V2X - Q4 2025

Transcript

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Thank you for joining us for the V2X Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. Today's call is being recorded. My name is Gary, and I'll be the operator for today's call. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen-only mode. Following management's presentation, I will open up the call for a Q&A session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Now I'll pass the call over to your host, Mike Smith, Vice President of Treasury, Investor Relations, and Corporate Development at V2X. Please go ahead.

Mike Smith (VP of Treasury, Investor Relations, and Corporate Development)

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the V2X Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Joining us today are Jeremy Wensinger, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Shawn Mural, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Slides for today's presentation are available on the investor relations section of our website, gov2x.com. Please turn to slide two. During today's presentation, management will be making forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the federal securities laws. Please review our safe harbor statements in our press release and presentation materials for a description of some of the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results contemplated by these forward-looking statements.

The company assumes no obligation to update its forward-looking statements. In addition, in today's remarks, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures because management believes such measures are useful to investors. You can find a reconciliation of these measures to the most comparable measure, calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP on our slide presentation and in our earnings release filed with the SEC, both of which are available on the investor relations section of our website. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Jeremy.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Thank you, Mike, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Please turn to slide three. Today, we'll be providing a recap of our fourth quarter and full year financials for 2025. We will also share more on our positioning and expectations for 2026. I'm pleased with the team's execution and our financial performance, which underscores the strength of our strategy and alignment with national security priorities for readiness and modernization. Looking to the future, we are focused on leading with innovation. We are continuing to prioritize investments and expanded partnerships to deliver innovative solutions that anticipate and fulfill our customer requirements. These growth priorities are further supported by the strength of our capital structure. We continue to see momentum across the business coming through contract wins in our key growth areas, and we are encouraged by the ongoing demand for our mission solutions.

As we continue to execute our strategy and innovate the base, we are doing so from a strong position. Our focus on cash generation has yielded positive results. We have a strong capital structure and the flexibility to strategically deploy capital. We believe V2X is well-positioned to continue delivering enhanced value for both customers and shareholders in 2026, as supported by the financial outlook we provided today. With that, let's turn to slide four. With more detail around the fourth quarter and full year 2025 results and the progress we made. We reported solid top-line growth and strong operating performance. In the fourth quarter, we drove record quarterly revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted cash flow. This is a testament to our commitment to generate value.

Revenue increased 5% year-over-year to a record $1.22 billion. For the full year, revenue grew 4% to $4.48 billion, hitting the upper end of our 2025 guidance range. Adjusted EBITDA was $88.7 million for the quarter, a record for the company. In exceeding our expectations, we delivered a full-year Adjusted EBITDA of $323.3 million, with a margin of 7.2%. Adjusted net income was $49.3 million, and Adjusted EPS was $1.56, both representing double-digit year-over-year growth. Adjusted net income was $166.8 million for the full year, representing a 20% increase year-over-year. Adjusted diluted EPS was $5.24 for 2025, increasing 21% year-over-year.

Our ongoing emphasis on reducing debt and generating cash allowed us to improve our net debt by $116 million compared to last year. As a result, our net leverage ratio now stands at 2.2 times. Shawn will share more of our financials and our outlook later in the presentation. Turning to slide five, the progress we have made this year exemplifies how our readiness-enabled solutions continue to support our customers' evolving requirements and create tailwinds for continued growth. We have won a number of recent contracts across key growth areas, reflecting both the depth of our customer relationships and our ability to deliver at-scale, complex, high-consequence missions. In 2025, we delivered two contract wins valued at more than $1 billion each, and 10 awards, each exceeding $100 million.

In supporting mission readiness, the successful T-6 Aircraft Award represents approximately $4.3 billion and underscores customer confidence in our execution and industry-leading readiness rates. Similarly, the F-16 Modernization and Services Award reflects our ability to support fleet readiness through modernization, sustainment, integrated support, and capabilities that remain essential to our customers' mission priorities. We are also seeing continued traction in training and services. The more than $100 million General Motors training award demonstrates how our core competency translates effectively across both defense and commercial environments. In advanced capabilities, the MDA SHIELD IDIQ award positions us to extend our space domain awareness and emerging missile defense priorities. The Advanced Technology Support Program IV IDIQ reflects our growing role in rapid development and fielding of emerging technologies, an area where speed, integration, and trust matter deeply.

For national security programs, our classified awards across cyber operations and systems reinforce the relevance of our capabilities in highly sensitive, mission-critical environments. Looking ahead, our qualified pipeline stands at more than $60 billion, reflecting both scale of opportunities and demand for our offerings. We talked through 2025 about an increase of 50% in bid velocity. That's exactly what we did. Our continued investment in people, process, and technology have allowed us to pursue expanded opportunities. In 2026, we are targeting an additional 30% increase as we further leverage investments to capture larger and more complex programs. We are confident in our momentum exiting 2025 and our ability to carry it forward. We are aligned with well-funded priorities, have secured long-duration programs, and are positioned with customers who value proven execution.

Before we move on, I want to note that this slide really represents a company that's winning. V2X excels in mission-critical work with long-term customers in areas aligned with national security priorities. As we look ahead, we believe this foundation positions V2X well for continued growth. Turning to slide six, I'd like to discuss something that we are very excited about and the transformation it represents. We are continuing to build our technology-first foundation, including targeted investment in best-in-class partnerships. These efforts are driving innovation across our base and improving outcomes for our customers. Let me walk through how we think about this. Our investments are focused on high-growth opportunities where technology can accelerate modernization and strengthen our technical depth for customers. These investments are designed to use data to move us faster from concept to deployment, while remaining tightly aligned with mission needs.

