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Quanta Services, Inc. (PWR)

Q3 2010 Earnings Call· Wed, Nov 3, 2010

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Quanta Services Third Quarter 2010 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Kip Rupp of DRG&L. Please go ahead, sir.

Kip Rupp

Analyst

Okay, thank you, Luke, and welcome, everyone, to Quanta Services conference call for the year 2010 third quarter results. Before I turn the call over to management, I have the normal housekeeping details to run through. If you would like to be on the e-mail or fax distribution list to receive future press releases for Quanta, or if you had any technical difficulties this morning and did not receive your e-mail or fax, please call our offices at DRG&L at (713) 529-6600. You can also sign up for e-mail information and alerts by going through the Investors & Media section of Quanta's website at quantaservices.com. If you would like to listen to a replay of today's call, it will be available via webcast by also going to Quanta's website at quantaservices.com. In addition, there's a telephonic recorded instant replay that will be available for the next seven days, 24 hours a day, that can be accessed to set forth in the press release. Please remember that information recorded on this call speaks only as of today, November 3, 2010, and therefore you're advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay of this call. This conference call will include forward-looking statements intended to qualify under the Safe Harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include any statements reflecting Quanta's expectations, intentions, assumptions or beliefs about future events or performance or that do not solely relate to historical or current facts. Forward-looking statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict or beyond Quanta's control and actual results may differ materially from those expected or implied as forward-looking statements. Management cautions that you should not place undue reliance on Quanta's forward-looking statements, and Quanta does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after this call. For additional information concerning some of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could affect Quanta's forward-looking statements, please refer to the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which may be obtained through the SEC's website at sec.gov. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. John Colson, Quanta's Chairman and CEO. John?

John Colson

Analyst

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Quanta Services Third Quarter 2010 Conference Call. To start the call this morning, I will provide a summary of the quarter results with added insight on the impact of current industry circumstances and overall economic conditions. My comments will be followed by an operational review by Jim O'Neil, President and Chief Operating Officer; and a review of the financial results by James Haddox, our Chief Financial Officer. As always, we welcome your questions following our remarks. Revenues for the third quarter increased over 50% to $1.2 billion compared to $780.8 million in the prior year's third quarter. Third quarter revenues for 2010 include revenues for Price Gregory, which was acquired on October 1, 2009. Additional activity in our Electric Power segment was the other main contributor to our revenue increase. Emergency Restoration revenues had no significant effect on the quarterly comparison. The revenues in our Electric Power and Natural Gas Pipeline segments were about as expected for the quarter, however, various weather and regulatory-related project delays reduced our margins. We believe this is a temporary impact that affected our third quarter and will affect our fourth quarter. But we remain committed to maintaining appropriate margins for our work. This is the first decline in margins that we have had in 12 consecutive quarters. We did achieve notable accomplishments this quarter and are starting to see increased project momentum in certain segments of our business. During the quarter, we secured contracts for the construction of two solar facilities totaling approximately 39 megawatts near Avenal, California. Work under this contract with Avenal Solar Holdings has already been initiated. We were awarded a 200-mile fiber project in North Carolina. This is the first construction project we have secured under the broadband stimulus program awards. The groundbreaking ceremony…

James O'Neil

Analyst

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. As John stated, the industries we serve are currently in transition. During the third and into the fourth quarters, we experienced certain challenges in meeting our financial goals. However, we are beginning to see meaningful indicators of increased spending, strong bidding productivity and release of stimulus funds. We believe these developments will positively affect our business in 2011 and beyond. My review will provide more detail on the [indiscernible] factors contributing to both the third and fourth quarters. Starting with our Electric Power Segment in the third quarter of 2010, revenues from this segment were approximately $532.6 million. This compares to approximately $512.8 million in revenue for the third quarter of 2009. Twelve-month backlog in the Electric Power segment was up $147 million compared to backlog at June 30 of 2010. We are also seeing positive indications that distribution spending, which has been at low levels since the fourth quarter of last year, are showing signs of recovery. In addition, the much anticipated large transmission projects, which were previously awarded to us, are moving toward the construction phase. Several of these projects were previously forecasted to begin in the third and fourth quarters based on project awards and start dates communicated to us by our customers. Subsequently, start dates for three of these projects were pushed out adversely impacting revenues and margins for the second half of the year. During the past month, we started preliminary preparations on San Diego Gas & Electric Sunrise Powerlink Project. Recently, we were also awarded another major contract for the site preparation, tower foundation and assembly and stringing conductor on a large transmission project on the West Coast. In late September, Northeast Utilities' Greater Springfield Reliability Transmission Project received the remaining key approvals to proceed with construction…

