Jacobs Solutions - Earnings Call - Q2 2025

Executive Summary

• Adjusted EPS beat; revenue modest miss. Q2 2025 adjusted EPS rose 22% y/y to $1.43 vs S&P Global consensus $1.38; revenue was $2.91B, below consensus $3.00B, as a JV legal reserve and FX weighed on growth. Consensus values marked with an asterisk are from S&P Global.
• Backlog reached a record $22.2B (+20% y/y) with TTM book-to-bill 1.3x; Q2 book-to-bill was 1.1x. Management expects sequential growth in 2H, underpinned by backlog quality and mix.
• Guidance reaffirmed: FY25 adjusted net revenue mid-to-high single-digit growth, adjusted EBITDA margin 13.8–14.0%, adjusted EPS $5.85–$6.20, and reported FCF conversion >100%; Q3 revenue growth expected at 5–7% y/y and adjusted EBITDA margin “approach 14%”.
• Capital allocation remains a catalyst: $351M buybacks in Q2 ($552M YTD), $312M debt retired via equity-for-debt exchange, and Board-approved May 30 distribution of remaining Amentum (AMTM) shares; quarterly dividend maintained at $0.32/share.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

• What Went Well

  • EPS quality and margin execution: Adjusted EPS +22% y/y to $1.43; adjusted EBITDA grew to $287M, with adjusted EBITDA margin at 13.4% (+62 bps y/y), despite JV headwind and FX drag.
  • Backlog and bookings momentum: Backlog $22.2B (+20% y/y), TTM book-to-bill 1.3x; gross profit in backlog +15% y/y, signaling durable forward profit mix.
  • PA Consulting re-acceleration: Revenue growth inflected to ~5% with operating profit +12% y/y and ~22% margin; UK public sector improving while US PA up ~15% y/y.
  • Quote: “We delivered strong second quarter results… good year-over-year growth in adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin and adjusted EPS.” – CFO Venk Nathamuni.

• What Went Wrong

  • Revenue miss: GAAP revenue $2.91B vs S&P Global consensus $3.00B, impacted by an unfavorable interim JV ruling (reserve) and FX; the reserve fully hit revenue/operating profit due to consolidation.
  • JV legal matter: 50/50 consolidated JV reserve reduced revenue and OP; while NCI captures partner share, visibility limited due to legal sensitivity; management believes it is “appropriately reserved”.
  • GAAP volatility from AMTM stake: $109.5M mark-to-market loss on Amentum reduced GAAP EPS to $0.10; non-operating, but adds earnings noise.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Krista, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Jacobs Fiscal Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw your question, press the star one again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference over to Bert Subin, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Bert, you may begin.

Bert Subin (SVP of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Krista, and good morning, everyone. Our earnings announcement and 10Q were filed this morning, and we have posted a slide presentation on our website, which we'll reference during the call. I would like to refer you to slide two of the presentation material for information about our forward-looking statements, non-GAAP financial measures, and operating metrics. Now let's turn to the agenda on slide three. Speaking on today's call will be Jacobs Chair and CEO Bob Pragada and CFO Venk Nathamuni. Bob will begin by providing comments on the business as well as highlights from our second quarter results and a recap of notable awards. Venkat will then provide a detailed review of our financial performance, including commentary on end market trends, cash flows, and balance sheet data. Finally, Bob will provide closing remarks, and then we'll open up the call for questions.

With that, I'll turn it over to our Chair and CEO, Bob Pragada.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss our second quarter 2025 business performance. I'm pleased to begin today's call by highlighting several key milestones we achieved in the separation of our former CMS and CNI businesses during March and April. This includes completing the planned equity for debt exchange and finalizing the remaining post-closing adjustments. These actions enabled us to exit our retained stake, reduce outstanding indebtedness, and on May 30th, we will make a final distribution of Amentum shares to our shareholders. While we will continue to provide transition services to Amentum for the next few months, we view the primary aspects of the transaction as now complete. We delivered strong operating performance during Q2, and I'd like to highlight a few key points. First, our adjusted EPS grew over 22% to $1.43, supported by solid year-over-year margin expansion.

Second, PA Consulting's revenue growth inflected positively, reaching mid-single digits and driving double-digit operating profit growth. Third, our backlog grew 20% to more than $22 billion, a new record. Overall, we are very pleased with our Q2 results. A good start to the first half, paired with strong bookings momentum, enables us to reaffirm our full-year guidance metrics. As noted in our earnings press release, we recorded a reserve during the quarter as a result of a legal matter involving a consolidated JV in which we have a 50% interest. The impact to adjusted net revenue and adjusted operating profit was meaningful. The associated project falls within our water and environmental end market in INAF and has been ongoing since 2016, but is now over 97% complete.

The fact that we were able to absorb this impact in Q2, grow adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, and particularly adjusted EPS by 22% year-over-year is a testament to our strong operating performance and capital return strategy. Before I get into more details on the quarter, I'd like to briefly touch on the current geopolitical backdrop. Overall, our business remains well-positioned with infrastructure and consulting services in high demand and opportunities to capitalize on secular growth trends in front of us. The impact related to the rollout of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has so far been de minimis, and we continue to anticipate growth opportunities with the U.S. Department of Defense. As a reminder, approximately 9% of our total revenue comes from U.S. federal infrastructure and related services, most of which are tied to DOD engagements.

