学在第 7 页中概述，但从高层来看，附加业务的收购大约在 4 倍 EBITDA，而平台收购大约在 6 倍 EBITDA。平台收购将对我们的合并利润率产生增益或与之持平，且与 ALG 的利润率一样强。我们在管道中看到的机会的利润率更好，倍数与我们的框架一致。卡迪纳尔有一个明确的运营模型、增长手册和收购框架。每个框架在多个收购和多个地理区域中都得到了验证。你们应该期待从这里开始的一致性。同样的纪律适用于更大和更多样化的平台。现在我将把电话交给迈克，让他来回顾财务状况和我们的最新指引。

Mike Rao (Chief Financial Officer)

迈克·拉奥（首席财务官）

Thank you Benji and good morning everyone. I will begin with a review of our first quarter financial results before covering our updated outlook for 2026. As a reminder, ALGC contributed approximately six weeks of results to the quarter given our mid February closing. In total the first quarter revenue was 168 million, an increase of 105% from the first quarter of 2025 reflecting organic growth of 64%. We delivered this growth despite a higher than normal number of cold weather days across our footprint during the quarter, which we manage through schedule flexibility and the ability to redeploy crews across our market as conditions allowed. As Jeremy mentioned, this growth was broad based with all regions and markets driving top line improvement year over year. Raleigh increased revenues over 40%, Charlotte and Greensboro continue to scale quickly and ALGC grew mid teens against a tougher weather comparison from the prior year. Gross profits for the quarter were 24.9 million or 14.9% compared to 9.9 million and 12.1% in the prior year. Gross margins increased 280 basis points as we realized scale benefits across higher volume and tightly manage operating cost. Adjusted gross profits were up 107% year over year at 34 million compared to 17 million in the prior year with adjusted gross margins expanding approximately 20 basis points year over year. The expansion was meaningful given Q1 seasonal headwind and the integration activity underway at ALGC. General non-recurring expenses for the quarter were 10 million or 6% of revenue. Approximately $3.5 million of the increase is non reoccurring tied to acquisition costs and one time jumps from public company readiness costs cost. On a continuing basis, G and A was 3.9% of revenue and we expect that ratio to continue to improve as we move throughout the year. Q1 is our highest G and A expense quarter on our lowest revenue quarter, so as we ramp up for the construction season and absorb the bulk of the annual public company costs including audit and reporting cycle expenses, we expect G and A expense as a percent of revenue to come down in the forward quarters. Adjusted EBITDA for The quarter was $27 million, up 84% year over year while Adjusted EBITDA margins finished at 16% down from the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margins were impacted by timing as winter weather impacted our ability to deploy higher margin work during the quarter and the growth initiatives taking place across our business. Cash flow from operating activities in the quarter were $9.3 million compared to 12.1 million in the prior year. This was driven by by increased working capital required for growth, specifically increased billings not yet collected. Capital expenditures were $9.3 million excluding acquisitions, reflecting the construction of our asphalt manufacturing facility and fleet and equipment investments. As we build density in Charlotte, Greensboro and Atlanta for the full year of 2026, we are still forecasting CapEx of $58 million unchanged from our prior guidance. Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter at $196 million outstanding on our term loan and nothing drawn on our $75 million revolving credit facility. Net leverage at quarter end was approximately 1.2 times and well below our covenant of 2.5. The balance sheet remains in strong shape and gives us meaningful capacity to fund our operations, capital expenditures and M and A activities. Turning to our 2026 guidance, we are increasing revenue to a new range of $675 million to $685 million, up from our prior range of $665 million to $678 million. We are reiterating our Adjusted EBITDA margin guidance of 20% plus for the full year. The drivers for the increase are straightforward. Q1 came in ahead of expectations. Backlog of 854 million represents over 12 months of revenue at our current run rate. The bidding environment across our footprint remains robust. ALGC is contributing in a meaningful way and our vertical integration is allowing us to move faster than ever on more diverse project mix. Now that we are past the historically largest quarterly G and A impact of the year. As we progress through the construction season with our larger team, refreshed fleet and soon to be running asphalt plant, our Adjusted EBITDA margin profile will step up in hand and we are confident in our ability to hit our margin target of 20% plus. We are delivering on the strategy. We built this business around strong organic growth, expanding margins, a solid balance sheet and an acquisition pipeline that gives us multiple paths to compound from here. With that, let's open it up to questions. Operator, thank you so much.