Second, we are partnering with the best. We recognize that innovation at scale requires access to world-class platforms and capabilities. That's why we've established partnerships with leading technology companies that bring AI, data automation, and advanced robotic capabilities to deliver mission outcomes. Recently, we announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services to advance smart warehousing and global logistics automation. This partnership helps modernize supply chains, improve visibility, and enhance resilience across distributed operations. We also recently partnered with Google Public Sector to deploy secure, responsible AI solutions in a way that meets the stringent security and compliance requirements of our customers. These partnerships allow our customers to benefit from proven, scalable platforms, and V2X provides the mission context, integration experience, and operational know-how needed to deploy them effectively at speed. These initiatives allow us to apply top-tier innovation across our base.

We will be able to innovate program execution through predictive, data-enabled solutions to improve decision-making, increase speed, and drive more consistent outcomes. Simply put, we are deepening our bias for innovation. We are transforming our global presence into a true global persistence through speed and execution. With operations expanding some of the most complex environments in the world, speed matters. By connecting data, systems, and teams across geographies, we will be able to execute faster, respond quicker, and deliver consistent performance at scale. We are turning our footprint into a strategic advantage.

When you put it all together, you can see how our capabilities come to life. This is what we mean by technology-first solutions, mission-tested engineering, and global persistent operations working together. No one is better positioned than V2X to meet the mission needs of our customers today and tomorrow. Our recent progress reflects our strategy, and as we continue to invest, partner, and innovate with discipline, we believe V2X is uniquely positioned to extend that momentum, delivering greater value for our customers and creating sustainable long-term value for our shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to Shawn for a review of our financials.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Thank you, Jeremy. Good afternoon, everyone. Please turn to slide seven. The value V2X delivers for its customers was clearly demonstrated in the fourth quarter, with notable top-line growth and strong operating performance. Revenue in the fourth quarter increased 5% to $1,219 million. Growth was primarily fueled by our training, Foreign Military Sales, and rapid prototyping programs. Adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was $88.7 million, a record for the company. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 7.3%. Interest expense in the fourth quarter was $19.6 million. Cash interest expense was $18 million, improving $4.7 million year-over-year. Net income for the quarter was $22.8 million. Adjusted net income was $49.3 million, up 16% year-over-year.

Fourth quarter diluted EPS was $0.72, based on 31.6 million weighted average shares. Adjusted diluted EPS in the quarter increased approximately 17% year-over-year to a record $1.56. Adjusted operating cash flow in the fourth quarter was $172.4 million. I feel it important to highlight that the extended government shutdown did not have a material effect on our financial results in the fourth quarter, further demonstrating the enduring and mission-aligned nature of our business. Please turn to slide eight, where I'll discuss our full year results. Revenue in 2025 increased 4% on a year-over-year basis to $4.48 billion. Adjusted EBITDA for the year was $323.3 million, exceeding the high end of our guidance range.

Interest expense for the year was $79.9 million. Cash interest expense was $73.7 million, improving approximately $27 million compared to the prior year period, demonstrating our proactive repricing activities, debt paydown, and cash flow generation. Net income for the year was $77.9 million. Adjusted net income was $166.8 million, increasing 20% year-over-year. Diluted EPS for the year was $2.45. Adjusted diluted EPS increased 21% year-over-year to $5.24, exceeding the high end of our range. Year-to-date net cash provided by operating activities was $182 million. Adjusted net cash provided by operating activities was $148.3 million.

The ability to generate strong cash is an important characteristic of our business and is further highlighted on slide nine. In 2025, our solid cash flow generation drove a $116 million year-over-year improvement in net debt to $758 million. This positive performance yielded a net leverage ratio of 2.2 times, representing over one full turn of improvement in just 24 months. We thought it important to highlight that we achieved this success while executing our capital allocation strategy, which included deploying over $50 million in the second half of the year to accelerate value creation. The strength of our balance sheet and cash flow provides substantial flexibility and optionality to deploy capital, including internal investments, and to strategically acquire complementary capabilities, access to new channels, and solutions that accelerate our growth strategy.

In summary, we are executing on the capital allocation strategy we outlined in the second quarter and see further opportunities in 2026 and beyond. Please turn to slide 10. Our backlog and recent wins provide a clear path to revenue growth as we look into 2026. Our backlog at the end of the year was $11.1 billion. Funded backlog improved slightly from the last quarter to $2.3 billion. Important to note that our backlog at the end of the year does not include the approximate $4 billion T-6 award. Subsequent to the fourth quarter, the award decision to V2X was upheld, and we expect to book this award to backlog in the first quarter. This is a great outcome for V2X, representing a milestone program that we expect to add positively to our backlog and revenue visibility.

We look forward to delivering our industry-leading mission readiness rates for this important training platform. The book-to-bill ratio for the trailing 12 months was 0.9, in line with our expectations and consistent with our commentary last quarter. As previously mentioned, we expect book-to-bill will be above 1 in 2026. Please turn to slide 11. We made exceptional progress executing our strategy in 2025. Looking ahead, we believe our recent wins, backlog, limited recompetes, and solutions that are transforming the speed with which our customers can achieve mission readiness positions us to continue this momentum. For 2026, revenue is expected to be $4.675 billion-$4.825 billion.

