Jacobs Solutions Inc.

Jacobs Solutions Inc.

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Nov 24Next Earn

Q4 FY2025 · Earnings Call TranscriptNovember 20, 2025

Operator

Good morning, and welcome everyone to Jacobs fiscal fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings conference call and webcast. Today's conference is being recorded.

All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session.

If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press the star key followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star 1 again.

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Bert Subin, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Bert Subin

Thank you, Audra, and good morning, everyone. Our earnings announcement and 10-K 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 2 of the presentation for information about our forward-looking statements, non-GAAP financial measures, and operating metrics. Now let's turn to the agenda on slide 3.

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 fourth quarter and fiscal year results and a recap of notable awards.

Venk will then provide a detailed review of our financial performance, including commentary on end-market trends, cash flow, balance sheet data, and our FY26 outlook. 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

Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2025 business performance. We delivered strong results for Q4 and are pleased to end FY25, the first year of our 5-year strategy, on a positive note.

For both the quarter and the fiscal year, we drove strong double-digit growth in adjusted EPS, supported by solid revenue growth and robust margin expansion. Our consolidated backlog grew 6% to $23.1 billion, setting a new record to close out the year.

PA Consulting capitalized on strong demand, delivering double-digit revenue and operating profit growth in the second half of FY25. Overall, we are very pleased with our results, and we see great runway as we enter FY26.

Turning to slide 4, we provide a detailed overview of our quarterly and full fiscal year results. We grew Q4 adjusted EPS by 28% year-over-year, and this was primarily driven by 6% net revenue growth, a record quarterly adjusted EBITDA margin of just four—of just over 14.4%, and better below-the-line performance.

For the full year, we grew adjusted EPS 16%, largely as a result of mid-single-digit net revenue growth and strong margin expansion. We've also seen a solid EPS tailwind from share repurchases, which we increased significantly during FY25.

Reflecting on our expectations, last quarter we guided to an adjusted EPS range of $6 to $6.10 for FY25, and we were able to finish the year above the high end of that range at $6.12. Turning to slide 5, I'd like to highlight a few notable infrastructure and advanced facility project awards from Q4.

These wins highlight the power of our strategy to redefine the asset life cycle as we prioritize expanding our addressable market with core clients. We continue to see a positive outlook in water and environmental, particularly in the water sector, which remains one of our most resilient and high-growth areas of our portfolio.

Our full life cycle delivery model, enabled by deep domain expertise and leading digital capabilities, helps our clients address aging infrastructure, scarcity issues, and regulatory changes around the world. Demonstrating the trust our clients place in Jacobs to deliver long-term outcomes, we extended our operational intelligence agreement with United Utilities, the largest listed water company in the UK, through 2030.

Using our AI-powered Aqua DNA platform, we're helping modernize utility operations and deliver measurable, sustainable benefits for millions of people. In the life sciences and advanced manufacturing end market, data centers and life sciences continue to be two of the fastest-growing sectors in our portfolio.

Additionally, our revenue growth in these sectors is now being complemented by new semiconductor investments. As an example, we were awarded the design for a commercial-scale semiconductor fabrication facility by a confidential customer.

Our scope encompasses the design and engineering of a greenfield semiconductor manufacturing plant along with its related infrastructure and manufacturing support facilities. We're also seeing strong demand across the critical infrastructure end market, with all verticals performing well during Q4.

In the UK, together with PA Consulting, we were named to the Crown Commercial Services Management Consultancy Framework. This appointment expands our role advising public sector clients on delivering cleaner, smarter infrastructure and maximizing value from public investment across transportation, cities, defense, and clean energy.

In the US, we continue to build on strong momentum in the transportation sector. In New York, we were selected by the MTA, North America's largest transportation network, to deliver the Interborough Express light rail project, a transformative new 14-mile transit line connecting Brooklyn and Queens.

The project will enhance mobility, reduce travel times, and promote sustainable transit-oriented growth for New York City communities. In summary, these awards reflect our continued momentum and highlight the broad secular tailwinds driving growth across our business.

As I reflect on FY25, we met or exceeded all of our annual targets, continued to drive robust bookings, stayed true to our disciplined capital returns policy, and now enter year two of our strategy cycle on track to achieve our long-term outlook. I'll now turn the call over to Venk to review our financial results in further detail.