谢谢你，Benji，大家早上好。我将首先回顾我们第一季度的财务业绩，然后再讨论我们对 2026 年的更新展望。提醒一下，由于我们在 2 月中旬完成收购，ALGC 为本季度贡献了大约六周的业绩。第一季度的总收入为 1.68 亿美元，比 2025 年第一季度增长了 105%，反映出 64% 的有机增长。尽管本季度我们面临了比正常情况更多的寒冷天气天数，但我们通过灵活的调度和在条件允许的情况下重新部署团队来管理这一挑战。正如 Jeremy 提到的，这一增长是广泛的，所有地区和市场都推动了同比的收入增长。罗利的收入增长超过 40%，夏洛特和格林斯伯勒继续快速扩张，而 ALGC 在面对去年的更严峻天气比较时也实现了中双位数的增长。本季度的毛利润为 2490 万美元，毛利率为 14.9%，而去年为 990 万美元，毛利率为 12.1%。毛利率提高了 280 个基点，因为我们在更高的交易量中实现了规模效益，并严格控制运营成本。调整后的毛利润同比增长 107%，达到 3400 万美元，而去年为 1700 万美元，调整后的毛利率同比扩大了约 20 个基点。考虑到第一季度的季节性逆风以及 ALGC 正在进行的整合活动，这一扩张是相当重要的。本季度的一般性非经常性支出为 1000 万美元，占收入的 6%。大约 350 万美元的增长是与收购成本和一次性公共公司准备成本相关的非经常性支出。持续来看，管理和行政费用占收入的 3.9%，我们预计这一比例在全年将继续改善。第一季度是我们管理和行政费用最高的季度，同时也是收入最低的季度，因此随着我们为施工季节的准备和吸收年度公共公司成本（包括审计和报告周期费用），我们预计管理和行政费用占收入的比例将在未来几个季度下降。本季度的调整后 EBITDA 为 2700 万美元，同比增长 84%，而调整后 EBITDA 毛利率为 16%，低于去年。调整后 EBITDA 毛利率受到时机的影响，因为冬季天气影响了我们在本季度部署高毛利工作的能力，以及我们业务中正在进行的增长举措。本季度的经营活动现金流为 930 万美元，而去年为 1210 万美元。这是由于增长所需的营运资金增加，特别是未收款项的账单增加。资本支出为 930 万美元，不包括收购，反映了我们沥青制造设施的建设以及车队和设备的投资。随着我们在夏洛特、格林斯伯勒和亚特兰大建立密度，我们仍然预测 2026 年的资本支出为 5800 万美元，与之前的指导保持不变。关于资产负债表，我们在季度末的定期贷款余额为 1.96 亿美元，75 百万美元的循环信贷额度没有提款。季度末的净杠杆约为 1.2 倍，远低于我们的契约 2.5。资产负债表保持强劲，为我们提供了充足的资金来支持我们的运营、资本支出和并购活动。关于 2026 年的指导，我们将收入预期上调至 675 百万至 685 百万美元，之前的预期为 665 百万至 678 百万美元。我们重申全年调整后 EBITDA 毛利率指导为 20% 以上。增长的驱动因素很简单。第一季度的业绩超出预期。854 百万的订单积压代表了我们当前运行速度下超过 12 个月的收入。我们所在地区的投标环境依然强劲。ALGC 的贡献意义重大，我们的垂直整合使我们能够在更为多样化的项目组合上比以往更快地推进。现在我们已经度过了年度中管理和行政费用影响最大的季度。随着我们在施工季节的推进，拥有更大的团队、更新的车队和即将投入运营的沥青厂，我们的调整后 EBITDA 毛利率将会提升，我们对实现 20% 以上的毛利率目标充满信心。我们正在落实这一战略。我们围绕强劲的有机增长、扩大的毛利率、稳健的资产负债表以及提供多条复合增长路径的并购管道建立了这项业务。接下来，让我们开始提问。操作员，谢谢你。

OPERATOR

操作员

And as a reminder to ask a question, simply press star11 and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw the question, please press star 11 again. One moment for our first question comes from the line of Louis De Palma with William Blair. Please proceed.