We expect revenue growth to accelerate to 6% or $4.75 billion at the midpoint, which compares favorably when taking into account 2025 revenue was at the upper end of our guidance range. Revenue in 2026 incorporates the incremental contribution from our training, Foreign Military Sales and rapid prototyping programs, as well as the initial ramp on T-6 and completion of previously referenced certain mission support activities in the Middle East. Additionally, a % of revenue expected to come from recompetes has improved going into 2026, and now represents approximately 3% of revenue at the midpoint of the guide. Adjusted EBITDA is estimated at $335 million to $350 million. Adjusted EBITDA contemplates the above-mentioned items as well as some internal investments.

Adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance is $5.50-$5.90, representing 9% growth at the midpoint. We expect adjusted net cash provided by operating activities to be $150 million to $170 million. Cash flow in 2026 assumes one additional payroll than 2025, which is estimated at approximately $50 million. We believe cash flow should be in line with our normal seasonal pattern and cash generation occurring in the second half of the year. Cash interest expense is expected to be approximately $69 million, with other expenses of $15 million. Capital expenditures for the year are estimated at approximately $25 million. In summary, 2025 was a successful year on many fronts, in both supporting our customers' missions and achieving our commitments to our shareholders and employees. We are well-positioned going into 2026 and look forward to discussing our progress with you throughout the year. Jeremy, back over to you.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Thanks, Shawn. 2025 was a great year for V2X. We are accelerating our position as a leading provider of mission capabilities. Before I turn it over to Q&A, I'd like to take a moment of appreciation for our over 16,000 employees across the globe. Their execution and commitment to our customer's mission propels V2X forward and prepares us today to take on the missions of tomorrow. With that, I'd like to open it up for questions.

Operator (participant)

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Our first question today is from Tobey Sommer with Truist. Please go ahead.

Tobey Sommer (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

I was wondering if you could comment on what has been the trajectory of the company's revenue and activity in the Middle East region with the shifting of resources that direction towards Iran. Thank you.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah. Good to hear from you, Toby. Thanks. Yeah, so, you know, at this time, obviously, you know, the situation is, I'll say, fluid. you know, our, our priority right now is to make sure everyone's safe. you know I'd like to think that we'll participate in whatever the outcome looks like, eventually, but today, it's, like I said, fairly fluid with, with ensuring the safety of all of our employees in the region, that we have throughout, throughout that area. We-we'll certainly see how things evolve as, as time progresses, but, but that's kind of where we are today.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Hey, Tobey, it's Jeremy. I think the one thing I'd add to that is, and Shawn's right, we-we're highly concerned for our employees and, you know, we have, actually, an activity every day that allows us to understand where everybody is. I do think presence matters, and, you know, we talk about that all the time. I think being in the region, allowing and supporting our customer in terms of what they're going to do in the region, is something that's very important. Whatever happens there, I think, presence matters. You know, the single most important thing we're doing right now, and I think everybody needs to keep this in mind, is that our employee safety and our concern for them is number one.

Tobey Sommer (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

How much contribution do you expect from the T-6 contract? Is that do you think that there will be additional legal hurdles to that transition?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

You know, I cannot, I can't speculate on legal hurdles, Tobey. I'll tell you the assumptions that we've made. You know, you heard what we said in the prepared remarks. We will effectively start that program on 1st March, where transition will be complete. You may recall we began executing that in the mid third quarter through the fourth quarter. We were paused for a brief period after the first of the year, and so now we'll pick it up in, you know, in March.

From a planning standpoint, here's a little bit about the assumption that we've made on that. There's an inherent lag. This is a largely material receipts job for us, at least at first, and there's a 90-120-day type of lag. In the guide that we gave at the midpoint, you should think it's somewhere around $140 million to $160 million of revenue for us this year.

Tobey Sommer (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Okay, I appreciate that. What are you seeing in your intel business, which kind of exposures are relatively new to you, but you had some classified work announced not too long ago? Wha's the trajectory of that in your guide? Is that an area, sort of, a source of accretive growth there?

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Yeah, I think what we did with the QinetiQ acquisition was positioning us well to augment what we do today. We're excited about what that business brings to us. I'm excited about, you know, the fact that it builds on a pipeline that is gonna only grow. I think that is a business that we're very excited about.

Tobey Sommer (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from Andre Madrid with BTIG. Please go ahead.

Andre Madrid (VP and Aerospace and Defense Analyst)

Hey, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my question.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Sure. Hey, Andre.

Andre Madrid (VP and Aerospace and Defense Analyst)

I know last year you guys had called out, you know, 5 $1+ billion opportunities that you were targeting. Slide five, I know you called out $2 billion of them being awarded. Is there a status update that you can give on the remaining opportunities? Are those still stuff that you're actively bidding on, or, you know, any color there?

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

I think, you know, the two that we retired, obviously, we're thrilled about. We obviously have, you know, that plus, we've added to that portfolio this year in terms of what we're bidding, when I talk about 30% increase in overall bid velocity. Yeah, we're waiting on adjudication on the remaining three that we feel very good about, again, we got to wait for adjudication. Again, the fact that we were able to retire two of them in the fiscal year, plus, you know, the 10 plus $100 million ones, I think bodes well for the business in terms of not only bid velocity, but also our ability to win. I think those bode well for the company.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah, Andre to put a fine point on it. One of those was bid in the fall. One of the three was bid in the fall. Two were captured as, exactly as Jeremy said. Then there's one to be bid this year and one to be bid in 2027. There's about a one year lag between the time the bid goes in and any award assumption that we would have on those things, not counting any protest periods or anything like that.

