Electrical infrastructure services companies design, build, and maintain the physical power systems — substations, transmission lines, distribution networks, and data center electrical installations — that connect generation to load. The product is skilled labor organized into large-scale projects. The unit of measurement is EPC backlog in dollars: how much contracted work sits on each company's books waiting to be executed. As of Q1 2026, the five companies covered here hold a combined $83 billion in backlog, up roughly 50% year-over-year, driven by utility grid expansion, data center construction, and renewable energy interconnection.
US investor-owned utilities have disclosed $1.4 trillion in five-year capital expenditure plans through 2030, a 21% increase over the prior year's outlook (PowerLines, April 2026). Quanta Services' CEO cited a "$2.4 trillion total addressable market" converging around utility, generation, and large-load projects through 2030 (PWR Q1 2026 earnings call).
EPC stands for Engineering, Procurement, and Construction. These firms take a customer's infrastructure need — "build a 345 kV substation" or "wire a 100 MW data center" — and deliver the finished asset. Revenue comes from labor hours billed, materials procured and marked up, and project management fees. Contracts are either fixed-price (the contractor bears cost risk but keeps any savings) or GMP/cost-plus (Guaranteed Maximum Price — the customer bears more cost risk, but contractor markups are lower).
Money-in: customers pay as project milestones are completed. Money-out: labor (wages, benefits, training), materials, equipment, and subcontractor costs. The spread between contract price and actual cost is the gross margin. Operating margins across the group range from 4.3% (PWR, large-scale transmission) to 17.0% (FIX, data center MEP fit-out).
Cash conversion is seasonal — Q1 is typically weakest due to project ramp-ups and incentive compensation payments. Full-year operating cash flow generally tracks 80–100% of net income across the group.
PWR, EME, FIX, STRL, MYRG Q1 2026 earnings releases and calls.
| Company | Backlog Q1 2026 | YoY change | Book-to-bill | Key driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PWR | $48.5B | +37% | 1.6x | Transmission, substations, large-load interconnection |
| EME | $15.6B (RPO) | +33% | ~1.5x | Data center electrical & mechanical, water/wastewater |
| FIX | $12.5B | +81% | >1.0x | Data center MEP (56% of Q1 revenue from advanced technology) |
| STRL | $3.8B signed / $5.2B combined | +78% / +131% | 2.1x / 3.5x | Data center site prep, semiconductor fabs |
| MYRG | $2.8B | +8% | >1.0x | Utility T&D MSAs, data center C&I work |
PWR, EME, FIX, STRL, MYRG Q1 2026 press releases. EME uses Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO); others report backlog. STRL "combined" includes unsigned awards.
PWR's $48.5B backlog represents roughly 5.5 quarters of revenue at current run-rate. EME's $15.6B RPO has ~78% expected to convert within 12 months, with $6–6.5B extending into 2027+. FIX's same-store backlog rose from $6.9B to $12.2B YoY. STRL's total addressable pool including unawarded pipeline approaches $6.5B, up ~$2B since year-end 2025.
| Company | Employees (Dec 2025) | YoY growth | Organic hiring note |
|---|---|---|---|
| PWR | 69,500 | +19% | Added ~5,000–6,000 organically in 2025; plans to repeat in 2026 |
| EME | 44,000 | +9% | Recruiting with unions; expanding "pro trade" training from Miller acquisition |
| FIX | 22,700 | +24% | 197 locations in 143 cities; organic + acquisitions |
| STRL | 4,400 | +47% | CEC acquisition (Sep 2025) added electrical/mechanical contracting |
| MYRG | ~9,000 est. | n/a | SG&A rose partly from employee-related expenses to support growth |
StockAnalysis employee data from 10-K filings. MYRG from company profile.
The US electrical contracting industry has ~252,000 establishments with an average of 4.8 employees each est. (Northeastern Advisors, 2026). Electricians require a 4–5 year apprenticeship; power-line installers ("linemen") require 3–4 years. The workforce is aging — the average lineman is in their mid-40s est.. The BLS projects 11% growth in electrician employment from 2023–2033 with ~80,000 openings per year including retirements est. (BLS page returned 403 on direct fetch).