Regarding tariffs, we remain focused on supporting our clients as they assess potential supply chain challenges. Our client-centric model, built on redefining the asset lifecycle, will create opportunities to add value as our clients navigate this period of uncertainty. Turning to slide four and focusing on our results, adjusted net revenue rose over 3% in Q2. Revenue growth during Q2 was adversely impacted by the JV matter I noted earlier, as well as FX. On a constant currency basis alone, we would have grown 80 basis points faster or approximately 4% year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 was $287 million, representing an 8% year-on-year increase. We are seeing very good traction on adjusted EBITDA margin improvement with solid underlying business performance. Excluding the mark-to-market impact from our investment in Amentum stock and other items, Q2 adjusted EPS was $1.43, a robust 22% increase compared to previous year.

Our trailing 12-month book-to-bill was 1.3 times, with consolidated backlog of 20% year-over-year in Q2. Gross profit and backlog increased 15% year-over-year, reflecting another strong quarter for bookings. Our backlog growth and bookings momentum remain positive, and we are currently forecasting sequential growth in our second-half results, which Bank will walk through in more detail shortly. Turning to slide five, I'd like to highlight a few notable INAF project awards from Q2. As we discussed at our Investor Day in February, the core pillar of our strategy is to redefine the asset lifecycle for our clients. Today and going forward, we'll highlight how our awards align with our five-year strategy. In water and environmental, we continue to see strong underlying revenue growth, especially in water, where global demand remains high, among the highest in our portfolio. Our differentiation in water stems from our full lifecycle coverage and proprietary technology suite.

In Q2, we secured an OT cybersecurity contract with Hampton Roads Sanitation District, one of the largest in the U.S. water sector. This project provides end-to-end cybersecurity for wastewater treatment operations, serving 1.9 million people in Southeast Virginia. Another key area of focus for our water clients is emerging contaminants. PFAS and other contaminants present major challenges, and we are at the forefront of providing early-stage solutions for our clients. In Q2, we were selected by the City of Boynton Beach, Florida, to design upgrades at two water treatment plants to remove PFAS from groundwater. Beyond addressing emerging contaminants regulations, these upgrades will modernize aging infrastructure and meet the region's growing demand for clean drinking water. In life sciences and advanced manufacturing, we continue to deliver strong results. Life sciences and data centers were the primary drivers of end-market revenue growth, both seeing double-digit increases during the quarter.

Life sciences growth is being driven by broad-based investment, including new engineering, procurement, and program management work for Merck's $1 billion oncology products facility in Delaware. The facility will have the capability to manufacture drugs like Keytruda, and we expect to see backlog spend continue through the facility's estimated completion in 2028. Focusing on data centers, where we offer holistic cross-sector solutions that span advanced facilities, energy and power, water, environmental, and digital, we were selected by PsiQuantum as the owner-engineer for one of the world's first utility-scale quantum computing facilities in Brisbane, Australia. Backed by our number one ENR ranking in data centers, we're proud to help bring this next-generation computing capability to life and see a great opportunity to expand our global data center footprint in the coming quarters. Turning to critical infrastructure, rising global travel demand, transportation modernization, and energy security requirements are reshaping client priorities.

We see global aviation investment as a durable growth driver for our transportation segment and one where we can leverage our core competencies in consulting and program management. Notably, in Q2, we were selected as the owner-engineer for Denver International Airport's continued expansion of its transportation system. This is a prime example of Jacobs helping cities prepare for future growth with smarter, more connected infrastructure. In summary, our significant awards this quarter reinforce our alignment to high-growth markets. We remain focused on delivering sustainable, profitable growth by providing differentiated, digitally enabled solutions to the world's most complex challenges. Now I'll turn the call over to Venk to review our financial results in further detail.

Venk Nathamuni (CFO)

Thank you, Bob, and good morning, everybody. Let me begin by summarizing a few of the financial highlights on slide number six, followed by additional context on quarterly performance. Second quarter gross revenue grew 2% year-over-year, and adjusted net revenue excludes pass-through revenue grew by 3%. As Bob noted, we experienced an FX headwind in the second quarter and also absorbed the impact of the previously noted legal reserve in connection with a matter involving a consolidated 50/50 joint venture. Due to the consolidation of the joint venture, the full amount of the reserve was taken against revenue and, as a result, impacted operating profit. However, the JV partner's allocable portion is included in non-controlling interest. Therefore, the impact on EBITDA and EPS is half of the impact on revenue. Q2 adjusted EBITDA was $287 million, growing more than 8% year-over-year.

Our adjusted EBITDA margin during Q2 came in strong at 13.4%, which is an increase of 62 basis points versus the same quarter last year. We were able to offset the anticipated impact in Q2 from holiday timing, as well as the impact of the JV matter through some strong performance on gross margin and discipline on G&A costs. As a result, in the second quarter, adjusted EPS rose to $1.43, a 22% increase year-over-year. Please note, GAAP EPS was impacted by a $109 million pre-tax loss associated with the mark-to-market adjustment of our investment in Amentum. This had no impact on adjusted EPS. Finally, consolidated backlog was up 20% year-over-year to a record $22.2 billion. Our trailing 12-month book-to-bill of 1.3 times remains very healthy. Gross profit and backlog increased 15% year-over-year during Q2, a strong indicator of our positioning over the coming quarters and years.