Andre Madrid (VP and Aerospace and Defense Analyst)

Right.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

very modest to any impact in 2026 as a result of, of any of those captures. We'll, we'll be talking about those for some time to come, I suspect, but remain very happy with where we're positioned on those. Teams worked extremely hard to put together a, you know, wonderful offerings, and teammates.

Andre Madrid (VP and Aerospace and Defense Analyst)

Got it. Got it. That's very helpful. Then, I mean pivoting, it seems like everybody wants to, you know, talk about them in the least, but I know you guys called out the Indo-Pacific as a growth area for you throughout much of 2025. Any updates that you could provide there as to how that market's materializing?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah, you know, you know, when you look at the breakdown in the details that, that, that we provided, you know, it was, it was flat to slightly down, and we're seeing that, I'll say, continue into 2026. You know, folks may recall, 20-odd number years tends to be training years in the region. We didn't necessarily see that materialize to the volume that we had historically seen. Now, we saw a, an increase in, you know, I'll say, requests to put things in front of customers. They didn't necessarily materialize. We'll see how things play out in 2026.

As, as I sit here today, thinking about where the growth will come from, how we're positioned, there's very good ops tempo. We're really happy with the positioning. Jeremy consistently talks about presence, and, you know, there's, there's not a, there's not a month that goes by that we don't talk about opportunity sets in the region. I don't know that there's anything imminent. As I sit here today, Andre, and, and we think about, you know, kind of early 2026, but we'll see. We're, we're, we're just starting. We're in the early innings.

Andre Madrid (VP and Aerospace and Defense Analyst)

Got it. Got it. I'll leave it there. Thank you, gentlemen.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from Peter Arment with Baird. Please go ahead.

Peter Arment (Senior Research Analyst)

Yeah, thanks. Good afternoon, Jeremy, Shawn, Mike, nice results. Hey, Jeremy, on the, you had a really strong year in kind of ramping up the bid velocity, and you talk about a big pipeline. How should we think about, are there more, like, opportunities the size of, you know, the T-6s of the world, or is this gonna be more kind of the ones you mentioned where you had, you know, 10, $100+ million awards? You know, how should we think about just the pipeline and what you're bidding on? Thanks.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

No, it's a really good question, Peter, because I think we're trying to balance it. We're trying to balance, what I call, you know, big game hunting with, you know, singles and doubles, and I think both of them fit in the portfolio very well. You know, clearly the, the administration and, you know, prior administrations have kind of consolidated some of these buys into bigger buys, which, you know, at our scale, allows us to compete.

Again, I think the singles and doubles are just as important, and I think they add to the overall value of the company. So when I look at it, candidly, Peter, I look at bid velocity as the metric. As long as I'm getting, you know, the bid volume out the door, it could be big ones, it could be small ones, you know, it could be intermediate ones. I think that's important to the company because I think that, that's what feeds the system.

Peter Arment (Senior Research Analyst)

Got it. That's helpful. Just also, there were some pursuits around, you know, that you guys have had a lot of opportunities to think about, you know, contracts maybe moving to fixed price or things of that nature. Has there been any further advancing of that with the administration now kind of, you know, more, I guess, up and running, with the Department of Defense. Are there opportunities you think you're pursuing on a fixed price basis?

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Yeah. I think, I think we're seeing more fixed price opportunities than we have in the past. I don't know, Shawn, if you want to add to that.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

I think it's clearly an avenue for us, which we're really good at.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Customers that have historically been cost type have approached us. It hasn't translated into an award yet as, as fixed price, Peter, but between, I'll call it, you know, late, mid to late fourth quarter, and as we sit here today, we've seen a higher ops tempo with customers asking and soliciting those type of offerings from us. You know, we'll see how that plays out. But encouraging to see, I'll say, some, some more traction around getting, you know, contracts and up the appropriate parties that would make that happen, engaged. It's gone from more than just talk to words on paper.

Peter Arment (Senior Research Analyst)

Got it. Just lastly, Shawn, on the net leverage, you guys have done an incredible job, obviously, setting yourselves up. How are we thinking about kind of, the go forward? Is it further, you know, reduction or, or, or are you, are you looking at other pursuits on an M&A perspective?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah, you know, listen, I think we've said, we'll look at all options for value creation for, for the shareholders. That remains the case, Peter, right? We're extremely happy with the leverage that the company's at. Jeremy said consistently, that opens up optionality. I think I highlighted it in the remarks, really happy to deliver 2.2 while deploying, you know, $40 million to $50 million of capital last year to further enhance shareholder value. You know, we'll see how 2026 plays plays out. You know it's a good spot for us to be in, to have those options in front of us.

Peter Arment (Senior Research Analyst)

Appreciate all the color. I'll jump back in the queue. Thanks, guys.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Thanks, Peter.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Thanks, Peter.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from Trevor Walsh with Citizens JMP. Please go ahead.

Trevor Walsh (Director of Equity Research)

Great. Hey, team. Thanks for taking the questions. Wanted to start with the AI partnerships with Google and AWS. Can you maybe just click in one level deeper around what, what those opportunities look like kind of broadly as you look at them going forward? Are they more technology-centric type of implementations with the smart warehousing, or is it more just traditional IT system integrator type work? Trying to get a sense of what that could look like, and then kind of relatedly, how does, how does it maybe shift by opportunity around, like, what the margin contract kind of profile might be of those opportunities?

