Share count
51Mpeak FY2025
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ECG, Everus Construction Group Inc.
Homebuilders capital-intensive
We are a leading construction solutions provider headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota, offering specialty contracting services to a diverse set of end markets across the United States.
Prior to the Separation, Everus Construction was the construction services segment of MDU Resources and operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of CEHI, LLC ("Centennial"), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of MDU Resources.
We deliver services through our 15 wholly owned operating companies (the "Operating Companies"), which go to market under 19 local brands allowing us to differentiate the services we provide and geographical markets we serve.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Revenue · FY2025
$3.7B
+31.5% YoY · 12% 3-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 4-yr average
Revenue $4.0B 4-yr avg $3.0B
Revenue $1.0B +25.4% vs yr-ago qtr
Operating margin 7.5% yr-ago 6.2%
Net income $58M yr-ago $37M
Net margin 5.6% yr-ago 4.4%
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.
- What it is
- Revenue is E&M (78%) and T&D (22%).
- What moves the needle
- Gross margin has run about 11% and operating margin about 6.7% through the cycle, a thin spread that turns the result on volume and the cost of what it sells far more than on the price it sets. That margin has held in a narrow 6.1%–7.1% band over the years, so steadiness itself is the evidence — the lever is unit growth and cost discipline, not a moving line. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on customer concentration, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
- Is it a good business?
- Return on capital has run high across the record (median 29%, above 15% in 4 of 4 years), though buybacks and expensed R&D and brands shrink the capital base, so the figure overstates the underlying economics. The steadier read is owner earnings: roughly 4% of revenue reaches owners as cash, consistently. Whether these returns reflect real pricing power or an accounting artifact is the judgment the 10-K is for.
Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.
Where the money comes from
read the 10-K →E&M is 78% of revenue, with T&D the other meaningful segment at 22%.
Revenue by reportable segment, FY2025
- E&M78%$2.9B
- T&D22%$836M
From the segment footnote of the company's own 10-K. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.
The record
Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.
The record, 2022–2025
realized figures from each filing · older years to the left| 2022’22 | 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | TTMTTMMar 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | |||||
| $2.7B | $2.9B | $2.8B | $3.7B | $4.0B | RevenueRevenue |
| 10% | 11% | 12% | 12% | 12% | Gross marginGross mgn |
| 4% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev |
| $165M | $191M | $190M | $265M | $291M | Operating incomeOp. inc. |
| 6.1% | 6.7% | 6.7% | 7.1% | 7.4% | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| $125M | $137M | $143M | $202M | $223M | Net incomeNet inc. |
| 25% | 25% | 26% | 26% | 26% | Effective tax rateTax rate |
| Cash flow & returns | |||||
| ($25M) | $171M | $163M | $157M | $293M | Operating cash flowOp. cash |
| $19M | $21M | $23M | $29M | $30M | DepreciationDeprec. |
| ($171M) | $12M | ($5M) | ($80M) | $33M | Working capital & otherWC & other |
| $36M | $36M | $48M | $67M | $64M | CapexCapex |
| 1.3% | 1.2% | 1.7% | 1.8% | 1.6% | Capex / revenueCapex/rev |
| ($45M) | $150M | $140M | $128M | $263M | Owner earningsOwner earn. |
| −1.7% | 5.3% | 4.9% | 3.4% | 6.7% | Owner earnings marginOE mgn |
| ($61M) | $136M | $115M | $90M | $230M | Free cash flowFCF |
| −2.3% | 4.8% | 4.0% | 2.4% | 5.8% | Free cash flow marginFCF mgn |
| 33% | 32% | 22% | 26% | 32% | ROICROIC |
| 33% | 31% | 34% | 32% | 33% | Return on equityROE |
| 33% | 31% | 34% | 32% | 33% | Retained to equityRetained/eq |
| Balance sheet | |||||
| $2M | $2M | $86M | $171M | $293M | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| — | $43M | $44M | $45M | $48M | InventoryInvent. |
| — | $117M | $138M | $226M | $260M | Accounts payablePayables |
| — | ($74M) | ($94M) | ($181M) | $570M | Operating working capitalOper. WC |
| — | $729M | $917M | $1.3B | $1.4B | Current assetsCur. assets |
| — | $394M | $513M | $736M | $804M | Current liabilitiesCur. liab. |
| — | 1.9× | 1.8× | 1.8× | 1.8× | Current ratioCurr. ratio |
| — | $143M | $143M | $143M | $143M | GoodwillGoodwill |
| — | $1.1B | $1.3B | $1.7B | $1.8B | Total assetsAssets |