Regarding our performance by end markets and infrastructure and advanced facilities, let's turn to slide number seven. Demand for services in the water and environmental end market remains strong across all major geographies, with particularly good underlying performance in water during Q2. Not only was core performance positive, but we also continued to grow our revenue and backlog, and our pipeline in water is growing by double digits. Total adjusted net revenue growth for water and environmental was 2% in Q2, which includes the adverse impact from the previously mentioned JV matter. As we shift into the second half of the year, we expect net revenue growth to improve to the mid to high single-digit range. In our life sciences and advanced manufacturing end market, adjusted net revenue grew approximately 6% in Q2, pacing better than our guidance that revenue growth would be similar to Q1.

We continue to see favorable demand in both the life sciences and data center markets, and we expect to see improvement in semiconductors in the coming quarters. Overall, we anticipate life sciences and advanced manufacturing growth will remain healthy in the second half of the year. In critical infrastructure, adjusted net revenue increased over 2% year-on-year. Within this end market, energy and power is our fastest-growing vertical, a trend we expect to continue. On the transportation side, we saw solid growth aided by the Middle East. Mid-single-digit revenue growth collectively in these two verticals was partially offset by flatter growth in cities & places due to specific timing-related items. Looking ahead, we like our positioning in critical infrastructure and anticipate sequential revenue growth from Q2 to Q3. Now, moving on to slide number eight, I'll provide a brief overview of our segment financials.

In Q2, infrastructure and advanced facilities operating profit was approximately flat in total and on a constant currency basis versus last year. As we noted earlier, Q2 operating profit was impacted by the reserve taken in connection with the JV matter. As we are guided, PA Consulting delivered a meaningful return to revenue growth this quarter, along with strong bottom-line execution. This resulted in operating profit increasing 12% year-over-year in total and on a constant currency basis, with a strong 22% margin performance. PA Consulting's momentum in energy and utilities and life sciences has been augmented by improving public sector spending in the U.K. We continue to see favorable trends in PA's backlog and pipeline, both of which serve as positive leading indicators. Moving on to slide number nine, we provide an overview of cash generation and our balance sheet. Overall, our balance sheet remains in excellent shape exiting Q2.

We returned a record amount of capital back to shareholders during the second quarter, with very little effect on our net leverage ratio. As we look ahead to the second half of the year, we're forecasting strong free cash flow generation. Focusing in the quarter, during Q2, free cash flow was -$114 million, which was in line with our expectations and our prior guidance. This reflects a few seasonal cash timing events consistent with patterns we've seen in prior years. During the quarter, we repurchased $351 million in shares, which is a quarterly record for Jacobs. We also finalized an equity for debt transaction using our retained stake in Amentum, which reduced our outstanding debt by $312 million. Summing this all up, we ended the quarter right at the midpoint of our 1.0-1.5 times net leverage target.

Subsequent to Q2, we received $70 million in favorable working capital adjustments and finalized ownership in shares of Amentum that were previously held in escrow. We used the cash received from the working capital adjustment to further reduce our debt during Q3. In addition, following recent board approval, we will distribute the Amentum shares released from escrow to our shareholders on a pro rata basis at the end of this month. Based on yesterday's closing price, this represents approximately $159 million in incremental capital returns to shareholders. Our balance sheet strength supports continued investment in the business, along with returns to shareholders via share repurchases and long-term dividend growth. Our commitment to return capital to shareholders is evidenced by our $0.32 per share dividend, representing 10% year-over-year growth, as well as our meaningful increase in share repurchase activity in the first half of the year.

In total, we returned $628 million to shareholders through repurchases and dividends over the past two quarters alone. This puts us on track to potentially return more than 100% of adjusted free cash flow in fiscal year 2025, excluding the distribution of Amentum shares. While we plan to remain consistent buyers of our own shares, we also continue to evaluate increasing our investment in PA Consulting. Finally, please turn to slide number 10. We are pleased to reaffirm our fiscal 2025 outlook for adjusted net revenue to grow mid to high single digits year-over-year, adjusted EBITDA margin to range from 13.8% to 14%, reported free cash flow conversion to be more than 100%, and adjusted EPS of $5.85-$6.20. Now, to assist with your modeling, let me highlight a few items related to the remainder of fiscal year 2025.

We continue to anticipate revenue will rise sequentially through year-end, with Q3 net revenue expected to grow 5% to 7% year-on-year based on our current view of global market conditions. Notably, a significant portion of our expected revenues in the second half of the year will come from our backlog. On margins, we expect to approach a 14% adjusted EBITDA margin in Q3, and we remain well-positioned to meet our full-year guidance range of 13.8%-14%. We will control discretionary spending in response to market conditions. Overall, we feel positive about our adjusted EPS trajectory. In summary, we continue to expect sequential improvement in net revenue and operating profit as we progress through the second half of the fiscal year. We're very pleased with our margin performance and strong trailing 12-month bookings, both of which set us up for profitable growth in the quarters and years ahead.