PWR CEO Duke Austin: "If you're just someone that does not have it, it's very difficult to say you're going to show up." He added that "labor builds labor, a journey makes a journey, and money doesn't do that" — workforce capability takes years to develop and cannot be quickly purchased. EME CEO Tony Guzzi identified the binding constraint as field supervision (foremen, general foremen, project managers), not craft labor itself: "We have to create more foreman... general foreman... project managers." Both companies are investing in prefabrication facilities as labor multipliers — PWR expanding to 6.7 million sq ft of fabrication space; EME allocating $115–125M in 2026 capex primarily to prefab.
PWR Q1 2026 earnings call; EME Q1 2026 earnings call; BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook; Northeastern Advisors 2026 industry report.
Demand is growing at 20–50%+ per year across the group (measured by backlog and revenue). Supply — skilled workers — grows at high-single-digit to low-double-digit percentages annually, limited by the 3–5 year training pipeline. The gap is structural: you cannot train a lineman in 6 months, and there is no overseas labor pool for site-specific US electrical construction requiring security clearances, union credentials, and local code knowledge.
Pricing signals: MYRG CEO Rick Swartz in Q1 2026: "tight market right now on labor isn't really turning into margins today... still remains fairly competitive." EME's Guzzi characterized pricing as "good" but said he would "take probably better contract terms, better change order administration and give up some price." Swartz drew a parallel to the Texas CREZ transmission buildout (~2013–2015) that eventually lifted industry margins, suggesting the current nationwide grid buildout could "be amplified from what we saw there." Both PWR and EME report a trend toward directly negotiated work rather than competitive bidding.
Where the gap is already pricing through: FIX Q1 2026 operating margin expanded 560 bps YoY to 17.0%, net margin hit 12.9%. STRL's E-Infrastructure segment posted 23.5% adjusted operating margins. Industry average is ~7.5% est. (Northeastern Advisors). The data center end market shows the widest gap between demand growth and labor availability.
PWR, EME, FIX, STRL, MYRG Q1 2026 earnings calls and press releases.
| Metric | PWR | EME | FIX | STRL | MYRG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $107B | $37B | $65B | $29B | $6.9B |
| Q1 2026 revenue | $7.9B | $4.6B | $2.9B | $826M | $1.0B |
| Q1 rev YoY | +26% | +20% | +57% | +92% | +20% |
| FY2025 revenue | $28.5B | $17.0B | $9.1B | $2.5B | $3.7B |
| FY2026 rev guide | $34.7–35.2B | $18.5–19.3B | n/a | $3.7–3.8B | n/a |
| Backlog (Q1 2026) | $48.5B | $15.6B | $12.5B | $3.8B | $2.8B |
| Backlog YoY | +37% | +33% | +81% | +78% | +8% |
| Q1 oper. margin | 4.3% | 8.7% | 17.0% | 16.7% | 6.5% |
| FY2025 net income | $1.03B | $1.27B | $1.02B | $290M | $118M |
| Employees | 69,500 | 44,000 | 22,700 | 4,400 | ~9,000 |
| Rev / employee | ~$410K | ~$386K | ~$401K | ~$566K | ~$406K |
| Net debt (cash) | $6.0B debt | ($406M) net cash | ($711M) net cash | ($224M) net cash | ($154M) net cash |
| Primary exposure | Transmission, substations, renewables, large-load | Data center MEP, industrial, commercial buildings | Data center MEP (56% of rev), modular construction | Data center site prep, semiconductor fabs | Utility T&D, substations, data center C&I |
PWR: Largest US specialty contractor. 82% of Q1 revenue from its Electric segment (transmission, substations, renewables). Invested $500–700M in transformer manufacturing capacity to address 36-month lead times. CEO targets doubling adjusted EPS by 2030. Only company in this group carrying material net debt ($6.0B), reflecting eight acquisitions in 2025.