Venk Nathamuni

Thank you, Bob, and good day, everyone. During fiscal year '25, we delivered on our commitment to drive profitable growth, which consisted of double-digit growth in both EBITDA and adjusted EPS, as well as a 7% free cash flow margin.

We're demonstrating our differentiated business model through strong margin expansion, and we see continued opportunity to increase our margin profile moving forward. Now please turn to slide number 6, where I will walk through our results for Q4.

We finished fiscal year 2025 on a strong note. In the fourth quarter, gross revenue increased 7% year-over-year, and adjusted net revenue, which excludes pass-through revenue, grew by 6%.

Q4 adjusted EBITDA was $324 million, growing 12% year-over-year. Our adjusted EBITDA margin during Q4 came in strong at 14.4%, which is an increase of 79 basis points versus the same quarter last year.

As a result, adjusted EPS rose to $1.75, a 28% increase year-over-year. Our disciplined cost management contributed to a new record adjusted EBITDA margin, both during the quarter and for the full fiscal year, and we're well-positioned to build on this momentum in fiscal year '26.

Consolidated backlog was up 6% year-over-year to a record $23.1 billion, putting our trailing 12-month book-to-bill at 1.1 times. Notably, gross profit in backlog increased over 13% year-over-year during Q4, highlighting our strong sales performance.

Moving on to slide 7, I'll recap fiscal year '25 results. Fiscal year '25 total gross revenue increased about 5% year-over-year, with adjusted net revenue rising more than 5%.

Revenue growth and higher margins resulted in adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS increasing by 14% and 16%, respectively. We're pleased to end fiscal year '25 in a strong position, with mid-single-digit organic revenue growth, mid-teens adjusted EPS growth, and a backlog that sets us up well for the future.

Now regarding our performance by end markets in Infrastructure & Advanced Facilities, let's now turn to slide number 8. At a high level, net revenue growth across our three end markets was fairly consistent in fiscal year '25, with Water & Environmental and Life Sciences & Advanced Manufacturing growing just over 4% and Critical Infrastructure at about 6%.

Focusing on Q4, net revenue increased more than 9% year-on-year in Critical Infrastructure. Our strong growth was a function of several key programs ramping up in the transportation sector and continued momentum in energy and power, with favorable trends in both the US and internationally.

As we look ahead, we believe continued tailwinds in the transportation and energy and power sectors will be underpinned by improvement in Cities & Places. In our Life Sciences & Advanced Manufacturing end market, net revenue grew a little more than 5% in Q4, a modest improvement from Q3.

During the quarter, we saw strong net revenue growth in the life sciences and data center sectors, but had tougher comps in the industrial portion of the portfolio. Positively, we are on track to fully lap these tougher comps and are seeing semiconductor programs ramp up, which we believe will benefit our setup in fiscal year '26.

Net revenue for our Water & Environmental end market was roughly flat year-on-year in Q4. Demand across this end market was mixed, with continued strength in the water sector, offset by softer revenue performance in environmental, particularly in the US, where both public and private clients moderated spending more than anticipated.

Looking ahead to fiscal year '26, we expect water to remain a key growth driver, and on the environmental side, opportunities are reemerging as we position for a return to growth. In summary, we're seeing favorable trends in each of our end markets and believe we're entering the new fiscal year with solid momentum.

Moving on to slide 9, I will provide a brief overview of our segment financials. In Q4, Infrastructure & Advanced Facilities operating profit increased 16% year-on-year, with a modest tailwind from FX.

In fiscal year '25, operating profit increased 13% year-over-year and on a constant currency basis. Infrastructure & Advanced Facilities results were aided by both revenue growth and margin expansion.

Now moving to PA Consulting's performance, revenue increased 10% year-on-year in Q4. This contributed to a 17% increase in operating profit, or 13% in constant currency, on a strong operating margin of 23%.

PA continued to benefit from rising demand for services in the public and national security sectors, driving double-digit growth in their backlog. For fiscal year '25, operating growth for PA was in line with Q4 performance.

As we look ahead to fiscal year '26, we anticipate PA's revenue growth will be similar to our consolidated growth rate. Turning now to slide 10, we provide an overview of cash generation and our balance sheet.

