Concrete Pumping (BBCP)

Concrete and waste management company Concrete Pumping (NASDAQ:BBCP) reported Q3 CY2025 results topping the market’s revenue expectations, but sales fell by 2.4% year on year to $108.8 million. The company’s full-year revenue guidance of $400 million at the midpoint came in 2% above analysts’ estimates. Its GAAP profit of $0.09 per share was in line with analysts’ consensus estimates.

Company Overview

Going public via SPAC in 2018, Concrete Pumping (NASDAQ:BBCP) is a provider of concrete pumping and waste management services in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Construction and maintenance services companies not only boast technical know-how in specialized areas but also may hold special licenses and permits. Those who work in more regulated areas can enjoy more predictable revenue streams - for example, fire escapes need to be inspected every five years. More recently, services to address energy efficiency and labor availability are also creating incremental demand. But like the broader industrials sector, construction and maintenance services companies are at the whim of economic cycles as external factors like interest rates can greatly impact the new construction that drives incremental demand for these companies’ offerings.

Concrete Pumping’s competitors include United Rentals (NYSE:URI), Cemex (NYSE:CX), and Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC).

A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can experience short-term success, but top-performing ones enjoy sustained growth for years. Regrettably, Concrete Pumping’s sales grew at a tepid 5.2% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This fell short of our benchmark for the industrials sector and is a poor baseline for our analysis.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss new industry trends or demand cycles. Concrete Pumping’s performance shows it grew in the past but relinquished its gains over the last two years, as its revenue fell by 5.7% annually.

This quarter, Concrete Pumping’s revenue fell by 2.4% year on year to $108.8 million but beat Wall Street’s estimates by 5.7%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to remain flat over the next 12 months. While this projection implies its newer products and services will spur better top-line performance, it is still below average for the sector.

Gross profit margin is a critical metric to track because it sheds light on its pricing power, complexity of products, and ability to procure raw materials, equipment, and labor.

Concrete Pumping’s unit economics are great compared to the broader industrials sector and signal that it enjoys product differentiation through quality or brand. As you can see below, it averaged an excellent 40.3% gross margin over the last five years. That means Concrete Pumping only paid its suppliers $59.73 for every $100 in revenue.

Concrete Pumping’s gross profit margin came in at 39.8% this quarter, marking a 1.7 percentage point decrease from 41.5% in the same quarter last year. Zooming out, the company’s full-year margin has remained steady over the past 12 months, suggesting its input costs (such as raw materials and manufacturing expenses) have been stable and it isn’t under pressure to lower prices.

Operating margin is an important measure of profitability as it shows the portion of revenue left after accounting for all core expenses – everything from the cost of goods sold to advertising and wages. It’s also useful for comparing profitability across companies with different levels of debt and tax rates because it excludes interest and taxes.

Concrete Pumping has been an efficient company over the last five years. It was one of the more profitable businesses in the industrials sector, boasting an average operating margin of 12.2%. This result isn’t surprising as its high gross margin gives it a favorable starting point.

Looking at the trend in its profitability, Concrete Pumping’s operating margin decreased by 1.5 percentage points over the last five years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability.

This quarter, Concrete Pumping generated an operating margin profit margin of 15.5%, down 1.7 percentage points year on year. Since Concrete Pumping’s operating margin decreased more than its gross margin, we can assume it was less efficient because expenses such as marketing, R&D, and administrative overhead increased.

Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

Concrete Pumping’s full-year EPS flipped from negative to positive over the last five years. This is encouraging and shows it’s at a critical moment in its life.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business.

Sadly for Concrete Pumping, its EPS declined by more than its revenue over the last two years, dropping 59.2%. This tells us the company struggled to adjust to shrinking demand.

In Q3, Concrete Pumping reported EPS of $0.09, down from $0.16 in the same quarter last year. This print was close to analysts’ estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Concrete Pumping’s full-year EPS of $0.09 to grow 74.1%.

Free cash flow isn't a prominently featured metric in company financials and earnings releases, but we think it's telling because it accounts for all operating and capital expenses, making it tough to manipulate. Cash is king.

Concrete Pumping has shown weak cash profitability over the last five years, giving the company limited opportunities to return capital to shareholders. Its free cash flow margin averaged 4.6%, subpar for an industrials business. The divergence from its good operating margin stems from its capital-intensive business model, which requires Concrete Pumping to make large cash investments in working capital and capital expenditures.

Concrete Pumping’s free cash flow clocked in at $1.91 million in Q3, equivalent to a 1.8% margin. The company’s cash profitability regressed as it was 12.7 percentage points lower than in the same quarter last year, prompting us to pay closer attention. Short-term fluctuations typically aren’t a big deal because investment needs can be seasonal, but we’ll be watching to see if the trend extrapolates into future quarters.

EPS and free cash flow tell us whether a company was profitable while growing its revenue. But was it capital-efficient? Enter ROIC, a metric showing how much operating profit a company generates relative to the money it has raised (debt and equity).

Concrete Pumping historically did a mediocre job investing in profitable growth initiatives. Its five-year average ROIC was 7.6%, somewhat low compared to the best industrials companies that consistently pump out 20%+.

We like to invest in businesses with high returns, but the trend in a company’s ROIC is what often surprises the market and moves the stock price. Unfortunately, Concrete Pumping’s ROIC has stayed the same over the last few years. If the company wants to become an investable business, it must improve its returns by generating more profitable growth.

Concrete Pumping reported $44.39 million of cash and $441.4 million of debt on its balance sheet in the most recent quarter. As investors in high-quality companies, we primarily focus on two things: 1) that a company’s debt level isn’t too high and 2) that its interest payments are not excessively burdening the business.

With $97.02 million of EBITDA over the last 12 months, we view Concrete Pumping’s 4.1× net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio as safe. We also see its $14.02 million of annual interest expenses as appropriate. The company’s profits give it plenty of breathing room, allowing it to continue investing in growth initiatives.

We were impressed by how significantly Concrete Pumping blew past analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also glad its EBITDA outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its full-year EBITDA guidance missed. Overall, we think this was a decent quarter with some key metrics above expectations. Investors were likely hoping for more, and shares traded down 3.4% to $7.16 immediately after reporting.

Updated: January 13, 2026 at 4:20 PM EST

Before deciding whether to buy Concrete Pumping or pass, we urge investors to consider business quality, valuation, and the latest quarterly results.

Concrete Pumping doesn’t pass our quality test. To begin with, its revenue growth was uninspiring over the last five years, and analysts expect its demand to deteriorate over the next 12 months. And while its projected EPS for the next year implies the company’s fundamentals will improve, the downside is its organic revenue declined. On top of that, its relatively low ROIC suggests management has struggled to find compelling investment opportunities.

Concrete Pumping’s P/E ratio based on the next 12 months is 43.5x. This valuation tells us it’s a bit of a market darling with a lot of good news priced in - we think other companies feature superior fundamentals at the moment.

Wall Street analysts have a consensus one-year price target of $7.75 on the company (compared to the current share price of $7.16).