请记得提问，只需按星号 11 并等待您的名字被宣布。要撤回问题，请再次按星号 11。请稍等，我们的第一个问题来自 William Blair 的 Louis De Palma。请继续。

Louis De Palma (Equity Analyst)

Louis De Palma（股票分析师）

Jeremy, Benji, Mike and Emily, Good afternoon and congrats on the quarter.

Jeremy、Benji、Mike 和 Emily，下午好，恭喜你们取得了这个季度的成绩。

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

Jeremy Spivey（董事长兼首席执行官）

Hey Louis, thanks so much.

嘿，Louis，非常感谢。

Benji Wood (Chief Operating Officer)

Benji Wood（首席运营官）

Hey Louie.

嘿，Louie。

Louis De Palma (Equity Analyst)

Louis De Palma（股票分析师）

Hey. For Jeremy and Benji, how do Cardinal and ALGC as a team make each business stronger and are there early opportunities to cross sell services between the North Carolina and the ALGC Georgia markets?

嘿。对于 Jeremy 和 Benji，Cardinal 和 ALGC 作为一个团队如何使各自的业务更强大？在北卡罗来纳州和 ALGC 乔治亚州市场之间是否有早期的交叉销售服务机会？

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

Jeremy Spivey（董事长兼首席执行官）

Hey Louie, this is Jeremy. I'll speak on behalf of Benji. He's actually on his way here to our office this morning and is running behind. But yes, the first thing we were able to do with the ALGC acquisition is identify some of the areas we could utilize each other's history, equipment, makeup and services. More importantly across exchange between the two locations. So for an instance ALGC was utilizing third parties for drilling and blasting of rock for certain paving services with subgrade cement stabilization services with subgrade as it relates to paving. And these are services that we provide across the Carolinas and are able to easily pick up and transport down to the Atlanta region and into some of the South Carolina regions that ALGC operates and start utilizing those services instantly. And also from the ALG side they possess some equipment that we do not possess in the Carolina specifically related to grading services. So we were able to utilize and see how we operate and integrate those services real time and put them straight to work. So we've seen almost day one. We were having some synergies as it relates to that.

嘿，Louie，我是 Jeremy。我将代表 Benji 发言。他实际上今早正在赶往我们办公室，但有些迟到。不过，是的，我们在 ALGC 收购中能够做的第一件事就是识别出一些我们可以利用彼此历史、设备、构成和服务的领域。更重要的是在两个地点之间的交流。例如，ALGC 在某些铺路服务中利用第三方进行岩石的钻探和爆破，以及与铺路相关的基层水泥稳定服务。这些服务是我们在卡罗来纳州提供的，并且能够轻松地运送到亚特兰大地区以及 ALGC 运营的一些南卡罗来纳州地区，并立即开始利用这些服务。此外，ALG 方面拥有一些我们在卡罗来纳州没有的设备，特别是与平整服务相关的设备。因此，我们能够实时利用并查看我们如何操作和整合这些服务，并立即投入使用。所以我们几乎在第一天就看到了与此相关的一些协同效应。

Louis De Palma (Equity Analyst)

Louis De Palma（股票分析师）

Great. And my second question, the Raleigh and Atlanta markets, they seem to be your most mature markets. Has the growth in those markets remained in the double digits and do you expect to hit any type of ceiling in terms of market share gains or do you see like further Runway to expand either in the residential market and the industrial markets?

很好。我的第二个问题是，罗利和亚特兰大市场似乎是你们最成熟的市场。这些市场的增长是否仍然保持在两位数，并且你们是否预计在市场份额的增长方面会遇到任何瓶颈，还是你们认为在住宅市场和工业市场还有进一步扩展的空间？

Mike Rao (Chief Financial Officer)

Mike Rao（首席财务官）

Hey, Louie, Mike here. We are absolutely in total confidence that both Raleigh and Atlanta see opportunities for continued growth. We are not concerned about market share with our diversification with our end markets. We are also very happy with the bidding activity in both locations. It's very robust and we are confident in our ability to keep growing and at the rates we've been achieving and see that continuing forth going.

