Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRL) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 27, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Noelle Dilts - VP, IR and Corporate Strategy

Joseph Cutillo - CEO

Ronald Ballschmiede - EVP, CFO and CAO

Conference Call Participants

Brent Thielman - D.A. Davidson & Co.

Brian Russo - Sidoti

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Sterling Infrastructure Fourth Quarter 2023 and Full Year Webcast and Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Tuesday, February 27, 2024.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Noelle Dilts. Please go ahead.

Noelle Dilts

Thank you, Joanna. Good morning to everyone joining us, and welcome to Sterling Infrastructure's 2023 fourth quarter and full year earnings conference call and webcast.

I'm pleased to be here today to discuss our results with Joe Cutillo, Sterling's Chief Executive Officer; and Ron Ballschmiede, Sterling's Chief Financial Officer. Joe will open the call with an overview of the company and its performance in the quarter and year. Ron will then discuss our financial results and 2024 guidance, after which Joe will provide a market and full-year outlook. Then we will open the call up for questions. As a reminder, there are accompanying slides on the Investor Relations section of our website.

Before turning the call over to Joe, I'll read the safe harbor statement. The discussion today may include forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from the statements made today. Please refer to Sterling's most recent 10-K and 10-Q filings for a more complete description of risk factors that could affect these projections and assumptions. The Company assumes no obligations to update forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

The financial information herein and discussions are related to the Company's continuing operations. Please also note that management may reference EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, or adjusted earnings per share on this call, which are all financial measures not recognized under U.S. GAAP. As required by SEC rules and regulations, these non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled to their most comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings release issued yesterday afternoon.

I'll now turn the call over to our CEO, Joe Cutillo.

Joseph Cutillo

Thanks, Noelle. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining Sterling's fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings call.

2023 was another great year for Sterling and our investors. We achieved 40% adjusted EPS growth and 11% top-line growth. This was our third consecutive year generating adjusted earnings per share growth of 40% or more, a testament to our focus on driving margin expansion and returns. Our total backlog ended the year up 46%, providing strong visibility for 2024.