James Haddox

Analyst

Thanks, Jim, and good morning, everyone. Today, we announced revenues of $1.21 billion for the third quarter of 2010 compared to $780.8 million in the prior year third quarter. Net income attributable to common stock for the quarter was $62.8 million or $0.30 per diluted share. Our GAAP results were in line with our guidance for the third quarter. However, included in our GAAP earnings per diluted share for the third quarter of 2010 is $9.4 million of income or a benefit of $0.04 per diluted share due to the release of income tax contingencies from the exploration of various statutes of limitations related to federal and state tax returns. As I've said, consolidated revenues for the quarter were $1.21 billion reflecting growth of approximately 54.5% when compared to last year's third quarter. The growth in consolidated revenues in 3Q '10 was driven primarily by an increase in revenues from our Natural Gas and Pipeline infrastructure services segment as a result of the major acquisition on October 1, 2009 as well as an increase in revenues in our Electric Power infrastructure services segment. These increases were partially offset by decreased revenues from our Telecommunications infrastructure services segment primarily due to the decrease in spending by our customers on their FTT [ph] build-out initiatives. Our consolidated gross margin declined by 310 basis points from 18.9% in 3Q '09 to 15.8% in 3Q 10. The decrease in gross margin was primarily due to lower margins in our Electric Power infrastructure services and Telecom infrastructure services segments, partially offset by improved margins in our Natural Gas and Pipeline infrastructure services segment despite the weather issues discussed previously. Although our natural gas margins were higher in 3Q '10 than 3Q '09, these margins were still lower than our overall gross margins, and as a…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Tahira Afzal with KeyBanc.

Tahira Afzal - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc.

Analyst

First question is in regards to your existing electric transmission drawbacks. If you can talk about how Northeast Utilities, CREZ, TrAIL and Sunrise Powerlink are ramping up into the fourth quarter, what is your expectation? And if you can talk about what you think the ramp will be in 2011. And then if you can just also highlight -- my estimate is still a huge chunk, if not half of your Transmission business still comes from small to mid-size projects, if you can talk about what the outlook for that business looks, which has obviously been soft in the past.

John Colson

Analyst

Well, there's a number of projects that are moving forward in the fourth quarter, just getting started that won't have much positive impact on the fourth quarter but should have an impact, positive impact, on 2011. The Sunrise Project has just now getting started. The National Grid Project is cranking up. I think we're installing footings on that project at this time. Northeast Utilities project is ramping up, but you won't see much activity from here until 2011. National Grid, I think, I've mentioned that the Colorado River Authority Project or CREZ is ongoing and will be for several years, it's up to speed. The TrAIL Project is one that will carry over into 2011. It's in full construction mode now as well. And then you've got a few things that are out there that should start in 2011. The main reliability project, that's three different projects and we might pick up one of those. We have CREZ, I think Jim outlined that there were five utilities that are bidding CREZ that we should've reasonably think we should pick up at least one of those projects. And then there's several projects in Canada. One, Canada Hydro, that's just getting started with Valard and we will be doing in 2011. And then there's BC Hydro project that are coming and some others I think that reasonably should expect to get started in 2011. So if my count's right, we have six large transmission projects in hand with the possibility of doing another two or three for a total of nine big transmission projects for 2011. Then we are talking about some smaller transmission projects. We haven't seen much change in direction there. It's very competitive market as people have moved out of the distribution market and into the small transmission market, trying to earn some revenues there. But one thing we are seeing is some increased spending on the distribution side. We're hearing it from our customers. We're seeing that some of the material suppliers in their conference calls are talking about increased orders from the utilities for distribution materials. And in fact, we're seeing some ramp-up in distribution spending with the request for additional crews. Hopefully, that answers your question.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Jamie Cook with Credit Suisse. Jamie Cook - Crédit Suisse AG: A couple of questions. One, I appreciate the color on the weather issues in the quarter, but is there any way you can quantify what the hit was in Q3 and what you're assuming in Q4? And then my two follow-up questions, it sounds like there's a lot bidding activity on the electric utility transmission side. Is there any way you could quantify sort of the bids you have outstanding today versus last year, sort of like you did on the gas side? I think on the gas side, you said you had like $2 billion in bids outstanding that should materialize I guess over the next two quarters or so. And any color on that as well?