For fiscal year '25, free cash flow generation came in at $607 million. As a reminder, this does not add back the impact of restructuring or other charges.

Good free cash flow generation and our high-quality balance sheet enabled us to repurchase $754 million of our shares and pay out $153 million in cash dividends. As a result, we returned approximately 150% of our free cash flow during the fiscal year.

Adding in our dividend of Amentum shares distributed in May, we returned $1.1 billion to shareholders in fiscal year '25, a company record. We also paid down debt, ending the year with $1 billion in net debt, yielding a net leverage ratio of 0.8 times on LTM adjusted EBITDA, which is below our 1.0 to 1.5 times target range.

Our balance sheet strength supports continued investment in the business along with continued returns to shareholders via share repurchases as well as long-term dividend growth. Our commitment to return capital to shareholders is evidenced by a recently approved 32 cents per share dividend, representing 10% year-over-year growth, and our material increase in share repurchase activity this year.

Finally, please turn to slide number 11 for our fiscal year '26 outlook. We expect adjusted net revenue to increase 6% to 10% year-over-year, adjusted EBITDA margin to range from 14.4% to 14.7%, adjusted EPS to range from $6.90 to $7.30, and free cash flow margin, which is free cash flow divided by adjusted net revenue, to be in the range of 7% to 8%.

Notably, our outlook for fiscal year '26 implies 16% year-on-year growth in adjusted EPS at the midpoint. We provide relevant assumptions on the right side of the page to help with your modeling.

One item to be mindful of is the fact that fiscal year '26 will include an extra week during Q4, adding just over a point and a half to our net revenue growth rate. Additionally, as it pertains to Q1, we're forecasting 5.5% to 7.5% net revenue growth and a low- to mid-13% margin.

Note that Q1 is typically our seasonally slowest quarter due to holiday timing. In summary, fiscal year '25 was a great first year in our strategy cycle.

We executed to our 13.9% EBITDA margin target, which puts us well on our way to reaching 16% by fiscal year '29. We grew the top line mid-single digits, demonstrating resilience in a dynamic macro environment.

In addition, we returned record amounts of capital back to our shareholders. As we enter fiscal year '26, we believe we are very well-positioned to build on our fiscal year '25 performance.

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

Bob Pragada

Thank you, Venk. In closing, we're proud of our continued strong execution in FY25.

With a record backlog, expanding margins, and healthy demand across the sectors we serve, we are entering FY26 with significant momentum. Operator, we will now open the call for questions.

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session.

If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star 1 again.

We ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up to allow everyone an opportunity to ask a question. We'll take our first question from Sangita Jain at KeyBanc.

Sangita Jain

Thank you for taking my questions. Can I start with the federal government shutdown, and if you think that had any impact on your fiscal '26 bookings to date?

Bob Pragada

Fiscal '26 or '25?

Sangita Jain

The fiscal '25 ended and the shutdown started, I'm trying to see if you had any impact in the early part of this year from the shutdown.

Bob Pragada

No. We did not.

Those awards in the federal government happened before the shutdown. Short answer is no, Sangita.

Sangita Jain

All right. Great.

Then can you give us an update on PA and how that process is unfolding?

Bob Pragada

Sure. Our negotiations continue, and I would say they're progressing.

We've said from the beginning that we would be making a decision on that on or before March of '26, and we're on track to do so.

Sangita Jain

Great. Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Bob Pragada

Thank you. Thank you, Sangita.

Operator

We'll move next to Andrew Wittmann at Baird.

Andrew Wittmann

Great. Thanks for taking my questions.

I guess my first question is just on the water and environment portion of your business. Obviously, we saw some deceleration here, Bob, you mentioned the environmental business has been a little weaker.

I was hoping maybe you could just drill into that. It seems like the water side is strong.

What was it about the environmental side that caused a little bit of softness? Would you tie that to anything, maybe the administration change or something else?

Then what are the indications that you have today? You made some comments that you see that improving going forward, and I'm just wondering kind of what that's based on.

Thought you could drill in a little bit more there. Thank you.

Bob Pragada

Absolutely, Andy. I'll start with the positive.