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

No, it's a really good question, and I appreciate you asking it. I think, I think AWS was an opportunity for us to look at somebody who does some of the best smart warehousing around the globe and use them on things that we do every day. I mean, if you think about everywhere we are around the globe, there's a warehouse. I think AWS is, you know, one of the best in the world at the ability to manage a warehouse and put their smart warehousing capability in play. We own all the data, and what they own is the process.

I think the combination between us and AWS and us and Google, who is clearly invested in AI, is taking our data and using our data in a way that's gonna enable my customer to have better outcomes, faster outcomes, better outcomes, and more efficient outcomes. I wanted to put myself in, in, in the position where I was partnered with the best in the industry to deliver these capabilities, because all the data I have and I own. They're gonna use my data to deliver better outcomes for my customer using their technology. I think at the end, it ended up being a perfect partnership between them. You know, if you think about AWS, Google, and IBM, it was a perfect partnership for us to go with.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

There's a speed to market aspect here too, right? In terms of how quickly we can deploy things. You've heard us talk about the global footprint, right? Don't think about, don't think about it only from a pursuit standpoint, but capability that we have that we can deploy in a broad scale today. We'll see, you know, we'll see how things evolve. But, but exactly as Jeremy said, a wonderful partnership to go forward and, and deliver, we think, enhanced capability to our customers at speed and at scale.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

I mean, we're already doing it on the WTRS program, but we're giving them capability that they never had before, and I'm looking forward to extend that to other customers.

Trevor Walsh (Director of Equity Research)

Great. That's fantastic. Thank, thanks, both. Shawn, maybe just a quick follow-up then for you. On the T-6 contract, appreciate the color that you gave around the revenue. Can you maybe provide a little bit of color as well on how that's gonna affect backlog? I realize that the whole amount will go into backlog in Q1, as you mentioned, but could you maybe give us a sense of what would be funded or unfunded if you have, like, a high-level take, just as we think about that? Thanks.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

I don't have the, you know, I don't have the funding and unfunded portion yet. We're working through that with the customer, but if it's like other programs we have, it wouldn't shock me if it was funded annually or slightly less. In terms of the, you know, what we would get incrementally, that's, that's not at all unusual in these type of programs. I do think the, you know, the booking that we will take in Q4 will not be the entire value that we were awarded.

There's options in there that cannot all be exercised. I say that. It's kind of one or the other, from an optionality standpoint, Trevor, right? You know, the team's going through that right now from a bookings and backlog practice. You should all think of this as being tying our booking to what our performance obligations on the contract to include the options will be. That's what will end up in our backlog here at the end of the quarter.

Trevor Walsh (Director of Equity Research)

Got it. Super helpful. Thanks, all. I'll leave it there.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Sure.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Thanks, Trevor.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from Jonathan Siegmann with Stifel. Please go ahead.

Sebastian Rivera (Equity Research Associate)

Hey, good afternoon, Jeremy, Shawn, and Mike. This is actually Sebastian Rivera on the line for John Siegmann. Congrats on the strong print here. I guess just wanted to start with a broader question. There's kind of been some AI existential threat jitters recently to service names, and kind of wanted to just get your glass-half-full view, if you will, on how AI will be a lever for the company over the short to medium term and perhaps in the context of some of your recent wins and partnership announcements.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Yeah, I think, I think, Sebastian, that's why we, we leaned forward with the partnerships that we have. We decided that we wanted to be on with partners whose critical path was the future of AI. I think Google is that. I think Google also recognized that we have the information that makes AI operate. When I look at the transformational aspect of AI in our business, I wanted to partner with somebody who brought a tool, and I brought the data, and I brought the mission capability, and the context and the contract that enabled that AI to work. It was a, it was a natural partnership that occurred, and I'm thrilled to have them part of the team. I'm thrilled to have Amazon part of the team.

I'm thrilled to have IBM part of the team because I, I think our business is going to be enabled by this transformational technology because we have all the, you know, we have all the mission know-how. I mean, I'm, I'm the guy on the ground. I'm the guy doing all the work, and they're going to enable me to do that work much better, much faster, and much more efficient and deliver my customer a much better outcome. We're excited about that.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Sebastian, I'll say that, you know, think of this in increments, right? There's not a big bang here. There's incremental filtering, sorting, sourcing, those types of things that can be done to demonstrate speed and agility to our customers by using capabilities that already exist. Exactly as Jeremy, again, has said before, we have data, we have presence, so let's leverage those things and make incremental progress on this, the adoption of these tools and capabilities as we go forward.

Sebastian Rivera (Equity Research Associate)

Got it. Yeah, that's super helpful. On, on the back of the, the recent SHIELD IDIQ, can you maybe provide some more high-level color on, on kind of where you see the company kind of positioning with regard to Guarding the Dome requirements over time? I guess kind of beyond the Cobra Dane, Cobra King, if you, if you have that visibility today. I'll jump back in the queue. Thank you.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Yeah, I think that's going to be a longer-term play. Again, I would call presence and also, contract vehicles as the key to participating. Obviously, getting on the contract, having the presence on the ground, having the presence at the, at the, at the, you know, the local facilities is everything. So as this thing evolved, our goal was to get into the mix that allowed us to be a participant, to enable the, you know, the, the government to deliver Guarding the Dome, and we think we're well positioned to do that.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from John Godin with Citi. Please go ahead.

John Godin (Research Analyst)

Hey, guys. Thank you for taking my question.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Yeah.