| — | $0 | $296M | $282M | $278M | Total debtDebt |
| — | ($2M) | $210M | $111M | ($15M) | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| 25.9× | 11.2× | 13.5× | 12.3× | 14.3× | Interest coverageInt. cov. |
| $382M | $449M | $423M | $630M | $687M | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev |
| Per share | |||||
| 51.0M | 51.0M | 51.1M | 51.1M | 51.2M | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| $52.96 | $56.00 | $55.80 | $73.28 | $77.30 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| $2.45 | $2.69 | $2.81 | $3.95 | $4.36 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| $-0.88 | $2.95 | $2.74 | $2.51 | $5.15 | Owner earnings / shareOE/sh |
| $-1.20 | $2.66 | $2.25 | $1.76 | $4.49 | Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh |
| $0.70 | $0.70 | $0.95 | $1.31 | $1.25 | Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh |
| $7.50 | $8.81 | $8.27 | $12.32 | $13.42 | Book value / shareBVPS |
Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
| 3-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | +11.4%/yr | +11.4%/yr (3-yr) |
| EPS | +17.3%/yr | +17.3%/yr (3-yr) |
| Capital spending / share | +23.0%/yr | +23.0%/yr (3-yr) |
| Book value / share | +18.0%/yr | +18.0%/yr (3-yr) |
The year, in the company's words
the filing →Verbatim from the 10-K's management discussion. Each sentence is shown only because its subject, direction, and stated figures check out against the filed numbers on this page. The words are the company's; the arithmetic is the record's.
- Operating income+39.4%
“Operating Income Operating income for the year ended December 31, 2025, was $264.8 million, an increase of $74.8 million, or 39.4%, from $189.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. The increase was primarily driven by increased gross profit, partially offset by increased SG&A expenses, both of which are discussed above.”
✓ figure matches the filed record - Net income+40.7%
“Net Income Net income for the year ended December 31, 2025, was $201.8 million, an increase of $58.4 million, or 40.7%, from $143.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. The increase was primarily from increased gross profit and income from joint ventures, partially offset by higher SG&A expenses and higher taxes on greater pretax income.”
✓ figure matches the filed record
The record, charted
FY2022–2025Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.
ROIC
26%low FY2024
Gross margin
12%low FY2022
Owner earnings vs. net income
Owner earningsNet incomeThe accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.
$128Mowner earningsvs.$202Mnet incomelow FY2022
Where the cash went
ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedEach year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.
FY2023FY2025
Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.
In fiscal 2025 the business earned $128M of owner earnings, the operating cash left after the $29M it takes just to hold its position. It put $38M more into growth; free cash flow, after that spending, was $90M.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reported net income | $202M | $143M | $137M | $125M |
| Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back | +$29M | +$23M | +$21M | +$19M |
| Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost | +$6M | +$2M | +$804K | +$1M |
| Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items | −$80M | −$5M | +$12M | −$171M |
| Cash from operations | $157M | $163M | $171M | ($25M) |
| Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume | −$29M | −$23M | −$21M | −$19M |
| Owner earnings | $128M | $140M | $150M | ($45M) |
| Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still | −$38M | −$25M | −$15M | −$17M |
| Free cash flow | $90M | $115M | $136M | ($61M) |
| Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue | 3% | 5% | 5% | -2% |
Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position (here about $29M, roughly its depreciation, the rate its assets wear out). The other $38M of its capital spending is growth it chose, not upkeep it owed; charged only with the maintenance it must do, the business earns well more than the year's free cash flow shows. The cash-flow statement also adds stock comp back as non-cash, but it is a real cost paid in shares; counted as the expense it is (less $6M), owner earnings is nearer $122M.
Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →
Will it survive?
- Can it pay its interest? 12.3×ComfortableOperating income $265M ÷ interest expense $21M
What this means
Operating profit covers interest with the kind of margin Graham wanted for a defensive holding. Necessary, not sufficient, it says solvent, not cheap.
