Dallas, May 6, 2026, 12:03 CDT
Shares of Primoris Services Corporation tumbled roughly 49% on Wednesday. The infrastructure contractor missed first-quarter earnings forecasts and its profit guidance for 2026 came in short of Wall Street’s view, with renewable-energy project cost overruns dragging down margins.
Shares changed hands at $102.54 around midday Central time—off $100.38 from where they finished the previous session. The opening print was $120, and the stock slid as low as $101.60 intraday. That wipeout took out much of the big rally that had previously linked Primoris to themes like power-grid, gas-generation, and data-center construction demand.
This quarter packed a punch. Primoris wrapped up its PayneCrest Electric deal on May 1, a move to boost its footprint in data centers and advanced facilities. But when the earnings dropped, focus snapped back to the hazards lurking in fixed-price construction—just a handful of rough projects can swing margins for the entire group.
Primoris posted $1.56 billion in revenue for the quarter ended March 31, marking a 5.4% decrease from the same period last year. Net income dropped sharply to $17.4 million, or 32 cents per diluted share, compared with $44.2 million, or 81 cents a share, a year ago.
Primoris turned in adjusted earnings of 59 cents a share—well under the 85 cents analysts had penciled in, according to StreetInsider. Revenue, too, landed below the $1.73 billion consensus. The company now sees full-year adjusted earnings between $4.80 and $5.00 per share, missing the $5.93 analysts were looking for.
Adjusted EBITDA fell 39.1% to $60.5 million. According to Chief Executive Koti Vadlamudi, the first quarter showed “cost pressures on a limited number of renewables projects.” The profit metric excludes interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and some other items. Prim Investments
Energy took the brunt of the hit. Segment revenue slid $152.9 million, down 13.8%. Operating income collapsed, dropping $49.1 million, or 62.2%, as costs ballooned on project redesigns, sequencing headaches, labor snags, and rough weather. On the flip side, Utilities saw revenue jump $69.5 million—up 12.3%—thanks to stronger results in power delivery and gas.
Chief Financial Officer Ken Dodgen broke down the renewables impact for analysts: pushed-out revenue cost around $45 million, cost overruns in the first quarter added another $35 million to $40 million, and finishing projects with slimmer margins chipped off about $25 million—bringing the total to roughly $110 million. Vadlamudi described the second quarter as “a recovery quarter” for renewables. The Motley Fool
As of March 31, backlog totaled $11.6 billion—off a bit from $11.9 billion at the end of last year. Utilities projects made up $6.9 billion of that, with Energy at $4.7 billion. Master service agreement backlog, representing ongoing work tied to broad customer deals, landed at $7.5 billion.
The PayneCrest acquisition stands out as the main growth lever here. Primoris shelled out approximately $399.5 million in cash, net of what it picked up from PayneCrest’s own balance sheet, to bring the electrical construction and services firm into the fold. On the call, executives broke down PayneCrest’s business: about 40% of its revenue flows from data centers, while more than another 40% is anchored in industrial, power, and renewables infrastructure.
Notably, the market’s response lagged peers tied to data center construction, which had recently posted bigger moves. Sterling Infrastructure saw Q1 sales jump 92%, with adjusted profit ahead of forecasts, according to Investor’s Business Daily. Everus Construction also beat Street estimates and added to its backlog. Primoris, though, missed the mark and its outlook came in short of consensus.
The rebound still looks uncertain. Primoris flagged that its backlog figure—which includes estimated master service agreement revenue—isn’t a guarantee of future revenue, noting that clients can cancel projects whenever they want. The company also cited possible holdups: weather, labor, and customer financing delays could all push some renewables jobs further out than anticipated.
Next up: Primoris has to prove in Q2 and Q3 that those tough solar projects are wrapping up, with Utilities, gas generation, and PayneCrest margin gains offsetting the renewable-energy drag. For now, investors seemed to view the quarter as a reset rather than a setback.
