Construction Partners, Inc. ROAD appears to be moving faster than expected toward its ambitious ROAD 2030 targets, thanks to booming infrastructure demand, aggressive acquisitions and rising commercial opportunities across the Sunbelt.
The company delivered an impressive second-quarter fiscal 2026 performance, with revenues jumping 35% year over year to $769.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA also climbed 35% to $93.3 million, while backlog hit a record $3.14 billion. Management noted that nearly 80-85% of the next 12 months’ revenues are already secured in backlog, providing strong visibility heading into the busy construction season.
ROAD continues to benefit from robust public infrastructure spending and surging private-sector activity tied to data centers, warehouses and manufacturing projects. The company highlighted multiple data center contracts across Texas and Alabama, reinforcing how AI-driven infrastructure investment is becoming a meaningful tailwind. Acquisitions are also playing a major role. The company completed its fourth acquisition of fiscal 2026 with Four Star Paving in Tennessee, extending its commercial paving reach in the fast-growing Nashville market. Management emphasized that the fragmented nature of the paving industry continues to create attractive consolidation opportunities.
Importantly, margins remain resilient despite energy volatility. Construction Partners’ vertically integrated liquid asphalt operations, fuel hedging strategy and indexed contracts helped cushion commodity swings during the second quarter of fiscal 2026. Encouraged by strong execution and favorable demand trends, management raised fiscal 2026 guidance and reaffirmed confidence in achieving its ROAD 2030 plan, which targets doubling its size, generating $1 billion in annual EBITDA and expanding EBITDA margins to roughly 17%.
Construction Partners vs. Sterling vs. AECOM: Who Leads Now?
Construction Partners is capitalizing on booming Sunbelt infrastructure demand through asphalt paving and road construction. Market competitors like Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. STRL and AECOM ACM are pursuing broader engineering and construction management opportunities tied to mega infrastructure and mission-critical projects.
Sterling Infrastructure has been leveraging rapid growth in e-infrastructure, data centers and manufacturing projects to complement its transportation business. Its strategy increasingly emphasizes higher-margin specialty construction services and large private-sector opportunities tied to U.S. reindustrialization trends. Conversely, AECOM operates from a different angle, focusing more on engineering, consulting and program management than direct construction execution. The company is benefiting from long-duration infrastructure modernization, environmental projects, transit systems and global urban development initiatives. Its asset-light model and exposure to large public-sector design contracts provide stability, though execution cycles can be longer.
Overall, Construction Partners stands out for its asphalt-driven local market dominance and acquisitive growth model, while Sterling Infrastructure and AECOM offer broader exposure to diversified infrastructure and engineering megatrends.
ROAD Stock’s Price Performance & Valuation Trend
Shares of this Alabama-based civil infrastructure company have gained 13.5% year to date, outperforming the Zacks Building Products - Miscellaneous industry and the S&P 500 Index, but underperforming the broader Construction sector.
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ROAD stock is currently trading at a premium compared with the industry peers, with a forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 37.92, as the trend lines suggest below.
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Earnings Estimate Trend Favors ROAD
ROAD’s earnings estimates for fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027 have moved upward in the past seven days to $2.95 and $3.72 per share, respectively. The revised estimates for fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027 imply year-over-year growth of 34.1% and 25.9%, respectively.
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Construction Partners currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).