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Chicago, IL – June 20, 2025– Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Sterling Infrastructure (STRL - Free Report) .
Sterling (STRL - Free Report) Powers Up: CEC Targets Data Center Surge
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity has fluctuated quite notably post-COVID, with lingering uncertainty and a whole host of other issues weighing down deal-making since.
But over the last year, it's slowly returning to the market, with several companies, including Sterling Infrastructure, making a splash in one way or another.
Let's take a closer look at the recent transaction.
Sterling Acquires CEC Facilities
Fresh off the press this week, Sterling Infrastructure made a huge splash by announcing the acquisition of Texas-based CEC Facilities Group, LLC (CEC), which is a leading specialty electrical and mechanical contractor.
The total deal amounts to $505 million, comprising $450 million in cash and $55 million in STRL stock. Concerning the deal, CEO of STRL, Joe Cutillo, said –
"We believe that the combination of CEC's leading mission-critical electrical services and Sterling's best-in-class site civil infrastructure services will allow us to accelerate project timelines and become even more valuable to our customers. We welcome CEC to our team and believe their strong values, commitment to customers, and entrepreneurial spirit align perfectly with Sterling."
The market was a big fan of the move, sending STRL shares well higher in the session. Now up more than 30% YTD, the stock has outperformed the S&P 500.
CEC will join Sterling's E-Infrastructure Solutions segment, a move aimed at bolstering its Data Center capabilities amid the current AI frenzy. Sterling's E-Infrastructure Solutions segment provides advanced, large-scale site development services for manufacturing, data centers, distribution centers, warehousing, power generation, and more.
It overall appears to be a great deal for STRL, which is also immediately accretive to its earnings, although the amount will depend on the timing of the closing. Current timing expectations suggest roughly five months of contribution in 2025.
Notably, the stock headed into the acquisition news in an already-bright situation, currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). As shown below, EPS expectations have already been trending higher across the board over recent months.
Bottom Line
While M&A activity has fluctuated post-pandemic, we've still seen several notable deals get made, with Sterling Infrastructure the latest example.
The move appears to be highly positive, given its current exposure to the data center angle of the AI frenzy, which is still in its early innings.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: Sterling Infrastructure
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – June 20, 2025– Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Sterling Infrastructure (STRL - Free Report) .
Sterling (STRL - Free Report) Powers Up: CEC Targets Data Center Surge
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity has fluctuated quite notably post-COVID, with lingering uncertainty and a whole host of other issues weighing down deal-making since.
But over the last year, it's slowly returning to the market, with several companies, including Sterling Infrastructure, making a splash in one way or another.
Let's take a closer look at the recent transaction.
Sterling Acquires CEC Facilities
Fresh off the press this week, Sterling Infrastructure made a huge splash by announcing the acquisition of Texas-based CEC Facilities Group, LLC (CEC), which is a leading specialty electrical and mechanical contractor.
The total deal amounts to $505 million, comprising $450 million in cash and $55 million in STRL stock. Concerning the deal, CEO of STRL, Joe Cutillo, said –
"We believe that the combination of CEC's leading mission-critical electrical services and Sterling's best-in-class site civil infrastructure services will allow us to accelerate project timelines and become even more valuable to our customers. We welcome CEC to our team and believe their strong values, commitment to customers, and entrepreneurial spirit align perfectly with Sterling."
The market was a big fan of the move, sending STRL shares well higher in the session. Now up more than 30% YTD, the stock has outperformed the S&P 500.
CEC will join Sterling's E-Infrastructure Solutions segment, a move aimed at bolstering its Data Center capabilities amid the current AI frenzy. Sterling's E-Infrastructure Solutions segment provides advanced, large-scale site development services for manufacturing, data centers, distribution centers, warehousing, power generation, and more.
It overall appears to be a great deal for STRL, which is also immediately accretive to its earnings, although the amount will depend on the timing of the closing. Current timing expectations suggest roughly five months of contribution in 2025.
Notably, the stock headed into the acquisition news in an already-bright situation, currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). As shown below, EPS expectations have already been trending higher across the board over recent months.
Bottom Line
While M&A activity has fluctuated post-pandemic, we've still seen several notable deals get made, with Sterling Infrastructure the latest example.
The move appears to be highly positive, given its current exposure to the data center angle of the AI frenzy, which is still in its early innings.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
See Stocks Free >>
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.