Bernstein Reiterates Outperform Rating on Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (J)

Bernstein SocGen Group analyst Chad Dillard reiterated an Outperform rating and $144.00 price target on Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: J).

The analyst commented: "Guiding to a better end than start to 2025; Today, J reported Adj EPS of $1.43 (+2% vs. Street), EBITDA of $287M (-0.3% vs. street) and reaffirmed FY25 guidance. Key highlights: Guiding to revenue growth acceleration in 2H25 revenue growth. Embedded in full year guidance is revenue growth accelerating from 4% in 1H25 to MSD to HSD rate in 2H25. Underwriting this step change in growth is recent backlog growth over the last few quarters, which included several large multi-year projects which are starting to see an inflection in utilization/project burn rate.

Backlog grew by 20% Y/Y and 1 % Q/Q to $22B and book to bill was 1.1x. J remains most positive on life sciences and water, though delays are popping up.

EBITDA margins are poised to return to growth after a softer 2Q. J reported adj. EBITDA margins of 13.4%, down Q/Q by 10bps, but guided to 14% in 3Q and an implied exit rate of 14.6% in 4Q. The main overhang in 2Q was from a reserve taken following an interim ruling against a consolidated JV that J was a part of."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. click here. For more ratings news on Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. click here.

Shares of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. closed at $119.47 yesterday.

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