John Godin (Research Analyst)

I wanted to follow up on the commentary about book-to-bill and just make sure I understand it. The T-6 award is hitting in the 1st quarter. Is that correct?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Correct. Yep, we will book it. The protest was resolved here in the first quarter, so we will reflect it in our backlog at the end of Q1.

John Godin (Research Analyst)

Okay. The pipeline, you know, some of the commentary around that, you know it seems very positive and optimistic. I was curious, the guidance of being above a 1x book-to-bill for the full year, would that still be the case if we excluded the T-6 award? Or is the T-6 award kind of critical in hitting the greater than 1x book-to-bill for the full year?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah, I'd say, you know, the, the T-6 award, you know, we, we should certainly be above one with the T-6. Like I said earlier, it's, it's early innings in the year. You know, we, we will see how some things play out, but, but we're confident that we'll be at one. There, there's opportunity to be, you know, well above one, 1.4, 1.5 or, or more, depending on how some other things play out. We'll see the timing of certain awards, you know, as, as they play, as they play out in the year. We can never, we can never predict those things perfectly and protest factors and such. Again, feel very, very comfortable where we, where we sit today with the guide that we've put out.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

I think, John, the place I would probably burn your calories on is, you know, we bid 50% more last year than we did the year before. We're, we're projected to bid 30% more this year than we did last year. Our win rates. You know, I'll stand them up against anybody in the industry. That's an, that's an easy way for you to think about it.

John Godin (Research Analyst)

Oh, okay. But it sounds like we need that T6 award in the number to be above on ex book-to-bill. Am I hearing that right?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah, that's, that's a, that's a fair interpretation.

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

Okay. If we just look at the full year guidance, just a simple question about kind of the sensitivity or the range around kind of low end versus high end. Maybe you guys can talk a little bit about on the revenue and the margin side, what drives the sort of midpoint versus the high end of the guide?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah, mostly, mostly timing of things, right? You know, I think we put out there we only we're down to about 3% of the revenue, at the midpoint, is up for recompete. You know, timing of other new business activities or on-contract growth, things of that, could sway it, right? Relative to that ops tempo, you know, and, and, and when we might see some things materialize, we're feeling very good as we sit here today, for you know, the line of sight we have to the, to the total year, but specifically the first half. We'll see the timing of awards. It's nothing more than that, really.

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

Okay, great. Thanks, guys.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from Kenneth Herbert with RBC. Please go ahead.

Kenneth Herbert (Managing Director and Senior Aerospace and Defense Analyst)

Yeah. Hi, good afternoon, Jeremy and Shawn and Mike.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Ken.

Kenneth Herbert (Managing Director and Senior Aerospace and Defense Analyst)

Hey, just wanted to follow up, just wanted to follow up on the margin discussion. How do we think about with the T6 and incremental bookings you're seeing this year, what's the potential to see better than sort of the flattish margins in 2026? What are maybe the key puts and takes as we think about potential margin upside?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah, I'll go to the, you know, many of our programs that start out, you know, early, and we've got several, this year that are contributing to growth. They start out at margins that are, you know, somewhat dilutive to the company composite, and then they grow. T6 in the early phases, you know, we'll see. We're going to do the EAC here in Q1, and we'll see. It wouldn't shock me if it follows the profile for most of our programs, that are like that, that we tend to grow into the margins. It takes a little bit of time, because what you do is you reengineer the process around delivering those, those industry-leading readiness rates that we have across the majority of the platforms that we have.

So you've kind of got to tear things down and then build them back up. You've got the supply base, all of those things that go into it, but we're really happy with the performance that we ultimately get. So I don't know that I look at that as being a real, you know, margin enhancement activity here in 2026, but I think we have full confidence that the team will deliver to the commitments.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

100%. Look, I, I think Shawn's right. I think every program kind of goes through its life cycle. Once my team gets in, and they're able to get a hold of the supply chain, and they're able to get a hold of, you know, the employment base, and they're able to understand what's the best-in-class way to do things to deliver the readiness rates that we deliver, I have all confidence in that team's ability to do this. Does it take us a little bit of time to do it? Yes, because you're taking over someone else's, you know, preexisting program, but it takes us a moment to just conform it to the way we do business. Once we do, we do exceptionally well.

Kenneth Herbert (Managing Director and Senior Aerospace and Defense Analyst)

Yeah, that's great. If I could, Jeremy, maybe just, obviously, the scale of what you're bidding is up significantly, and I can appreciate then the tailwinds on the top line. Is it fair to say that the stuff you're bidding today, to the extent to which you're successful on it, would support sort of a structural step-up in margins over time, obviously, as the new work ramps?

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

I would say we're bidding work that's accretive to the overall business as a norm to our posture going forward. That is our posture. Now, to Shawn's point, will we have programs that start out because of the you know, we inherit something that is not accretive day one, but it grows into itself? Absolutely. As a corporate policy and process, we are, we have a strong conviction around growing margins.

Kenneth Herbert (Managing Director and Senior Aerospace and Defense Analyst)

Perfect. Thanks, guys. Nice results.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Thanks, Ken.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from Noah Poponak with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

Hey, good evening, guys.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Hey, Noah.

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

Last year and the year prior, the top-line growth was stronger in the back half than the first half. Just curious if that holds this year or if with the much easier compares in the first half and then the tougher compares in the back half, if the shape of this year is different?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah, it is a little bit different. This year I think it's more balanced, Noah. I think it's more 50/50 in terms of what that, what that profile looks like on, on the revenue side.

