It's not every day you see a stock jump nearly 30% after hours, but that's exactly what happened to Ameresco (AMRC) on Monday. The energy infrastructure solutions provider reported its second-quarter results, and the market clearly liked what it saw.
The headline numbers were solid: revenue came in at $515.46 million, comfortably beating analyst estimates of $462.95 million. Adjusted earnings were 20 cents per share, also topping the expected 16 cents. Total revenue grew 9% year-over-year, but the real story is the company's backlog, which jumped 32% to a record $6.73 billion.
What's driving all this growth? Data centers, and lots of them. Ameresco said it experienced "tremendous momentum" in its Power Infrastructure segment, which grew 65% during the quarter. The company received $1.8 billion in new awards, including $1.2 billion specifically for data center projects.
CEO George Sakellaris explained the company's positioning: "The second quarter represented an important inflection point for Ameresco as our history of successful large-scale integrated power solution deployments made us a trusted partner for many high-profile customers in the data center industry. We are experts in behind the meter solutions, and those solutions are now becoming the go-to path for many data center projects which do not have access to grid power."
In plain English: data centers need power, and when they can't get it from the grid, they turn to companies like Ameresco to build on-site solutions. That's a nice niche to be in right now.
Looking ahead, Ameresco reaffirmed its full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $2 billion to $2.2 billion, which brackets the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. But the company raised its adjusted earnings outlook from $1.06-$1.28 per share to a new range of $1.15-$1.35 per share. Analysts were only expecting $1.05, so this is a meaningful upgrade.
Executives were still on the earnings call as of 4:30 p.m. ET, but the after-hours action already told the story. Shares were up 29.84% at $29.50 at the time of publication, according to market data.
For investors, the takeaway is clear: the data center boom is creating real opportunities for companies that can solve the power puzzle. Ameresco appears to be one of them.