The water sector continues to be strong. The pipeline is up double digits as well as our booking trends.

We still see high single-digit growth in the water sector moving forward into FY26 and beyond, and that's global. All major geographies are participating in that.

In the environmental sector, kind of two dynamics that played out during the year, actually during Q4, accentuated in Q4. One was we did have a one-time event, a positive on last year's comp.

That was one. From kind of the core of the business, the regulatory volatility right now within the environmental world has put a bit of a pause for our private sector clients.

Until those kind of settle down, our private sector clients are tending to pull back a bit of the spend that we saw traditionally. These are some of the larger industrials, as well as chemical folks.

On the public sector, it really was about disaster relief. The kind of the switch of FEMA funding and application down to the state level, there was a bit of a pause on, especially after the OBBA was passed, how states were going to reorganize their budgets.

We saw some delays in awards as well as a pullback in FEMA.

Andrew Wittmann

Got it. Was the FEMA the one-time item for the prior year, or you're saying that affected this quarter or just?

Bob Pragada

No, the prior year, the Q4 of FY24, one-time event was a federal agency outside of the US that we had a one-time event.

Andrew Wittmann

Got it. Okay.

Then just for my follow-up, maybe for Venk. We saw the guidance here on free cash flow.

The bridge, you're now doing it as percentage of revenue, but if you convert it back to the old way of doing it, it's under the 100% target. I was wondering what the items in the '26 outlook are that bridge you, because obviously the business fundamentally is equipped to deliver at 100% or greater.

That means something is kind of unusual or included in this number that we should know about, and I thought maybe you could expand on that a little bit more.

Venk Nathamuni

Yeah. Thanks, Andy, for the question.

I'd say, first of all, I'd point out that as we stated at Investor Day, a free cash flow margin of 10% target, we're well on track for that. We delivered 7% this year, and we're guiding to between 7% and 8%.

What we've imputed in that guidance is that there is kind of a one-time tax event unrelated to our continuing operations that we're expecting sometime in fiscal '26, we just want to give transparency to that. Then on top of it, as Bob alluded to in response to Sangita's question, we are expecting a resolution on our combination with PA, and we're just assuming some cash expenses associated with that.

Those are the things that we want to factor in. We feel really good about our free cash flow margin expansion, and we think that'll be a true indicator of the efficiency of the business.

You're absolutely right, our efficiency's been improving, and we see continued growth in that in fiscal '26 and beyond.

Andrew Wittmann

Okay. Thank you.

Venk Nathamuni

Welcome.

Operator

We'll move next to Jamie Cook at Truist.

Jamie Cook

Hi, good morning, and congrats on a nice quarter. I guess my first question with regards to the margin performance in Infrastructure & Advanced Facilities, we saw a nice improvement there.

Anything unusual in the margins, and how to think about the cadence of margins in that segment as in 2026? Then my second question, Bob, to you, sort of more strategically, one of your public peers came out this week talking about their competitive advantage on AI and what that means for margins for them over the longer term.

You have similar business models, just wondering how you're leveraging AI, and is there a margin opportunity outside of what you've already announced, given your peers came out with much more bullish margin targets longer term? Thank you.

Bob Pragada

Great. Thanks, Jamie.

On the first part with regards to margins in I&AF, I'll let Venk take that, and then I'll address the AI question following. Venk, please.

Thanks.

Venk Nathamuni

Hey, Jamie, thanks for the comment. I'd say, in terms of our margin performance in I&AF, continues to go up and to the right, really solid performance across the entirety of our business.

Also, good job of improving our cash collections and so forth. I'd say, as we guided to in a prepared remarks, when it comes to Q1, there will be a sequential slowdown and a seasonal slowdown driven by a couple of factors.

One is fringe, as it relates to things like medical insurance costs and health benefits that typically have an impact in Q1, but you get the recovery in subsequent quarters. We'll see a linear progression in margins throughout the rest of fiscal year '26, but we wanted to make sure that we were transparent in terms of how to model it for fiscal Q1.

That's number one. As it relates to the overall free cash flow margin target of 7% to 8%, imputed in that, as I mentioned earlier, is the fact that we're continuing to see operational improvements in the margin performance, combined with some of the one-time items that we expect to happen in fiscal '26, and all of that is imputed in our margin guidance

Bob Pragada

there. Then on the AI question, Jamie, we've been very vocal about this since dating all the way back to 2021.