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

Okay. Helpful. Shawn, can you just walk us through the moving pieces on cash flow? As you wrapped up 2025, you had the, you know, you sort of flagged the possibility of collections related to government shutdown. You ended up coming in fairly close to, to the low end of the original range. I guess I would've thought-

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

26 would've maybe grown from the 25 original range, and then also had that working capital catch up. Can you maybe just bridge us through that? Or, or just sort of, where should we think of, how should we think of converting the EBITDA to the free cash flow going forward?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah. Yeah, so I think, yeah, you're right. 25 did come in a little bit, certainly higher than the midpoint of the guide that we gave, you know, at the 148. You know, having a couple extra days, we saw significant receipts, I'll say, right at the end. Candidly, that's why we, that's why we adjusted, because there was, there was timing that was, I'll call it, somewhat unpredictable. In terms of 2026, you know, I think when, when we look at, we have an extra pay period in 2026, that is like, you know, worth about $50 million.

I think when we think about net income conversion, you know, at the midpoint of the guide we put out, we're about a 115% net income conversion. I think it's, I think we're pretty, pretty good this year. There's some that we will be cash negative in the first half of the year. As always, the profile will look, you know, probably very similar to what played out in 2025.

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

Okay. Then just maybe zooming out, and thinking about long-term growth. You know, you have some new programs ramping this year that, that drives a pretty good looking growth rate relative to the industry. You know, that, that has to keep growing, and then you've discussed a pretty healthy bid pipeline. Can you grow what you're forecasting this year for multiple years, or do you start to hit, you know, just a higher base and tougher compares that drives it to decelerate from here?

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

No, I think we're, I think we're sitting on a target-rich environment. You know, when I look at the pipeline, we are very, very selective about what ends up in the pipeline. It is all around our ability to capture and win and not burn unnecessary resources on something that's a flyer. When I look at that, you know, that pipeline that Roger has put together, and I look at the win rates that are reflective of that, I feel very good about the fact that we can continue to grow.

We have, you know, Look, we're not touching the vast majority of what's an addressable market, and we have nothing but an opportunity in front of us. We continue to build out Roger's organization in terms of growth. We are continuing to hire new people all the time. That is the least of my concerns about having something to grow on, you know, it is trying to make sure that we're prepared for that growth. That's where my focus is.

Noah Poponak (Managing Director)

Okay, thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from Mariana Perez Mora with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Mariana Perez Mora (Managing Director)

Good morning, everyone. good morning, no. Good afternoon. See? Long day.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Yeah, I wasn't sure where you were, Mariana.

Mariana Perez Mora (Managing Director)

See, you guys laugh. First one on, on 2026 guidance. Could you mind discussing for the midpoint, what kind of re-compete risk you are thinking about? Then, what are the major programs like that are driving this growth? Is WTRS ramping that much, or even within, you mentioned FMS and international, is CMAR, IDIQ also expanding? What, what are the main drivers for that midpoint?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah. Yeah, sure. I'll give you color around what I, what I said in the prepared remarks. From an FMS standpoint, you know, we're, we're growing from a, from a range standpoint, think of $150 million to $170 million in that area. From a training standpoint, year-over-year, we're about $130 million to $150 million. I mentioned the T-6. We do have, and I previously mentioned some, Middle East mission support activities that are concluding and, and kind of ramping down. When you net all those things together, you get to, you know, the, the, the midpoint, the midpoint year-over-year growth of about 6%. You, you hit on recompetes. Recompetes are about 3% today of, of the revenue, projected revenue growth at the midpoint.

Mariana Perez Mora (Managing Director)

Thank you. How should we think about, like, at the midpoint, how much is already covered by the funded backlog and how much you guys have to still go and, like, get? As a link to that, the, the context or the framework for this question is: we have seen a shutdown. We're getting into a year where we'll see midterm elections later in the year. Like, how is the award environment and how, how that could affect this, like, range for 26?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Sure. I'll answer your, your, your question on the, on the backlog, the revenue in backlog. Although I, I would distinguish it's total, it's not necessarily funded at this time, because funded has seasonality to it when, you know, contract period performances, you know, slip in the middle of the year and that sort of stuff. Approximately 85% of the total year's revenue is in backlog today. That, of course, excludes T-6 that I mentioned earlier, because we will book that in Q1. From an award cadence standpoint, you know, I think the Q4 played out almost exactly as we thought, you know, in terms of where we ended up.

The Q1 is playing out, you know, kind of very, very similar. We'll see how the stuff progresses throughout the year. I'll go back even a year ago. You know, when we when 2025 the booking cadence was by and large on plan in, in terms of, in terms of what we saw. Will that persist? For all the reasons that you just mentioned, Mariana I don't know. In terms of a cadence, in terms of an expectation, and aligned with what our internal plans have been, you know I think it's been pretty consistent.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Yeah, I think Mariana, the way you need to think about us is, persistence at the mission level requires somebody to be there. almost entirely, what, of what we bid is keeping aircraft in the air, keeping a base running, you know, delivering technology and capability. Those things yes, they could be influenced by an election, they could be influenced by budgets, whatever you want to do.

Candidly, we saw very little implications associated with the government shutdown, associated with the fact that, you know, every, you know, people want to keep aircraft in the air, people want to keep bases running, people want to have technology delivered. You know, we saw very few implications with that. Do I, do I think we could be impacted by, you know, politics? Absolutely. Did we see it, to Shawn's point? No. Everything pretty much stayed on schedule, which we were pleasantly surprised by.