嘿，Louie，我是 Mike。我们绝对对罗利和亚特兰大都有持续增长的机会充满信心。我们对市场份额并不担心，因为我们在最终市场的多样化。我们对两个地点的投标活动也非常满意，活动非常活跃，我们对继续以我们所取得的速度增长充满信心，并认为这种增长将持续下去。

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

Jeremy Spivey（董事长兼首席执行官）

Yeah. And I'll tag along to that, Louis. ALGC is a good for instance. So ALGC has got a significant amount of Runway for market share capture and growth with respect to density and integration of services. So we're just now starting to start to integrate all the services that they don't self perform, which was a number of them. And then as we're integrating those vertical services, we're also adding density to existing services that they already provided. So we're growing the utility division, we're growing the grading division, we're growing all these other services that they, that they had while we're stacking on the vertical services that they didn't self perform. So paving is a good for instance and that'll be a focus here in that market. And then you have to look at the diversification. ALGC was similar to our Raleigh office where they led with residential. They did have some exposure in some other end markets, primarily industrial manufacturing. But there's a whole other host of end markets that they haven't begun to diversify into. So similar to Raleigh, as we look to diversify to other end markets, we have a whole world of market share to go capture there. So we do not see, we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel with respect to how we can continue to grow our market share in these two specific markets. Great. And one final one before I jump back in the queue after the initial data center win, how should we think of your data center business? Are you bidding on other data center projects across North Carolina and Georgia? And should investors expect other wins across the next couple of years or are you going to focus on this one to start and we should wait to see how it does and then, you know, you perhaps will bid on others later. What's the status of your bidding activity? That's a great question, Louis. Our bidding activity is very active and I'll say with our expansion into the Atlanta market, the Georgia market, which has many more opportunities as it relates to mission-critical projects that suddenly expanded. And so we're putting an effort and a focus with business development on that end market. We have a lot of opportunities in front of us. We are focused on execution of the one that we have on our plate right now. And you know, it was. We spent a little bit time and I spent a lot of time on calls with weekly status updates, just making sure there's not something new that we're not used to seeing as it relates to the services that we provide. So we can get ahead of maybe any, anything that we're not used to seeing. But it sounds like that has gotten quickly on plan. And you know, there's a few nuances as it relates to that specific end market, the things that they, they look for with safety and some, some other things. But we're built for that. So we just deploy the, the additional resources that we have, we send it over there and everybody gets comfortable and move forward. So we feel really good about the project we have right now. It's going great. We're just getting started with the wet utility installation and as we said in our release, there's multiple phases there. So we're looking forward to continuing with that client on that project. And then likewise, we're utilizing that project, how we're executing and how we're providing for the customer and going out to other customers and other opportunities in other markets and saying, you know, we want to crack at it. We're actively bidding several, so we'll see where they go again, you know, the margins got to be there for us in any of these end markets that we go into. But you know, we're seeing, we're seeing a lot of activity. We feel really good about the opportunities in front of us.

