Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE:FIX) shares rose Friday after the company reported a strong fourth-quarter earnings beat, fueled in part by robust demand tied to AI-driven data center construction.
Fourth-Quarter Earnings
Comfort Systems USA reported fourth-quarter 2025 results that exceeded Wall Street expectations, with earnings per share of $9.37 compared with an estimate of $6.75 and revenue of $2.646 billion versus the $2.337 billion consensus estimate.
Revenue from the technology sector, driven largely by data center projects, accounted for 45% of total revenue in 2025, up from 33% a year earlier, CFO Bill George said during the earnings call.
Net income more than doubled to $330.8 million from $145.9 million a year earlier, while revenue increased 41.7% year over year to $2.65 billion. Gross margin expanded to 25.5% from 23.2%, and adjusted EBITDA rose to $464 million, representing 17.5% of revenue.
For the full year, revenue totaled $9.10 billion, up from $7.03 billion in 2024, while net income increased to $1.02 billion, or $28.88 per diluted share, from $522.4 million, or $14.60 per share, in the prior year, including a 25-cent per-share tax benefit tied to interest income on a prior-year refund.
Massive Backlog
Backlog totaled $11.94 billion as of Dec. 31, 2025, up from $9.38 billion on Sept. 30, 2025, and $5.99 billion a year earlier. On a same-store basis, backlog rose to $11.58 billion from $5.99 billion.
The company generated operating cash flow of $1.19 billion and free cash flow of $1.04 billion for the year, ending the …