After a year defined by hesitation and delayed capital decisions, Fluor Corporation says client confidence is returning — even as the contractor reported a steep fourth-quarter loss.
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The Irving, Texas-based engineering and construction giant posted a $1.57 billion loss in Q4 2025, compared with a $1.86 billion profit during the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter dipped about 2% year over year to $4.18 billion.
Still, leadership struck a notably more optimistic tone for 2026.
On the company’s earnings call, CEO Jim Breuer said the cautious investment climate that slowed projects last year is beginning to lift.
“But now, Fluor CEO Jim Breuer said ‘the uncertainty and hesitation that we saw last year is abating,’ in a positive sign for construction activity.”
“As we stand in early 2026, we’re seeing improved confidence across our client base,” said Breuer during Fluor’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Tuesday. “This confidence is a result of high levels of new front-end work, as well as detailed negotiations on projects that we see converting to backlog in the next several quarters, weighted towards the second half of 2026.”
Breuer added that Fluor expects new awards in 2026 to be “significantly higher than in 2025,” with energy construction positioned as a key driver of that rebound.
“Prospects for 2026 include our entrance back into the gas-fired power market,” said Breuer during the call. “We currently have a limited notice to proceed with a confidential U.S. utility for a large-scale project with a potential to add two additional facilities for the same client.”
According to Breuer, those projects will initially proceed on a reimbursable basis before converting to a negotiated fixed-price structure once execution planning and cost estimates are finalized in late 2026 or early 2027.
Breuer also emphasized Fluor’s growing footprint in nuclear energy — both domestically and internationally.
The firm recently advanced a Romanian small modular reactor project and is pursuing additional conventional and SMR opportunities with multiple technology providers.
It also sold 71 million shares of NuScale Power for $1.35 billion, with plans to monetize its remaining 40 million shares in the second quarter of 2026.
In the U.S., Fluor secured an early engineering award tied to expansion of a uranium enrichment plant in Ohio, part of broader federal efforts to strengthen domestic nuclear fuel supply chains.
“In the nuclear power market, we’re pleased with our progress to advance current projects,” said Breuer. “We continue to expand and diversify our nuclear power portfolio, which we believe will provide significant growth potential in the mid to long term.”
At the same time, Fluor’s exposure to older fixed-price infrastructure projects continues to shrink. Backlog tied to legacy jobs has fallen to $250 million from $700 million a year ago, reducing risk from cost overruns that have weighed on results in prior years.
Beyond traditional construction segments, Breuer highlighted Fluor’s increasing use of artificial intelligence to sharpen operational performance.
“AI will enhance our ability to plan, design, procure and build, improving decision timeliness and quality, accelerating execution and sharpening our competitive edge,” said Breuer. “As of today, we’ve deployed AI across the project lifecycle, from predicted analytics on capital projects to intelligent pricing insights across the supply chain. We have also implemented AI applications across individual functional roles, including HR, finance, legal and procurement.”
The company’s push into AI reflects a broader industry shift toward predictive analytics, supply chain optimization and automation in project delivery — particularly as contractors seek to mitigate risk in volatile cost environments.
For the full year 2025, Fluor reported a $51 million loss, down sharply from a $2.15 billion gain in 2024. Annual revenue declined roughly 5% year over year to $15.5 billion.
Backlog dropped about 10% to $25.54 billion, while new awards in Q4 fell to $1.13 billion from $2.31 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.
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Andrew Wittman, senior research analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co., expressed limited enthusiasm in a research note following the earnings release.
“Fluor’s 4Q25 print contained the usual mix of awards, charges, material movements of cash flows, etc., but unlikely change the story much,” wrote Wittman in the research note. “We focus on awards, weak at $1.13 billion.”
While 2025’s financial performance underscores the lingering effects of deferred capital spending and project volatility, Fluor’s leadership maintains that front-end engineering activity and improving client sentiment could translate into stronger backlog conversion later this year.
If energy, gas-fired power and nuclear investments accelerate as anticipated — particularly amid reshoring and grid reliability initiatives — 2026 may mark a turning point for one of the industry’s largest contractors.
Originally reported by Sebastian Obando, Reporter in Construction Dive.
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