- How heavy is the debt, net of cash? $111M · 0.4× operating profitModest net debtCash $171M − debt $282M
What this means
Netting $171M of cash and short-term investments against $282M of debt leaves $111M owed, about 0.4× a year's operating profit (1.1× on the gross debt, before the cash). Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Is it a good business?
- Very high (≥25%) through the cycle4-yr median, range 22%–33%; 26% latest = NOPAT $195M ÷ invested capital $741MIndustry peers: median 15%
What this means
The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 4 years (it ran 26% most recently), so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.
- Thin, recently turned positivelatest $128M = operating cash $157M − maintenance capex $29M; positive each of the last 3 years, after an earlier loss stretch (4-yr median 3%)Industry peers: median 3%
What this means
What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's 3% of revenue this year, a 3% median across 4 years. It chose to put $38M more into growth, so free cash flow this year was $90M — the gap is investment, not weakness. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $6M of SBC) leaves $122M.
- Mostly cash-backedCash from ops $157M ÷ net income $202M
What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.
How is the cash used?
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Investing or harvesting? 2.33×ExpandingCapex $67M ÷ depreciation $29M
What this means
Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.
Graham’s defensive tests · 2 of 3 met
Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.
- Adequate size PassRevenue ≥ $2B · $3.7B
What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
- Strong liquidity NearCurrent ratio ≥ 2× · 1.76×
What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
- Conservative debt PassDebt ≤ working capital · $282M vs $560M WC
What this means
Graham's rule that borrowings not exceed net current assets. Capital-heavy and buyback-heavy firms routinely fail it, read it next to interest coverage, not alone.
- Moderate price —P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price
What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $3.15/share (latest year $3.95), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $12.34/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.
Durability & moat, 2022–2025
Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.
- Profitable years 4 of 4
What this means
Never lost money over the record, the earnings stability Graham insisted on.
- Return on capital ≥ 15% 3 of 3 yrs
What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
- Operating margin 6% → 7% (2-yr avg ends)
What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin held roughly steady — about 6% early, 7% lately, median 7%.
- Reinvestment, incremental ROIC returns capital
What this means
The capital base barely grew: this business returns cash through dividends and buybacks rather than reinvesting. Judge it on the cash returned, not on compounding.
- Owner earnings growth +36%/yr
What this means
Owner earnings grew about 36% a year over the record.
- Worst year 2022 · 6.1% op. margin
What this means
Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.
- Share count +0.1%/yr
What this means
Roughly flat share count, little dilution, little buyback.
Does AI threaten the moat?
Low contestabilityThe moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.
In its own filing Raised, but not as a competitor
The filing raises AI among its risks, but in other terms (security, regulation, energy or the like), not as a competitor to its product.
AI is unlikely to contest a moat that is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded; here it reads more as a cost tool than a threat.
Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.
All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.
Current Position
as of the latest quarter, Mar 31, 2026Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.
Current assets$1.4B
- Cash & short-term investments$293M
- Receivables$782M
- Inventory$48M
- Other current assets$298M
Current liabilities$804M
- Debt due within a year$15M
- Accounts payable$260M
- Other current liabilities$529M
Current ratio1.77×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio1.71×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio0.36×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital$617Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Debt due this year vs. cash$15M due · $293M cash
covered by cash on hand, no refinancing forced · both figures from the Mar 31, 2026 balance sheet
Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+25.4%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing
Current ratio, recent quarters1.6× → 1.8×
Deeper floors
Tangible book value$544Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value$260MGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leases$363M$85M of it operating leases
Deferred revenue$345Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float
From the company's latest filing.
How the cash was used, 2022–2025
Over the record, the business generated $466M of operating cash; how management split it reads as a cash builder, a large share of cash simply built up on the balance sheet.
- Reinvested$187M · 40%
- Retained (debt / cash)$280M · 60%
- Source of fundingOperating cash
Operating cash covered reinvestment and returns; over the span cash and short-term investments rose $291M.
- Net change in share count0.4%
The diluted count barely moved (51M to 51M): buybacks roughly offset the stock issued to staff.
- Dividend record—
No dividend line was reported in the filing data over the span; the record here neither confirms nor rules out a payout.
- Return on what it retained9%
Of the earnings it kept rather than paid out ($607M over the span), annual owner earnings (first three years vs last three) grew $58M, so each retained $1 added about 0.09 of yearly owner earnings. Buffett's test, run on owner earnings instead of market value.
Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.
Management, ownership & pay
read the proxy →From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid.