John Colson

Analyst

I think maybe would help to quantify the two jobs at the end of the quarter that had the weather issues, had about $30 million in cost overruns compared to forecast. On those two jobs, we built like 400 miles of 36 and 42-inch pipeline and just over a four-month period the jobs, of course, obviously have moved very rapidly. So you can make up significant project shortfalls in one week with good weather or have a pretty bad shortfall in a week with bad weather. We also have contract adders and changed orders that are reviewed and submitted related to the quarter, and we also have other spreads working during the same period that obviously could offset the production downfalls on those two, and in fact they did, because the shortfall was not that great. Bottom line is that we'd be able to project what these contracts are going to do. It's very difficult because of the speed which are moving. And normally, one project does better than you expect than one does worse. But these two because of the significant amount of rainfall were more difficult than normal than they get for. Probably I think Jim has said about $2 billion of transmission work that we're looking at this time.

James O'Neil

Analyst

Yes. $2 billion of work that is either been bid or is going to be bid.

John Colson

Analyst

And that's electric?

James O'Neil

Analyst

That's electric.

John Colson

Analyst

And then there's another $2 billion on the pipeline side as well.

James O'Neil

Analyst

That's correct. Jamie Cook - Crédit Suisse AG: How would that have compared just to last year? You know what I mean? I'm trying figure out how much bidding activity's up in those two markets relative to last year. Is it up 30%? Just round numbers.

John Colson

Analyst

Yes. I think pipeline is about the same as last year's bidding season. I don't think there's going to be a tremendous increase there. There should be some increase. We're expecting revenues to increase next year on the pipeline side, but so far bidding season is not 30% more or anything like that. But on the transmission electric side, I think it's probably 30% or 40% more than we've seen at the same time last year. Maybe as much as 50% [indiscernible] but that's significantly more than we've seen last fourth quarter.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Will Gabrielski with Gleacher & Company. Will Gabrielski - Gleacher & Company, Inc.: You mentioned another win in California on the transmission side. I'm not sure if you can disclose who the customer was there or what the project is, but can you disclose what that was in your third quarter backlog?

John Colson

Analyst

It was not in third quarter backlog, and the contract was [indiscernible] we were awarded six and 11. Will Gabrielski - Gleacher & Company, Inc.: The other question, I guess, your revenue for the quarter came in around the midpoint of the range that you have guided for, yet you talked about weather delays and cost overruns on some pipeline projects and delayed start-ups on transmission, which impacted your margins. So I'm just curious, I'm still trying to reconcile those two points because it looks like you had good revenue performance. So how far behind schedule were you? Or how good could this quarter have been, I guess, if I add back to $39 million? And in cost overrun, you talked about it's certainly positive, and how much of that do you think you're recovering in Q4, if any?

John Colson

Analyst

Well, the one thing we hate to do is to set in this conference call some have to explain the weather downturns or why things that the margins are down and so forth. So we were fairly conservative in our estimates because we are seeing delays in projects, and so we anticipate some delays. However, the weather just got us in this particular one, and it was significant weather. If we would have had some project start as we have been told by our customers they would, that certainly would made up for some of the shortfall. But unfortunately, that's just not the case, but it is certainly work that we have in hand and will be doing some day and hopefully, next year. It's not going to be a robust fourth quarter. We've got winter weather coming on in these projects that are just now beginning to ramp up, but it won't be full swing until later on. But I think I mostly spoke on the project [ph]. It was in backlog at the end of the third quarter.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Steve Sanders with Stephens Inc.

Stephen Sanders - Stephens Inc.