是的，我会补充一下，Louis。ALGC 就是一个很好的例子。ALGC 在市场份额获取和增长方面有相当大的空间，特别是在服务的密度和整合方面。因此，我们刚刚开始整合他们不自我执行的所有服务，其中有很多。然后在我们整合这些垂直服务的同时，我们也在增加他们已经提供的现有服务的密度。因此，我们正在扩大公用事业部门，扩大平整部门，扩大他们拥有的所有其他服务，同时叠加他们未自我执行的垂直服务。因此，铺路就是一个很好的例子，这将是我们在该市场的一个重点。然后你必须考虑多样化。ALGC 与我们的罗利办公室类似，他们以住宅市场为主导。他们在一些其他最终市场上确实有一些曝光，主要是工业制造。但还有许多其他最终市场，他们尚未开始多样化。因此，与罗利类似，当我们寻求多样化到其他最终市场时，我们有一个巨大的市场份额可以去争取。因此，我们看不到在这两个特定市场中继续增长市场份额的尽头。很好。在我回到队列之前还有一个最后的问题，在初始数据中心胜利之后，我们应该如何看待你们的数据中心业务？你们是否在北卡罗来纳州和乔治亚州竞标其他数据中心项目？投资者是否应该期待在未来几年内获得其他胜利，还是你们会专注于这个项目，看看它的表现，然后再考虑其他项目？你们的投标活动状态如何？这是个好问题，Louis。我们的投标活动非常活跃，我会说随着我们进入亚特兰大市场，乔治亚州市场有更多与关键任务项目相关的机会，这突然扩展了。因此，我们在这个最终市场上投入了努力和关注进行业务开发。我们面前有很多机会。我们专注于执行我们目前手头的项目。你知道，我们花了一些时间，我在每周的状态更新电话上花了很多时间，确保没有我们不习惯看到的新情况与我们提供的服务相关。因此，我们可以提前应对可能出现的任何情况。但听起来这已经迅速按计划进行。你知道，关于这个特定最终市场，有一些细微差别，他们在安全和其他一些方面的要求。但我们为此做好了准备。因此，我们只是部署我们拥有的额外资源，把它送过去，让每个人都感到舒适并继续前进。因此，我们对目前的项目感到非常满意。进展顺利。我们刚刚开始进行湿公用设施的安装，正如我们在发布中所说的，还有多个阶段。因此，我们期待与该客户在该项目上继续合作。同样，我们也在利用这个项目，看看我们如何执行以及如何为客户提供服务，并向其他客户和其他市场的机会表示，我们希望参与其中。我们正在积极竞标几个项目，因此我们将看看它们的进展。你知道，任何进入这些最终市场的项目，利润必须对我们有利。但你知道，我们看到很多活动。我们对面前的机会感到非常乐观。

Louis De Palma (Equity Analyst)

Louis De Palma（股票分析师）

Great. And just to confirm, so the margins are that you're seeing are pretty favorable relative to your existing residential and industrial businesses?

很好。只是想确认一下，你们看到的利润相对于你们现有的住宅和工业业务是相当有利的，对吗？

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

杰里米·斯派维 (董事长兼首席执行官)

Yep. And I'll say I've said this on the road, you know, on the road show and anytime I meet, it has to be at or better than what we're used to getting on the residential side for us to consider any end market. And so I will say that the margins are at or better than what we're getting with our current customer base on the residential side.

是的。我会说我在路演上和每次见面时都提到过，任何最终市场的考虑必须达到或超过我们在住宅领域所习惯的水平。因此，我会说，利润率达到了或超过了我们在住宅领域当前客户群体所获得的水平。

Louis De Palma (Equity Analyst)

路易斯·德·帕尔马 (股票分析师)

Great. I will hop back in the queue. Thanks. Everyone.

很好。我会重新排队。谢谢大家。

OPERATOR

操作员

Thank you. Lou. Thank you so much. Our next question comes from Brian Brophy with Stifel. Please proceed.

谢谢你，Lou。非常感谢。我们的下一个问题来自 Stifel 的布莱恩·布罗菲。请继续。

Andrew Mazeron

安德鲁·马泽龙

Hey guys, this is Andrew Mazeron for Brian. Thank you for taking the question. I just wanted to ask about your updated revenue guidance. Up 50%. How should we think about that split between acquisition, contribution and then the cadence of organic growth through the year and then within that, how are you thinking about growth across your end markets, resi, commercial and DOT work?

大家好，我是安德鲁·马泽龙，代表布莱恩提问。感谢你们接受我的问题。我想问一下你们更新的收入指引。增长 50%。我们应该如何看待收购贡献和全年有机增长的节奏之间的分配？在这方面，你们如何看待住宅、商业和 DOT 工作的增长？

Mike Rao (Chief Financial Officer)

迈克·拉奥 (首席财务官)

In terms of guidance, we see absolutely favorable bidding activity right now. Our backlog is very strong. We are, we did increase it. We see the second quarter being stronger than the first quarter, somewhere in the teens for growth off of the first quarter. So we're still early into the year but our guidance is favorable for revenue and with it. The adjusted EBITDA margin we talked about is still looking good too as well. Organic growth is still coming on very strong. Again we mentioned the activity going on in the bidding and it's robust. Our backlog still strong. We mentioned 30% growth in the backlog organically. So right now we're very confident in our ability to deliver the growth that we have for the year.