- Insider ownership<1%
The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.
- CEO pay ratio52:1
What the chief earns for every dollar the median employee makes, per the 2026 proxy. A high ratio alone settles nothing; some businesses are genuinely top-heavy in scarce skill. A runaway figure is where Buffett starts asking whether the board is doing its job.
- Stock-based compensation$6M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 0% of revenue, equal to 2% of operating profit. Buffett's oldest accounting fight: this is compensation, compensation is an expense, real whether or not the headline earnings admit it. One trap: the cash-flow statement adds SBC back, so the operating cash, and the owner earnings drawn from it, are flattered by exactly this amount; counted as the cost it is, what an owner keeps is lower.
Inverting the record
Invert: instead of why Everus Construction Group Inc. is a good business, the question is what would make owning it a mistake, and whether those marks are in the record. Disconfirming tests across 2022–2025.
1 of the 3 tests turned up something to look into; the other 2 came back clean.
- Look hereDid reported profit become cash?0.77×
Across the record the business reported $607M of net income but generated $466M of operating cash, a 0.77-to-one conversion. Profit that does not turn into cash over many years is the classic mark of earnings that are softer than they look. Ask where the gap sits, receivables, inventory, or costs being capitalized rather than expensed.
And these came back clean
- Is it less profitable than it was?
- Did the share count rise anyway?
Each test is read from the filings and is noisy alone; a flag can mark a cyclical trough or a year of heavy investment as easily as a problem. The filing says which.
What an owner would ask, FY2025
read the 10-K →- Which reported numbers are a judgment call?Management names Revenue recognition, Credit & receivables as critical estimates
each rests partly on management's judgment; the filing's note sets out the assumptionsverify →
The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.
Peers, Homebuilders
The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.
| Company | Revenue | Gross margin | Op. margin | ROIC | Owner earn. margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KBHKB Home | $6.2B | — | 8.8% | 15% | 5% |
| MHOM/I Homes Inc. | $4.4B | 23% | 11.0% | 20% | 3% |
| DFHDream Finders Homes Inc. | $4.3B | 16% | 7.8% | 41% | 3% |
| CCSCentury Communities Inc. | $4.1B | — | 7.9% | 6% | -1% |
| ECGEverus Construction Group Inc. | $3.7B | 12% | 6.7% | 29% | 4% |
| HOVHovnanian Enterprises Inc. | $3.0B | — | 1.8% | 3% | 7% |
| BZHBeazer Homes USA Inc. | $2.4B | 16% | 3.9% | 5% | 3% |
| GRBKGreen Brick Partners Inc. | $2.0B | 26% | 15.8% | 15% | -0% |
| Group median | — | 16% | 7.8% | 15% | 3% |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFType today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what Everus Construction Group Inc. has delivered.
$
Through the cycle, Everus Construction Group Inc. earns about $156M on its 4.2% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 3.4% margin runs below that; the reported figure may understate a lean year. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year.
Base
—
The assumptions
9.0% = the 4.55% 10-year Treasury (Jul 15, 2026) + 4.45 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.
Enter a price above to run it.
A dated snapshot of the price you typed, the assumptions you set, and what the page showed for them. A snapshot is never edited after it is saved. Your notebook is yours alone — the commitment states what is stored and what we will never do.
Implied by the price—
Owner-earnings growth · ’22→’25+40%/yr
Owner-earnings growth · ’22→’25+36%/yr
Owner-earnings yield—
What a growth belief costs, in multiples
The growth each return requires, at your price
P/E (3-yr earnings ’23–’25)—
P/B—
Graham’s price gate—
Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.
Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%
Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.55%, as of Jul 15, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.
Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.
Owner-earnings yield—
High-grade bond yield—
Margin over the bond—
Free cash flow $230M on 51M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-05-04; net cash $15M. The base is the latest year by default; Normalize values it on the through-cycle median owner-earnings margin (to avoid paying on a peak year). Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. Capex ($64M) runs well above depreciation ($30M), so this is a build-out; Steady-state swaps total capex for maintenance (≈ depreciation), lifting the base to about $265M, the cash it would throw off if it stopped expanding. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.
Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Everus Construction Group Inc. (ECG), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/ECG, data as of 2026-07-09.
Manual order: ← EBS its page in the Manual ECHO →
Industry order: ← DHI the Homebuilders chapter GRBK →