In fact, if you remember in our '19 and '22 strategy, and it was the origins of the partnership with PA Consulting as well. This is a journey we've been on for over 5 years.

How it's transpired, we see it as an accelerant, a differentiator, a space that we continue to use to, primarily provide greater solutions externally for our clients. These are things that we've highlighted in the past, all the way back to 2021, being able to deliver a transformational effort for Intel as they were expanding their business model into a foundry model back in '21, that was done through machine learning and digital replication.

That then led to our partnership with Palantir and all of the water platforms that we have developed since '22. I referenced one in Aqua DNA as well as Intelligent O&M that's really creating a differentiated position to gain efficiencies for our clients.

Most recently, we announced a partnership with Nvidia, where we're utilizing AI enablement platforms as well as digital twinning technology to simulate gigawatt-plus type data centers and creating a reference design for Nvidia clients. Even going all the way up to today, where StreetLight Data is providing unbelievable transportation analytics for major metropolitan areas around the country.

In fact, over 26 state DOTs are utilizing the StreetLight platform. Kind of you look at that portfolio, and it's creating a differentiated position for growth in the market, and it is contributing to our margin expansion as we continue to go up the value chain.

Jamie Cook

Thank you. Congrats on a nice quarter.

Bob Pragada

Thank you.

Operator

We'll move next to Andrew Kaplowitz with Citi. Hi.

Good morning. This is Natalia on behalf of Andy Kaplowitz from Citi.

Venk Nathamuni

Andrew. Hi.

Congrats on the quarter. Maybe first question I'll start off with, you cited that transportation was a contributor to growth, but I'm just curious how the funding visibility under IIJA is progressing.

Are you seeing any delays or accelerations as new money flows through the states?

Bob Pragada

We're not. That continues to be a catalyst, but I would say that transportation number, we're seeing globally.

It's not just in the US, but nice growth that we experienced in Europe, Middle East, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. It's something where, and again, it kind of goes to the previous question, too, differentiated position utilizing strong transportation analytics and driving mobility concerns.

I'd say IIJA is a component, budget clarity in the UK is another component, growth in the Middle East as well as Australia continues to be a really strong market for us in transportation space. Got it.

That's super helpful. Maybe just continuing on the strength that you see globally in transportation, maybe more so just curious about the regional performance across your end markets.

Which regions outperformed expectations, and which ones are expecting maybe to be a little soft into 2026, if any? Yeah.

We're seeing growth across the board, Andrew. It's our business domestically in the US has got some strong tailwinds behind it.

Our business outside the US and internationally is in growth mode. We've got double-digit growth going on in the Middle East.

Europe is going through a nice recovery, and Southeast Asia and Australia and New Zealand are really being buoyed by strong transportation and water growth. It's pretty uniform for us across the globe.

Venk Nathamuni

If I could add to just what Bob said, that's true of the PA business as well. We're seeing some good, solid momentum in the PA business, especially in the UK and continental Europe.

Got it. Thank you.

Helpful. Congrats on the quarter.

Bob Pragada

Thanks.

Venk Nathamuni

Thank you.

Operator

We'll go next to Steven Fisher at UBS.

Steven Fisher

Thanks. Good morning.

I wonder if I could just follow up on Jamie's question on the margin, in terms of bridging the expansion in margins between fiscal '25 and fiscal '26, if you can kind of be a little more specific on some of the major puts and takes, be it cost savings, operating leverage, any specific investments that you're making to support AI and digital, anything that you can help us sort of bridge within that? Thank you.

Bob Pragada

Yeah. Thank you, Steve.

As we mentioned in the prepared remarks, fiscal '25, solid performance in terms of 110 basis point margin expansion, and we're guiding for between 50 and 80 basis points for fiscal '26. A lot of what happened in fiscal '25 was driven by some of the operating leverage and cost actions as well as some early improvements in margin, especially as it relates to gross margins.

We see a much bigger contribution, especially on the gross margin line going forward, driven by three things that we outlined at Investor Day. Global Delivery being a big component of it.

