Powell Industries Highlights Record $1.6B Backlog, Data Center Wins at Sidoti Conference

• $1.6 billion record backlog with a book-to-bill of 1.7, supported by several large awards including a >$100M LNG “mega order” and Powell’s first data-center “mega” win of $75 million (more than $100M in data-center bookings that quarter).

• Profitability has improved markedly—gross profit rose from ~16% in 2021 to 29.4% in fiscal 2025 and EBITDA from ~2.5% to 20.4%—and Powell holds about $500M of cash, of which roughly $200–225M is available for growth after backlog deployment and normal expenditures.

• Management is expanding capacity and capabilities—completing a 50,000 sq ft breaker addition, planning a ~335,000 sq ft offshore yard expansion, and accelerating digital automation via the tuck-in acquisition of Remsdaq—as it shifts mix toward utilities and commercial/data-center markets and emphasizes domestic manufacturing and project execution versus larger competitors.

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Powell Industries (NASDAQ:POWL) executives told investors at a Sidoti & Company conference that the company is seeing strong demand across industrial, utility and commercial markets, supported by record backlog levels and recent investments to expand manufacturing capacity. Chief Executive Officer Brett Cope and Chief Financial Officer Michael Metcalf also discussed the company’s acquisition strategy, capital allocation priorities, and how it differentiates itself when competing against larger global electrical equipment providers.

Cope described Powell as a manufacturer of electrical technology and solutions used to control the flow of power from generation through distribution, emphasizing that the company is “agnostic” to how power is generated. Powell’s core product range spans low to medium voltage equipment, starting at 480 volts and reaching 38,000 volts. Cope said the company focuses its organic product development and potential acquisition targets within that range, while sourcing higher-voltage components for integration when needed.

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The company is primarily oriented around the ANSI electrical standard, with seven manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Canada supporting that standard. Powell also operates one factory in the United Kingdom serving the IEC standard, which dominates in Europe and many other global regions.

Cope highlighted Powell’s capabilities in manufacturing breakers, switchgear, and modular substations. He compared Powell’s products to the breaker panels found in residential settings, but “at industrial scale.” He also described the company as highly vertically integrated, bringing in raw materials such as copper, steel, and aluminum and performing fabrication processes—such as laser cutting, welding, and painting—within its facilities.

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Management said Powell historically grew around heavy industrial markets, particularly oil and gas and petrochemical customers tied to Houston and the Gulf Coast. Over the last 10 to 12 years, the company has intentionally expanded its utility business, which Cope said now represents roughly a quarter of operations. More recently, Powell has been growing in commercial and other industrial markets, including data centers, which Cope described as a major focus across the industry.

Metcalf provided additional detail on the changing market mix in backlog. He said that in 2021, with total backlog of about $450 million, electric utility made up roughly 21% and commercial/other industrial was about 3%, while oil and gas/petrochemical represented more than 60%. In the most recently reported quarter, with backlog at $1.6 billion, Metcalf said utility represented about 30% and commercial/other industrial was more than 20%, while oil and gas/petrochemical was about 40%—a reduction in percentage driven by growth in the other segments rather than a collapse in oil and gas activity.

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Metcalf said Powell’s cash balance is frequently a topic for investors, with management fielding questions about roughly $500 million of cash. He explained that given project lead times of about 18 to 24 months from purchase order to delivery, roughly half of the cash balance would ultimately be deployed to support the company’s $1.6 billion backlog. After considering capital expenditures, dividends, and research and development—typically about 1% of revenue per year—he said Powell has about $200 million to $225 million of cash available for other uses to grow the business.

He also pointed to a “dramatic increase” in profitability over the past several years, with gross profit rising from roughly 16% in 2021 to 29.4% in fiscal 2025, and EBITDA increasing from about 2.5% to 20.4% over the same period. Metcalf attributed the gains to better utilization across Powell’s North American footprint and disciplined SG&A management. He said capital expenditures remain modest, citing $13 million of productive and maintenance CapEx last year.

For the most recent quarter—typically Powell’s seasonally softest—Metcalf said the company posted about $250 million in revenue, gross profit of 28.4%, earnings per share of $3.40, and just under $44 million of operating cash flow. He also noted that Powell recently reached its fiftieth consecutive quarter of dividend issuance.

Metcalf said backlog reached an all-time high of $1.6 billion in the latest quarter, supported by several large awards. He cited a “mega order” of more than $100 million tied to LNG, as well as the company’s first mega order in data centers—a $75 million award—which was part of more than $100 million in data center orders booked during the quarter. Total quarterly orders were “north of $400 million,” and Metcalf reported book-to-bill of 1.7.

Cope also discussed Powell’s recent tuck-in acquisition of Remsdaq, which he framed as part of the company’s digital automation roadmap. He said the acquisition accelerated Powell’s entry into the North American market for that solution and that the company was already “taking orders ahead of schedule” in North America, helped by strong commercial market activity.

During Q&A, Cope detailed ongoing facility expansion efforts. He said Powell has largely completed a 50,000-square-foot addition to its breaker factory to support organically developed products, largely focused on utility applications. He also said the company expects to bring a major offshore yard expansion online in May or June, adding about 335,000 square feet of productive capacity by doubling usable space. Cope said the expansion is intended to support a wave of large Gulf Coast industrial projects, including LNG and gas-related developments, and he emphasized the competitive advantage of barge access via the Intracoastal Waterway.

Cope added that Powell has begun using leased properties to expand assembly and work-in-process storage, particularly for commercial products where higher volumes require faster throughput. He characterized leasing as an efficient way to add capacity while evaluating more durable property, plant and equipment investments.

On commodities and logistics, Cope said Powell hedges copper and has long-standing supply chain partners. He noted that during post-pandemic copper price spikes, availability was not an issue for Powell. Metcalf and Cope said freight and logistics costs had not shown “dramatic increases” in the near term, while acknowledging management is monitoring conditions tied to Middle East events.

Asked why Powell remains ANSI-dominant and whether it would expand further into IEC markets, Cope said the company is developing products to broaden its reach from the U.K. base and that IEC opportunities are part of its acquisition pipeline. He also suggested that acquisitions in IEC markets could potentially provide a faster path to adapting products for ANSI applications and shortening R&D cycles.

In discussing competition against larger companies such as ABB, Eaton, Schneider, and Siemens, Cope said Powell’s differentiation centers on execution in a project-driven model, with critical profit-and-loss decisions managed early in the project lifecycle. He emphasized “sticky” customer relationships and pointed to the company’s share gains in utility over the past 12 years and its recent progress in the data center market.

In closing remarks, Cope said Powell is the last publicly traded company that “does what we do here” and manufactures breakers and switchgear domestically. He said the company is, for the first time, considering adding a government affairs role, referencing incentives such as “Buy America” programs and other implications tied to domestic manufacturing.

Powell Industries, Inc is an industrial electrical engineering company specializing in the design, manufacture and integration of customized power control and distribution solutions. The firm’s offerings range from medium‐voltage switchgear and power control centers to bus duct, motor control centers and specialty transformers. Powell also provides automation systems, protective relaying, metering, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) platforms, and turnkey engineering services to help clients manage critical power infrastructure.

Serving the oil and gas, petrochemical, refining, utility, mining and industrial sectors, Powell’s products are engineered to meet demanding performance, safety and reliability requirements.

The article “Powell Industries Highlights Record $1.6B Backlog, Data Center Wins at Sidoti Conference” was originally published by MarketBeat.