With that, I'll turn the call back over to Bob.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you, Venk. In closing, with a solid first half of FY 2025 behind us, we see a good setup in the second half of the year, aided by continued booking strength and margin momentum. With our sharpened portfolio aligned to critical global megatrends and our five-year strategy driving focus and discipline, we are confident in our ability to deliver sustainable, profitable growth over the long term. Operator, we will now open the call for questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you'd like to withdraw that question, press star one again. We also ask that you limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Your first question comes from the line of Andy Kaplowitz with Citi. Please go ahead.

Andy Kaplowitz (Managing Director)

Hey, good morning, everyone.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Good morning, Andy.

Andy Kaplowitz (Managing Director)

Bob or Venk, so backlog, impressive up 20% year-over-year, but as you know, adjusting net revenue growth was up three. Maybe you can quantify the reserve for us in revenue. And I know you have longer-duration projects in backlog, but are you seeing more careful spending with customers? And then sort of that visibility to get to 5%-7% growth in Q3, do you need to see an acceleration in customer spend to get there in Q3?

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Andy, maybe I'll answer the second half of your question, and then on the legal reserve, I'll turn it over to Venk. On the second half of your question, we were very clear that the second half, we actually have predominance of that in backlog today and have a level of confidence on how that backlog is going to burn over the course of the next two quarters and beyond. Our confidence level is strong on that front. As far as customer decisions with the macro backdrop right now, the procurement cycle is extending a bit, sure, but we're not seeing broad cancellations or delays in the execution. It's probably more on the front end of the procurement cycle. Venk, with that, maybe the legal reserve.

Venk Nathamuni (CFO)

Yeah, thank you, Andy. Clearly, we absorbed the impact of the legal reserve, but to kind of quantify it, given that it's a legal matter and it's an ongoing JV matter, we want to be cognizant of all the implications there. Suffice it to say that it is included as part of our non-controllable interest accounting or NCI accounting, and it's a consolidated JV. We've clarified that it's 50/50. As we use NCI accounting, which we have fully disclosed in our queue and in our footnotes, it's easy for you to figure out what those numbers are. All I can say is that this is something that we feel we're appropriately reserved for. This is something, obviously, it was a headwind to our current quarter, but we clearly absorbed it and came up with the results that we did.

Andy Kaplowitz (Managing Director)

That's helpful. Maybe you guys can talk about what you're seeing by region. You mentioned PA picked up. Backlog there is actually pretty strong. Maybe just PA and then the overall U.K. business, is it still a little bit more choppy? Middle East, is it hanging in there? What are you assuming for FX given the recent weakness of the U.S. dollar?

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Sure. Maybe I'll cover kind of the regions and then Venk can talk about FX. PA, really good quarter, inflecting to growth. Energy and utilities and health and life sciences in Europe, PA is really starting to see some nice tailwinds there. PA's U.S. business is now up nearly 15% year-on-year. Continued growth in the U.S., backlog growing at solid double digits. One of the areas that probably from a rate of growth with PA is picking up, and this kind of goes, Andy, to your second point with regards to the U.K., and I'll kind of go into the Jacobs broader enterprise as well, is defense and security. PA is one of the leaders in defense and security, advising both MoD as well as other EU countries. That has seen a significant uptick in the quarter and with backlog.

For the balance of the year, we see a good trajectory there with PA. With the Jacobs business, transportation and water continue to be strong for us in the U.K., mid-single digits with regards to those areas. Some of the buildings work or what we call cities and places, a little bit of a longer procurement cycle. Overall, we're not seeing any kind of any major headwinds in Europe, and more specifically in the U.K. If anything, I'd probably characterize it as a bit of a rebound. Middle East, strong. We continue to grow at double digits in the Middle East. Again, we were very selective on the programs that we were in the middle of. We're now involved with some time-based programs that have kind of end dates to them with world events that are happening and tourists coming into the Middle East.

Overall, we're positive on the Middle East and being very sensitive to any type of macro oscillations there. Venk, you want to talk about FX?

Venk Nathamuni (CFO)

Yeah, thanks, Bob. As we noted in the prepared remarks, FX was clearly a headwind for us in Q2. I think we said our revenue would have been 80 basis points higher if it were not for the FX impact. Now, fortunately, as we look ahead into Q3, if FX rates were to remain where they are today, that would be a decent tailwind. Hard to quantify it, but certainly, if things persist as they are so far, it'll be a positive for us in Q3.

Andy Kaplowitz (Managing Director)

Appreciate the call, guys.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Thanks, Andy.

Operator (participant)

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

Andy Wittmann (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Yeah, great. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess on free cash flow, maybe for Venk, obviously, the first half of the year is always slower than the second half of the year, but I was just hoping you could kind of help us understand how you get to the 100% greater than 100% conversion this year in terms of the quarterly cadence. Do you expect here the fiscal third quarter to start chipping away and get you back to where you need to be to hit that level, or do you feel like it's going to be very fourth quarter loaded?