As we look with the mix of business across the globe, we see that there's tremendous adoption of Global Delivery across our various end markets, so that should be a meaningful driver of margin expansion for us this year. Then we talk about commercial models and how with the adoption of AI that's increasing across the multitude of end markets that Bob talked about, that also makes a meaningful contribution to margin expansion.

I would say multiple levers on the gross margin front, and then we are committing to maintaining our operating leverage, meaning we want to grow our opex at a slower pace than our revenue growth, and that's driven by both efficiencies as well as what we do internally as well as externally for our clients. A multitude of factors, we feel really good about our margin expansion story, and we're guiding for 65 basis points at the midpoint after 110 basis point expansion in fiscal '25.

Steven Fisher

Very helpful, Venk. Then, Bob, maybe on the data center side, since I think you guys have a pretty interesting perspective and role in the industry, being on the front end of things, I'm curious if you can talk about the changes in the assignments that you're getting this year versus a year ago.

What are your customers asking you that's different this year? How are the projects different?

Is there anything more international or more domestic, any changes there? Just curious your perspective on how things are different entering '26 versus '25.

Bob Pragada

Sure. Let me start with the geography and then go to how our scope is expanding in that area.

We're seeing interest now in data center starts in the Middle East and in Europe in addition to the US. Now, US continues to be the strongest of the three, but it is expanding into Europe, into the Middle East as well.

From a scope standpoint, our scope has traditionally been within the white space. The white and the gray space are now merging, and so, especially the work that we're doing now for Nvidia is translating into more innovation happening within the server rack and that white space area.

Then broadly, solutions around the power requirements behind the meter, as well as reclaimed water that we're expanding our scope on that front, too. All of that put together has really been a net benefit.

Just another data point, Steve, in the last quarter, our pipeline in the data center space has gone up 5x. We're actually being selective on how we deploy that talent and growing that talent not just in the US, but in the Philippines and in India as well.

Steven Fisher

Very helpful. Thanks a lot.

Operator

We'll go next to Michael Dudas at Vertical Research.

Mike Dudas

Morning, gentlemen.

Venk Nathamuni

Morning, Mike.

Mike Dudas

Bob, maybe tailing off your last comment on pipeline, which is important. Maybe you could share, you've put out, I guess, during your Investor Day, two-year pipeline outlooks, maybe you can refresh on that, how that looks today versus a year ago, and what areas should we be looking at as we monitor on bookings and progress as the year goes through, is there a certain couple areas?

Roll through the pipeline and where the conversions are going to happen sooner rather than later that might drive the 6% to 10% range of the '26 numbers.

Bob Pragada

Sure. Maybe, Mike, I'll kind of segregate it into two categories.

One, by sector, and then, second, by geography. By sector, I'd say the fastest-growing pipelines, and I can quote some numbers here, in the data center world, just mentioned, pipeline is up 5x.

In the semiconductor world, we're seeing more growth there after some flatness over the course of the last year. It's really centered around high bandwidth memory for the American client.

In the US semiconductor pipelines up 20%. Life Sciences continues to be strong, and in all those areas that we mentioned before, that's really been driven in the US, that pipeline is up 50%.

The water sector continues to be a strong sector for us globally, and that's up 50%. Overall, the pipeline is looking really, really strong as we go into FY26.

The reason why I mentioned those four sectors is because that's where we'll see the fastest conversion of that pipeline in '26 and in early '27. From a geography standpoint, it's the Middle East.

We just announced the award for New Murabba, specifically the Mukaab component of that. That's a really good job for us.

We're now on the Expo, and we've got a few opportunities at Abu Dhabi and Etihad Rail that could convert here shortly. Across the Middle East region, we're seeing good growth leading up to not just the Expo, but also the World Cup coming up, too.

Mike Dudas

Certainly the visit in Washington this week from the Saudis certainly can add to that visibility, I would assume.

Venk Nathamuni

It did.

Mike Dudas

Of course. Second question, Venk, just as we think about cadence through 2026 on free cash and share repurchase, 2025 had a lot of opportunistic, one-time issues, but how do we think about as you allocate that cash relative to share repurchase and whatever maybe target on debt relief or what have you, as we look through '26?