就指引而言，我们目前看到的投标活动非常有利。我们的订单积压非常强劲。我们确实增加了订单积压。我们预计第二季度的增长将强于第一季度，增长幅度在十几个百分点。因此，我们仍处于年初，但我们的收入指引是乐观的，调整后的 EBITDA 利润率也看起来不错。有机增长仍然非常强劲。我们提到的投标活动非常活跃，订单积压依然强劲。我们提到的订单积压有机增长达到了 30%。所以现在我们对实现今年的增长非常有信心。

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

杰里米·斯派维 (董事长兼首席执行官)

And I'll also say that the organic growth opportunity again with Charlotte, with Greensboro, with with Atlanta as we look to build density and start to integrate the vertical services that aren't already self performed in those markets that'll drive a lot of the organic growth across the platform.

我还想说，有机增长的机会再次出现在夏洛特、格林斯伯勒和亚特兰大，我们希望在这些市场中建立密度，并开始整合尚未自我执行的垂直服务，这将推动平台的有机增长。

Andrew Mazeron

安德鲁·马泽龙

And I forget your other question. Sorry. My other question within that was how you're thinking about growth across resi, commercial and DOT type work. But I think you sort of touched on it.

我忘记了你的另一个问题。抱歉。我的另一个问题是你们如何看待住宅、商业和 DOT 类型工作的增长。但我想你已经提到过了。

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

杰里米·斯派维 (董事长兼首席执行官)

Good. So yeah, I guess my second one is on the asphalt plant. Wondering if you could provide an update on that. I think it was supposed to be or has already commissioned in the second quarter here. It's. Yeah, I'll give you a quick update on. I actually got some very cool photos right before this call or videos. We are, we're on, we're on first and goal with, with the startup of that of that plant. It's almost fully constructed. There were. There's a couple of services with electrical and gas with some permitting things that got delayed but they're still on track to be a Q2 start. I mean the plant's almost fully constructed. As I said, we're in the process of taking the recycled asphalt that we had stockpiled and processing that and getting it ready for use. We actually have a very large resurfacing project that sits right adjacent to our plant that we won in Q1 that'll go directly into, you know, in the queue for this plant. So it's still on track. It'll be open Q2 and it should be any day. So I would hope to provide an update to the market as soon as we hit the on switch.

很好。所以我想我的第二个问题是关于沥青厂的。想知道你能否提供一下最新情况。我认为它应该在第二季度投入使用。是的，我会给你一个快速更新。实际上在这个电话之前我收到了几张非常酷的照片或视频。我们正在进行该工厂的启动，几乎已经完全建成。还有一些电气和天然气的服务以及一些许可问题导致延迟，但仍然按计划在第二季度启动。我的意思是，工厂几乎已经完全建成。正如我所说，我们正在处理我们之前储存的再生沥青，并准备好使用。实际上，我们有一个非常大的重铺项目就在我们工厂旁边，我们在第一季度赢得了这个项目，它将直接进入这个工厂的排队中。所以它仍然按计划进行，预计在第二季度开放，应该很快就会启动。因此，我希望在我们打开开关后尽快向市场提供更新。

Andrew Mazeron

安德鲁·马泽龙

Perfect. Thank you.

完美。谢谢。

OPERATOR

操作员

Thank you so much. And I am not showing any further questions in the queue. I will turn it back to Jeremy Spivey for closing remarks.

非常感谢。我没有看到队列中有进一步的问题。我将把时间交还给杰里米·斯派维进行结束语。

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

杰里米·斯派维 (董事长兼首席执行官)

Thank you, operator. And thank you all for joining us this morning. I want to thank the Cardinal team for delivering an exceptional first quarter. Their execution, their commitment to safety and the pride they bring to their work are what makes this business what it is. We are off to a very strong start in 2026. The platform we have built is performing. Our acquisition framework continues to deliver and the Runway in front of us is very significant. We look forward to meeting many of you on the road this quarter. Thank you and have a great day.

谢谢你，操作员。感谢大家今天早上加入我们。我想感谢 Cardinal 团队在第一季度的出色表现。他们的执行力、对安全的承诺以及他们对工作的自豪感是这项业务的核心。我们在 2026 年有一个非常强劲的开局。我们所建立的平台正在发挥作用。我们的收购框架继续带来成果，前方的机会非常显著。我们期待在本季度与许多人见面。谢谢，祝大家有美好的一天。

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Cardinal Infrastructure 2026 年第一季度收益电话会议记录