Venk Nathamuni (CFO)

Andy, thanks for the question. You're exactly right. This is Q2, which tends to be a seasonally slow quarter for cash collections. Usually, it's typified by payments of 401(k), cash taxes, and so forth. For looking ahead for Q3 and Q4, we feel pretty good about our cash flow outlook. It's going to be a pretty substantial step up in Q3. It's not just Q4 back and loaded. We feel pretty good about where we're going to end Q3. That gives us good confidence that our free cash flow for the full year will be in excess of 100%.

Andy Wittmann (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Got it. Maybe, Bob, for you with my follow-up, I wanted to ask about your profit margins and heard the approaching 14% adjusted EBITDA guidance here that you talked about for the third quarter. Maybe if you just talk about the organization right now and discuss where your utilization rates stand this year as compared to last year and progress on any other initiatives that you have in the organization to improve your efficiencies and where those programs and processes stand. Thank you.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Sure. Maybe I'd characterize it in two parts, Andy. We did start off the year, I'd call it in kind of early January, and I think we telegraphed a little bit in the last earnings call where utilization was down a bit where we had that kind of shifting of the holiday season spilling over into Q2. Since January, our utilization has picked up, and I'd say it's on par from where we were in not just last year, but previous years. Going into the second half, what we're seeing is, if you remember back in Q3 and Q4 of last year, we had some lumpy wins. That's a good thing. In Q3 and Q4, those early phases of those major programs, those are now inflecting into kind of the detailed design, the production engineering component of those jobs.

We're seeing utilization just in the early part of Q3 pick up to exceed where we were in previous quarters. That's how kind of we're seeing the utilization profile. PA utilization is definitely better than it was last year, and that is a testament to all the initiatives that the team has been working on over the course of the last six-plus quarters. I'd say from an initiative standpoint, we are seeing some really nice growth in our digital business. If you look at just as we measure it as a P&L, and then we measure our digital platforms, how they're catalyzing the balance of our business, just as an individual business, that business has grown smaller number, double digit on the bottom line from an OP standpoint.

I think the digital enablement, really working on that horizontal that we talked in the investor day, all of those are coming through in real time. Go ahead.

Venk Nathamuni (CFO)

If I could add to it, Andy, I'd say from a margin perspective, clearly you've seen us execute to the 13.4% for this quarter. We're guiding to close to 14% in Q3. That's driven by the fact that, as we mentioned at investor day, there are multiple levers that we can pull in terms of margin performance. Utilization, obviously, is one aspect of it, but clearly from the standpoint of the mix improvements, more global delivery, and so forth. A lot of those things are still in the early stages of implementing. We feel, and finally, with the operating leverage that we talked about, I think the combination of those things gives us good line of sight to get to close to 14% in Q3 and for the full year at 13.8%-14% range.

Andy Wittmann (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you.

Venk Nathamuni (CFO)

You're welcome.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Steven Fisher with UBS. Please go ahead.

Steven Fisher (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Thanks. Good morning. Just wanted to follow up about the JV project here. I know it's a sensitive topic, so not sure how much more you can say, but it sounds like it's almost complete. Just curious how this ruling is reflective or not on sort of productivity and performance of the project and just anything we should be aware of for the remaining kind of handful of % of complete that needs to get done here.

Venk Nathamuni (CFO)

Yeah. Can't necessarily go into that level of detail, Steve, but I would say that we're appropriately reserved. The remaining items on the program are well within reach. We're not overly concerned there. As far as any detail on the content of what it's about, I can't disclose. What we will say, though, is that we are working hard with our partner in order to close it out and don't have a high level of concern there. I will say this, though, Steve, this is not indicative of any kind of shift in our risk profile. We still have a low risk profile. If you kind of track us over the course of the last 10-plus years, these are events that are very infrequent if you count them on one finger. That's kind of how we look at it.

Steven Fisher (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Okay. That's helpful. You were talking before with Andy Kaplowitz about some of the kind of procurement delays. I mean, we're hearing broadly about just rising costs of construction in recent weeks. It's not surprising in light of steel and tariffs, etc. I'm curious what you're hearing from your customers specifically about the higher construction costs. Does that drive any sort of value engineering opportunity for you? Does it sort of lengthen the planning period since you said it's sort of like kind of front end of the cycle? Just sort of wondering what the balance of puts and takes are for Jacobs on sort of a higher construction cost landscape.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah. Maybe I'll start off by saying the projects that we're involved with that have a pretty sizable field component, these are jobs that are less, if any, discretionary-based and more based on business transformation. If you think about the private sector, life sciences, data centers, these are investments that the clients are going forward in making. In water, these water jobs are long held on the books and have to deal with clean drinking water as well as the effects of climate and other impacts and natural disasters have had. These are jobs that are going forward. As far as the delays that we're seeing on those, that's an opportunity for the client to step back, you appropriately said, Steve, look at some value engineering opportunities. What this is really opening up is supply chain scenario planning.

We have been working with our clients on global supply chain networks. PA has got a really nice platform there with regards to supply chain consulting and helping our clients look for alternate avenues in the event, because remember, a lot of these tariffs have not happened, in the event these tariffs occur, what are some of the options that they have? That has created a bit of some consulting and advisory work for us to be in the middle of this.