Mariana Perez Mora (Managing Director)

Great. Thank you. Last one from me. You mentioned throughout the call how you wanna use capital deployment and partnerships to be prepared to get, to, I don't know, support these, like, more complex and larger programs, and particularly around rapid development and fielding of these new technologies. Could you mind discussing, number one, how strong is the M&A pipeline? Number two, any particular efforts that you can highlight that you are doing internally to be able to support these things and to have the best technologies?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Yeah, I think, you know, one of the things that we're really happy about from an investment standpoint and the way things have, have played out for us has been, you know, some of our rapid prototyping activities, right? You know, the, the team's ability to field assets, go from a paper design to a fielded asset, in a very short period of time is, is just been remarkable. We measure that in months or weeks in some, in some cases, right?

That speaks to some of the investments that we've made, you know, internally, as well as, you know, and, and people might not think of it this much, but we get, we get co-investment from our customers or grant dollars to help support those rapid prototyping, that development work. Low, certainly low risk to us, which speaks to our ability to get things fielded in a very timely manner that we think distinguishes us in the marketplace.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

I would agree with that. I would also chime around. We decided in August of 2024 to make a fundamental shift in, in how we think about the next, you know, three to five years in the business. I think when you saw the announcement that we put out, it was because we made those investments. We made those investments in the future of the company. Those, those investments are gonna pay dividends because we believe that our ability to be effective for our customer means that we are going to deliver technology into our mission. That is the only way in which our customer is gonna benefit long term, is taking advantage of what is commercially available to everybody else, and we're leveraging it into what we do today.

Mariana Perez Mora (Managing Director)

Right. Thank you so much.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from Joe Gomes with Noble Capital. Please go ahead.

Joe Gomes (Senior Research Analyst)

Good evening. Thanks for taking my questions, most of which have already been asked. I'll throw this one out there. A lot of positives, as you look at 2026, what do you, what do you see as kind of the biggest risks for the company to achieving the 2026 guidance?

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

You know, John, that's a great question because I, you know, I think it, it always comes down to, you know, we are a very responsive company. If the customer tells us to move left, we move left. If they tell us to move right, we move right. We don't always get to see, you know, like in the Middle East, what may or may not happen. You know, so that is not always a benefit, you know, in terms of foresight for us. I do think that it, it creates opportunity for us, and has for a long time, because we're so responsive. I don't view it as risks as much as it is being prepared.

You know, making sure our recruiting team is prepared, making sure that our team is prepared on the ground, making sure we're able to move when the customer needs us to move, building whatever they need us to build, making sure the aircraft is in the air. You know, those are things that we are very good at. I don't see the risk in 26 as much as I. You know, what keeps me up at night is making sure we're prepared for that customer when they move at that moment's notice, on those mission requirements, that we're there to support them at the time and speed at which they need us to be. That's what keeps me up at night.

Joe Gomes (Senior Research Analyst)

Great. Thanks for that. Appreciate the insight.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Thanks, Joe.

Operator (participant)

The next question is from Kristine Liwag with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Kristine Liwag (Executive Director)

Hey, good afternoon, everyone. Just following up on Noah's question earlier on cash flow. When we look at adjusting the operating cash divided by Adjusted EBITDA, it looks like, you know, 2024 was a higher water mark at 52% of that conversion versus 46% last year. The midpoint of your guide for this year implies 47%. I guess I would have thought that this would have been trending higher, especially as the leverage comes down and you get some tailwind from interest expense.... So, how should we think about these metrics? Is this the right way to think about the cash generation of the business? Is there anything that's changing in the cash cycle or cash milestones that we should think about?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

It's really just the additional payroll that we have this year, which is worth about $50 million. If you adjusted for that on the midpoint of the guide, you know, the conversion would be about 115% against net income. You know, it's really nothing more than that.

Kristine Liwag (Executive Director)

Gotcha. Does that mean for 2027, with, you know, with the, with the extra payroll for, for 2026, you should see a higher number for that conversion, for that following year? Would that be fair?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

All else being equal, yes.

Kristine Liwag (Executive Director)

Great. Following up on what you said on Middle East, you've got some contracts that are sunsetting, that's factored into your guidance. Depending on how we see Iran play out this year, is there potentially more upside to that opportunity set in the region? How do you think about potential timing or magnitude if, if anything, does materialize?

Shawn Mural (CFO)

No, no it's, it's very early. You know, our, our guide doesn't contemplate anything today because we don't have any requirements to react to, right? As, as we said, you know, earlier in the call we're ensuring the safety of all of our employees and, you know, in, in the region. Could things develop? Yes. They, they have in the past, and, you know, those things. It's hard. It would purely be speculative at this point, Kristine, to, to think about what that could turn into or, you know where it might be. We know that there's a very large mobilization effort going on in the region. I think they've said the highest amount since 2003 in terms of assets in the region you know, could, could there be some, some space for us? Yes. We have not contemplated any of that today. No.

Kristine Liwag (Executive Director)

Great. Thank you for the color.

Shawn Mural (CFO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Jeremy Wensinger for any closing remarks.

Jeremy Wensinger (CEO)

Thank you for joining us today. I really appreciate you taking the time to, you know, share with us what we did in 2025. I'm so proud of the team. I'm proud of the, you know, the 16,000 plus employees and what they do for us every day, and I appreciate your interest in V2X, and I hope that we were fulsome and clear in our, in our remarks. Thank you so much. Take care.

Operator (participant)

Conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.