Parsons Reports 19% Growth in Q3 Revenue; Carey Smith Offers Update on M&A Pipeline

Parsons (NYSE: PSN) saw its third quarter revenue for fiscal year 2022 jump 19 percent to $1.13 billion and attributed the sales growth to ramp-up of contract work and increased hiring activity.

The Centreville, Virginia-based contractor said Wednesday it posted $1.3 billion in Q3 2022 net bookings with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.1x and ended the quarter with a total backlog of $8.2 billion.

The company reported a 53 percent increase in net income to $30 million and logged $103 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization during the quarter, up 22 percent from the prior-year period.

“We delivered strong third quarter financial results, with record quarterly revenue and adjusted EBITDA,” said Carey Smith, chairwoman, president and CEO of Parsons and a four-time Wash100 awardee.

Parsons’ federal solutions segment reported a 24 percent hike in Q3 2022 sales to $620 million driven by organic growth and Xator acquisition. The company’s critical infrastructure business saw its revenue climb 13 percent to $514 million, driven by increased activity on contract work and hiring.

Some of the notable contract wins of Parsons in national security and critical infrastructure segments during the quarter are a $121 million option year on the Combatant Commands Cyber Mission Support contract; engineering and construction oversight work valued at $117 million under the Federal Aviation Administration’s Technical Support Services contract; and a spot on a potential 10-year, $5 billion classified contract for offensive cyber operations support.

During the earnings call Wednesday, Smith said Parsons has a “very strong” mergers and acquisitions pipeline and is looking for companies with sales growth greater than 10 percent and EBITDA margin higher than 10 percent.

“We’ve expanded our outreach and we’re looking at companies in both the Federal and the Critical Infrastructure segment and we have a robust candidate list in each. And we’re still looking for companies that keep us focused on our strategic vision of becoming a strong solutions integrator that’s differentiated by advanced technology,” she told analysts.

In response to a question regarding acquisitions, Smith noted that the company continues to focus on near-peer threats and is prioritizing and exploring areas where it “can drive the cyber space electromagnetic spectrum and information warfare convergence to be able to fight that type of war.”