Steven Fisher (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Terrific. Thank you very much.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Sabahat Khan with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Sabahat Khan (Managing Director)

Great. Thanks and good morning. Just, I guess, sounds like there's some headline volatility during the quarter, but net the backlog turned out well. I'm just curious, was that enough of a macro shock for some of your larger government customers that you deal with to start to think about maybe some level of stimulus spending through the back half of this year like we maybe saw post the COVID shock, or is it just too early in sort of the timeline or the macro situation for those type of discussions? Thanks.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah. Sabah, I probably would be not in a good place to articulate the size of it, but you're spot on. Some of those early, let's hit the pause button, especially with our DOD infrastructure clients, not knowing kind of which way the winds were going to blow, we are starting to see that come back into the second half. These things, as I mentioned on previous quarters, Sabah, these were never canceled. They were only maybe paused or a bit delayed. Those programs that have been approved and funds been appropriated are starting to come back. On the state and local business, not just in the states, but globally, those have not stopped. We didn't necessarily see that dynamic. It was probably more federal infrastructure, DOD infrastructure, that that applied to.

Sabahat Khan (Managing Director)

Great. As we kind of think back to some of the areas of focus or the end markets that you were talking about at your investor day, some of the things around semiconductors, healthcare, things like that, just wondering if across some of these end markets, you have seen some talk of reshoring-related projects or initial discussions, whether it's manufacturing or some of the other end markets that you operate in. Maybe are some of those early discussions happening? Thanks.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

They are. They are. Maybe I'll hone in on two end markets, life sciences and our semi-focus. These are clients that are looking at global supply chains and have had on their capital roadmap projects that are in multiple locations, predominantly the U.S. and Europe. Right now, we're kind of seeing the pull and push on either geography, and that's kind of leaning towards the U.S., which kind of plays right into our sweet spot. Semi is the same way. Some of the high-bandwidth manufacturers, as well as even some of the logic players, are starting to point those jobs into the U.S. I would say that it's early, though. It's early days, which actually still benefits Jacobs because we're on the early front-end planning site selection of these programs. Discussions are in real time.

The great thing about kind of the Jacobs platform is that we're there in any form. If it goes into one geography over the other, our global delivery model allows us to continue to use that talent across multiple geographies, whichever way it goes. Definitely a lot of scenario planning happening in real time.

Sabahat Khan (Managing Director)

Great. Thanks very much.

Operator (participant)

Thank you.

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

Michael Dudas (Equity Research Analyst)

Morning, Venk, Bob, thanks.

Venk Nathamuni (CFO)

Morning.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Morning, Mike.

Michael Dudas (Equity Research Analyst)

Bob, maybe you could share some further thoughts. You called out in your prepared remarks fast-growing water and fast-growing energy power. Any interesting dynamics around that, especially with energy power tied towards some of your larger LSAM customers?

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah. The grid modernization and kind of the electrification of all, Mike, has continued, not just in the U.S. tied to probably more of that data center positioning that's happening right now, but in Europe with regards to some energy security items that are happening. We're seeing it in Southeast Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand. That continues to grow. That sector, though it's a smaller component, but growing at a very fast rate, continues to grow at strong double digits. I think tied to kind of the data center component, we're going to continue to see growth on that front. Water, it is uniform across the world right now.

These programs, whether it be in the U.K., the AMP-8 cycle, as well as some larger frameworks that are coming up now, we, I think, publicly disclose what's going on with Central Utah, the West Basin in Southern California. These jobs that we've been working on for nearly a decade are now coming to fruition. We are seeing kind of that double-digit pipeline growth in multiple geographies, as well as strong P&L performance year on year. We believe that water is going to continue to become a larger part of our overall portfolio. Today, it represents about 25%. That's going to continue to grow.

Michael Dudas (Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you, Bob. My follow-up is, maybe share some thoughts on your comments about PA and increasing your investment. What's the genesis of that, and how's that evolved over the last couple of years?

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah. Maybe I'll start off, and then thank you. You can talk about some of the mechanics. When we went into the PA investment back four years ago, we had kind of the PE-style approach where partner invested model as well as ourselves with a liquidity event that would occur after year four and before year five. This is all public information as well. Now we're looking at this as a great opportunity to increase our investment in PA and continue to build on what a lot of hard work and a lot of sweat equity has gone into the partnership and taking it to the next phase. Really great time. PA is coming off of some real strong backlog growth of reemergence in the U.K. as well as the Europe business.

Together, just what you talked about at investor day, that strong consulting and advisory business driving the redefining of the asset life cycle is a great opportunity for us looking forward. More to follow on that piece. Yeah. Mike, if I could add to what Bob said, clearly from the standpoint of the partnership, it's deepening, it's strengthening in a multitude of ways. We're seeing that showing up in the results. We feel pretty good about the outlook for the remainder of the year, at least for Q3 and beyond. I'd say with that having said, we certainly have a very strong balance sheet, a lot of good cash generation ahead of us as well. We're committed to returning cash to shareholders. We've stated all along that we're considering an increased stake in PA. That's something that we're actively looking into.