EME: Largest electrical and mechanical contractor for commercial/industrial buildings, 180+ subsidiaries. Data center revenue was the largest Q1 growth driver — electrical up ~50%, mechanical up 86% YoY in network & communications. Book-to-bill of 1.5x was a company record. Zero financial debt (only lease obligations).
FIX: Highest data center concentration — advanced technology was 56% of Q1 revenue, electrical revenue within that segment up 88% organically. Modular/off-site construction was 17% of revenue, capacity on track for 4M sq ft by year-end. 17.0% operating margin vs. ~7.5% industry average est..
STRL: Civil and site-development contractor pivoted into data center and semiconductor site prep. E-Infrastructure segment (72% of revenue) posted 23.5% adjusted operating margins. CEC Facilities acquisition (Sep 2025, ~$505M) added electrical/mechanical contracting. Revenue nearly doubled YoY, with a significant portion acquisition-driven.
MYRG: Smallest and most traditional — utility T&D plus commercial/industrial electrical. Most conservative growth (+20% revenue, +8% backlog). Essentially zero debt ($9.4M funded debt vs. $163M cash). Long-standing utility MSA relationships, positioned for the 765 kV transmission buildout expected mid-2027.
Q1 2026 press releases, 10-K filings, earnings call transcripts. Market caps as of Jun 3, 2026 (StockAnalysis).
| Metric | PWR | EME | FIX | STRL | MYRG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price (Jun 3) | $715.67 | $839.54 | $1,850.04 | $957.03 | $441.35 |
| Market cap | $107.4B | $37.3B | $65.0B | $29.4B | $6.9B |
| Enterprise value | $113.4B | $36.9B | $64.3B | $29.2B | ~$6.7B |
| TTM GAAP EPS | $7.29 | $29.62 | ~$34.64 | ~$11.19 | ~$9.07 |
| TTM P/E (GAAP) | ~98x | ~28x | ~53x | ~86x | ~49x |
| FY2026 guide EPS | $9.52 mid | $29.00 mid | n/a | $16.83 mid | n/a |
| Fwd P/E (GAAP guide) | ~75x | ~29x | n/a | ~57x | n/a |
| FY2026 adj EPS guide | $13.90 mid | -- | n/a | $18.73 mid | n/a |
| Fwd P/E (adj guide) | ~51x | -- | n/a | ~51x | n/a |
| EV / FY2026 rev guide | ~3.2x | ~2.0x | n/a | ~7.8x | n/a |
| 1-yr mkt cap change | +110% | +77% | +292% | +419% | n/a |
| Q1 2026 FCF | $184M | ~$0 | $242M | ~$146M | $69M |
Industry context: US electrical contracting averages ~7.5% profit margins est. (Northeastern Advisors, 2026). FIX runs 12.9% net margin in Q1, STRL 11.6%, EME ~7.5%.
PWR arithmetic: $107B market cap, $13.90 midpoint adjusted EPS guidance = ~51x fwd adj earnings. CEO stated "clear path to more than doubling adjusted EPS by 2030" (to ~$28+). At 30x on $28 EPS = ~$840 implied price. At 40x = ~$1,120.
EME arithmetic: $37B market cap, ~$29 fwd EPS = ~29x. 15% annual EPS growth for three years (matching backlog growth rate) implies ~$44 EPS by 2028. At 25x = ~$1,100. At 20x = ~$880.
FIX arithmetic: $65B market cap, ~$34.64 TTM EPS = ~53x. No 2026 guidance. Q1 EPS of $10.51 annualized = ~$42, implying ~44x on run-rate. Q1 operating margins of 17.0% are more than double the industry average.
Prices and market caps from StockAnalysis, Jun 3, 2026. TTM EPS = FY2025 minus Q1 2025 plus Q1 2026. Forward EPS from company guidance midpoints. FCF from Q1 2026 press releases.
High confidence (SEC filings and company press releases):
Medium confidence (industry data, secondary sources):