Venk Nathamuni

Mike, thanks for the question. I'll answer the margin question first, which is, as we guided to, expecting a linear progression in margins, Q1 being probably the slowest in terms of margins, and then a steady increase right through the rest of the year.

As I said, we feel good about the 50 to 80 basis points for the full year. As it relates to our use of cash, as we pointed out, our net leverage ratio is right now at 0.8x.

We do want to maintain the optionality for additional deployment of cash for a potential increase in our stake in PA, as we've been stating all along. Outside of that, we want to be regular buyers of our stock.

We truly believe in the value of being predictable in terms of buying back shares, and we'll do it at a regular quantum. It won't be at the same level as it was last year at 150%, but we made the commitment at Investor Day to return at least 60% of our free cash flow in the form of share repurchases and dividends, and we're committed to that.

Mike Dudas

Excellent. Thanks, gentlemen.

Venk Nathamuni

Thank you.

Operator

We'll take our final question from Jerry Revich at Wells Fargo.

Jerry Revich

Yes. Hi.

Good morning, everyone.

Bob Pragada

Hi, Jerry.

Jerry Revich

Hi. Given the top-line outlook you have for the year, and, Venk, what you shared for the first quarter, you could be exiting, if you hit the high end of the range, with, call it, 13% type top-line growth in the fourth quarter.

Can you just talk about if you do hit the high end of the range, given the color you provided earlier, Bob, which end markets do we need to see that pipeline turn into bookings if we're talking about the high end of the outlook being feasible and exiting at that teens growth rate in the fourth quarter if that plays out?

Venk Nathamuni

Jerry, I'll take the first part of the question, and then Bob can add a lot more color. I would say, in terms of the sequential nature of the growth profile as well as the margin profile, we expect to see continued momentum right through the year.

As we stated, Q4 is the one which will have the extra week, so that'll have an extra oomph, if you will, in terms of both revenue contribution as well as margin contribution. In terms of the end markets, it's pretty broad-based, and maybe Bob can add more color on how we expect that to play out.

Bob Pragada

The ones that would drive to the high end of the range, Jerry, would be Life Sciences and data centers, clearly. Really, that's a matter of those sectors moving at pace.

That wouldn't have to be accelerated, just need to move at pace, and that would be a big contributor. We're seeing semiconductor fabrication facilities start to move, and so if that were to accelerate, that would definitely be a tailwind.

Momentum, I think on Citi's question with regards to transportation, that international transportation market would provide some momentum as well. Then major prospects, we're seeing major prospects in Cities & Places in Middle East, but also, we're now starting at the LA Olympics as well as FAA and a few other kind of larger initiatives that would drive the higher end.

Then,

Jerry Revich

Bob, on data centers specifically, you mentioned a fivefold increase in that pipeline for you. Obviously, that market is very hot, but I don't think it's up 5x.

Are you folks expanding the scope of what you're doing within data centers, or is it people are looking farther out to lock in services? Can you just expand on that fivefold comment and if you're willing to share off of what base from a Jacobs standpoint, that'd be helpful.

Yeah.

Bob Pragada

Just to put in perspective, it's about a $200 million business for us today, and over time, I won't be specific on time, but that business could be as big as our Life Sciences business today in a few years. That's kind of where it's headed.

I'd say it's across the board. It's hyperscalers, it's what we call kind of the neo-cloud providers as well as multi-tenant players as well.

It's in just sheer numbers of people that are coming into the market. Our scope has expanded from a content standpoint, going within the battery limits of the data center into the water requirements as well as power needs, and that's a nice kind of adjacency with our Energy & Power group.

Then, alternative delivery. Similar to what we do in the Life Sciences sector as well as in the water sector where we do not just design, but program management for the delivery of the facility, we're now in that mode in the data center space as well.

Jerry Revich

Super. Thank you.

Anything you could do to improve traffic in the New York area, a lot of us on the call would be grateful. Thanks, everyone.

Bob Pragada

Okay. We're working on it, Jerry.

Operator

That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Bob Pragada for closing remarks.

Bob Pragada

Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for joining our earnings call.

We look forward to engaging with many of you over the coming days and weeks as we go on the road, and hope all that are celebrating the US Thanksgiving have a happy holiday.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation.

You may now disconnect.