We will keep you posted at the right time.

Michael Dudas (Equity Research Analyst)

Thanks, gentlemen.

Venk Nathamuni (CFO)

Thank you.

Michael Dudas (Equity Research Analyst)

Thanks, Mike.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Chad Dillard with Bernstein. Please go ahead.

Chad Dillard (Senior Analyst)

Hey, good morning, guys. I wanted to go back to the prepared remarks when you talked about gross profit and backlog up 15%. I was hoping you'd break down the drivers, self-help versus mix, just like relative proportion. And when do we see this inflection? Is it more of a 2025 event, or is this more of an opportunity for '26? Thanks.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, Chad, thanks for the questions. I would say, obviously, we're continuing to see good growth in our gross profit and backlog. To the extent that we are showing revenue growth for the full year, we do see a lot of opportunity for us to expand on that growth in the coming quarters and years. From a profitability standpoint, you can tell that the profitability has been steadily up and to the right. We expect that to continue in Q3 and Q4 as well. As I said, for the full year, at the midpoint of our guidance range, we'll be at a 13.9% EBITDA margin. It's a lot of factors associated with it. It's just the quality of our engagement. We talked about at investor day our commercial models and global delivery models and so forth.

A multitude of ways for us to increase the gross profit over time. That will translate into EBITDA margin as well as free cash flow in the coming quarters.

Chad Dillard (Senior Analyst)

Great. Just in terms of your second half revenue guide, can you walk through the moving parts within the subsegments of INAF just to get there?

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah. Why don't I kick it off, Chad, and then Ben can follow up. I'd say that I'd point to five main drivers of the second half revenue growth. These are, like I spoke about earlier, coming off of some of these awards have been public, but some of them also we can't disclose. Starting off with life sciences, some large wins, we disclosed the Fuji win, talked about the Merck win. Those are now coming into play as well as continued growth within GOP1. These, again, were jobs that have gone into our backlog over the course of the last few quarters. Water has been uniform, and that is now coming into the second half of the year. AMP-8 has been well discussed, as well as Jackson, Mississippi, and this West Basin win driving those.

These are just some reference points to highlight the growth. Semi, that high-bandwidth memory work that we're doing in the international work, that's now coming into play. You can kind of see this theme of energy and power and data centers also adding to that, giving us some real strong winds. Those are more steady growth for us. We have been steadily kind of mid-single digits growing in transportation, not just in the U.S., but also in Southeast Asia, specifically ANZ, and in Europe. Those have all kind of been off the backs of aviation, but some really strong highways and railwork too.

Right.

Venk Nathamuni (CFO)

Yeah. Just to add to what Bob said, when you look at across these different end markets that Bob highlighted and the specific wins, we've been talking about some of these bookings wins in the last several quarters. A lot of them are coming to fruition. You started some of them happening in Q2, but you're seeing an acceleration of that in Q3 and Q4. That's what gives us visibility into the 5%-7% sequential growth in Q3, and driven by the specific market opportunities as well as wins that we have demonstrated over the last several quarters.

Chad Dillard (Senior Analyst)

Great. Thanks, guys.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

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

Sangita Jane (Senior Analyst)

Hey, thank you for taking my question. Most of them have been answered. I am just going to follow up on details on a couple. One is on margins. I understand you gave us second half outlook, but I just want to make sure I understand which segment we should expect to inflect more strongly in third quarter since PA Consulting seems to be going at that 22% range anyway. Should we expect more of an inflection in IAF?

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, you're exactly right, Sangita. I think INAF is where we see the biggest margin improvement opportunity. It's a combination of not only the mix and GID and other things that we talked about in the past, but the fact that we are also seeing some good growth in some of these businesses that span the entirety of the life cycle, so to speak. We certainly also want to point out that we did absorb the full effect of the JV matter in the quarter. Therefore, we feel pretty good about where our margins can be in Q3 and Q4, such that it gives us good visibility to get to the 13.8-14% margins.

Sangita Jane (Senior Analyst)

Got it. Thanks. That was helpful. On the backlog, should we—I know last couple of quarters you've said that your backlog is longer duration and thus the stronger backlog growth versus revenue growth. Should we assume that the case in this quarter also? Is this maybe a strategic decision on your part to book these kind of larger, longer duration projects?

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

When you say this quarter, Sangita, you're talking about Q2?

Sangita Jane (Senior Analyst)

F2Q, yes.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, Q2. No, as far as a strategic decision to go after the larger programs, that's always been a part of our pedigree for several years. We're working with our clients in our clients' capital portfolio. There are larger jobs at times in their capital portfolio. There are smaller jobs. If you look at the 25,000-plus engagements, projects, programs that we have with our clients around the world, there will be a spread to the size of the jobs. I think the key point is that we're not chasing jobs. We're in the middle of our clients' capital budgets. Those have a spread and a profile to them.

Venk Nathamuni (CFO)

Sangita, if I can add to it, I would say it's more of a portfolio approach, right?

Depending on the end market, depending on how complete the asset life cycle is covered by a particular project, we kind of pick and choose. Having said that, we certainly want to have a nice balance between things that are faster burning, such that it has an immediate impact, and things that are longer-term in nature because that has a lot of visibility as well. It is kind of a balanced approach. On top of it, clearly, from a margin expansion standpoint, we certainly want to derive value for the value that we provide to clients.

Sangita Jane (Senior Analyst)

Great. Appreciate the answers. Thank you.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Jamie Cook with Truist Securities. Please go ahead.

Jamie Cook (Managing Director)

Hi, good morning. I guess just two quick follow-up questions. One, just on PA Consulting, it sounds like that's moving forward earlier, I think, than some people would have thought. I guess just broader, Bob, how are you thinking about besides PA Consulting as we look to 2026? What's your appetite for sort of broader M&A in addition to PA Consulting? My follow-up question, Ben, just on the guide, given where we are, where earnings came out in the first half of the year, it seems like, I don't know, the high end or anything above the midpoint is probably more challenged to get there. I mean, is that how you're viewing things? Should we look at the sort of the low end to mid end of the guide as more likely versus high end? Thanks. On EPS.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Sure. Sure. Jamie, maybe on the first one, the PA timing, and maybe that's just how we articulate it, the PA timing has not been pulled forward. That was always—it's kind of on schedule. We really wanted to make sure that we were at a point where the strength of the partnership and the collaboration that we're seeing on different opportunities has really come to fruition. That's actually, I'd call it right on track. A lot of hard work has been done by both parties to get it there. More to follow on that front. As far as anything further, not now. This is an organic execution play. We feel really strongly, along with PA, that the portfolio is where we need it.

We need to continue to focus in on our clients, ourselves, and the model that we have in a return of capital to shareholders. That is the path that we're on right now.

Venk Nathamuni (CFO)

Yeah. Jamie, if I take the second part of your question, which is on the guidance. Clearly, we've given guidance for Q3, which is based on everything that you heard Bob and I talk about in terms of our end market exposure and so forth. We feel comfortable with the 5-7% growth rate. The more important part is on the margin expansion front. We feel really good about the 13.8-14% margin.

When you take all of that into account, from the standpoint of our EPS, we feel pretty good about getting there, just driven by not only the revenue growth, but as well as the margin expansion as well as EPS. Obviously, we are cognizant of what's happening in the macro. We continue to watch it, and we will take appropriate actions. Suffice it to say that where we stand right now with the business key metrics that we're watching, we feel comfortable with the 5-7% sequential growth rate.

Jamie Cook (Managing Director)

Thank you.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

You're welcome.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Jerry Rivich with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Jerry Rivich (Analyst)

Yes, hi. Good morning, everyone.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Hi. Good morning, Jerry.

Jerry Rivich (Analyst)

Hi. As we look at the performance geographically, you folks had outstanding growth in the Middle East and India, nearly half of your dollar growth in the quarter. Can you just talk about how much runway you have to grow in those regions? Separately, the U.S. has been roughly flattish, just given the projects that you folks spoke about. Can you just put a finer point on whether you expect your top-line growth to accelerate in the U.S. as you laid out the framework over the balance of the year?

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Sure. Let me address the first part, India and the Middle East. Jerry, we see—I do not want to go so far to say limitless—but our growth potential in the Middle East and India is not constrained by resource. With our global delivery model, where if you go to the Middle East on any of these larger programs that we have, we literally have the United Nations there on site. It is a testament to our very inclusive culture that we have worked on so hard at Jacobs. I think the use of people and talent from around the world in the Middle East continues to facilitate that growth trajectory. India is kind of the reverse.

The ability for our Indian talent to not only support now what's happening with regards to technology manufacturing in India, as well as India for the rest of the world, continues to grow. I think that those two areas continue to be really strong areas of growth, not just for that geography, but also how those geographies facilitate the balance of growth. On the U.S., I think that you might be looking at a gross number. The net service revenue that we are experiencing in the U.S. right now across our verticals is in growth mode. Maybe we could talk a little bit more about that offline and kind of showing that full picture. That growth in the U.S. continues to be a strong part of our business.

Jerry Rivich (Analyst)

Super. Just to put a finer point on the project selection part of the conversation, the write down in water and environmental, can you just talk about, for you folks, obviously unusual relative to history, are there any other projects that are of similar vintage or of similar risks within the portfolio or any projects where you're monitoring risk factors given the write down?

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah. Jerry, our project risk doctrine with strong governance over that remains strong across the entire portfolio. These are not events that happen not even routine, but even in a decade. I think that this project selection, we've been involved with this job, I said 2016, the early conceptualization of these programs or even beyond that. It's something that we've worked with the client for a long time. It's one that has had a tremendous impact on the community. Selection, I'm not questioning that at all. As well as the tools and the risk mitigation that we utilize across our portfolio remains very strong. These are situations that happen. Again, we're appropriately reserved and feel strongly about the entirety of the portfolio.

Jerry Rivich (Analyst)

Okay. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

That concludes our question and answer session. I will now turn the conference back over to Bob Pragada for closing comments.

Bob Pragada (Chairman and CEO)

Everyone, thank you for joining our earnings call. We look forward to engaging with many of you over the coming days and weeks and look forward to a strong second half. Thank you, everyone.

Operator (participant)

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.