Analyst · Stephens Inc.

First, a question on the gas pipeline side. You talked about the level of bidding activity. Can you talk a little bit about the competition and sort of how the margins steal in that business going forward relative to historical levels? And then the second question, and Jim, I think you gave a piece of the spill [ph], on the electric transmission project that you bid early in the second quarter, where are we on seeing awards there? And then as you look at these CREZ bids, I think you talked about seeing some awards over the next few months, what could cause the delay there?

James O'Neil

Analyst · Stephens Inc.

Steve, on the question on the job that was bid in the second quarter, that was one of those jobs wants the hedge fee [ph]. And where we just asked about that, and yes, we recently were awarded that, and it will start that work at the beginning of the year. We're beginning to mobilize now. The question on the gas side on the amount of bidding activity that we're seeing and the amount of competition, you're going to have -- this project is very similar to that Fayetteville express line that we had last year. You've got a lot of capacity on the market right now, but bidding season is just starting. This area, the southern part of this Rex [ph] job we just bid is -- there's a lot of -- not the Rex [ph] job but the Excel project. There's a lot of [indiscernible]. So we're seeing the same amount or more activity this year. And the good thing about is sign up capacity of the market, and we've seen plenty of activity. So we're not worried about it, we've got projects out there that we feel will be awarded over the next couple of quarters.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Alex Rygiel with FBR Capital Markets. Alexander Rygiel - FBR Capital Markets & Co.: John, James, your 12-month backlog is down year-over-year. Your total backlog is down year-over-year. Your fourth quarter guidance organically, excluding the acquisitions, suggesting revenues are down 7.5% to possibly up 2% year-over-year. With all that stated, how should we think about revenue growth in 2011. And I know you're not giving us projections at this time, but how should we think about it?

John Colson

Analyst

I think that the shortfall and backlog is all related to gas. We've mentioned that we've been awarded $50 million worth of telephone work in the last 60 days, and I told you about the transmission projects so forth. That shortfall's really in gas. The gas bidding season, it hasn't started until, actually, right now. So I'm not too concerned about our backlog being down, I think we will have growth in 2011, and hopefully we'll do double-digit growth in 2011. You have any color you want to add to that, James?

James Haddox

Analyst

No. Just, I mean, you're right, backlog in gas. Well, price pressure was in backlog in gas in last year and in backlog this year. But that's really, the backlog is down in gas and that's due to the bidding season not really cranking up in gas...

John Colson

Analyst

And burning off its $500 million.

James Haddox

Analyst

We should see significant increase. That's right, it's burning off $500 million during the quarter. We should see significant increases in backlog over the next quarter or two. Alexander Rygiel - FBR Capital Markets & Co.: I noticed that Northeast Utilities have lowered its CapEx budget for 2011 through '13 by about 25%, is that reflected in your backlog?

John Colson

Analyst

That doesn't really affect any of the projects that we're working off. So no, it doesn't affect our backlog.

James O'Neil

Analyst

Northern Utilities transmission backlog was forecasted out for 2011 through 2015, and they added additional $845 million of additional transmission projects forecasted. So we hear about delays on one of the projects which is supposed to be built out several years from now, one of the newest projects lines, but the transmission backlog is good. And we have the $950 million MOU we have with Northeast Utilities to upgrade their transmission infrastructure through 2015 and may have increased our CapEx budget for transmission over the same period.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Jeff Beach [Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.]. Jeffrey Beach - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: There's a number of electric transmission projects in the continental U.S. across the country that I think you've bid on or are bidding on. Have any other projects already been awarded either to you or competitors that you can talk about? And some of these domestic projects, can you expand on your expectations of timing of seeing those awards?

James Haddox

Analyst

Yes. We've talked about -- we were awarded a part of Tehachapi. Some other pieces of Tehachapi went to competitors. But mainly, reliability project, the bid is here but those projects have not been announced as far as who is going to receive those. The Mona to Oquirrh Project has been awarded to a competitor. Is there anything else, Jim, that I missed?

James O'Neil

Analyst

I think the LS Power line was awarded, we believe, to L.E. Myers. The Mona to Oquirrh line is still trying to determine who -- they're still reviewing this until the final stages. So I don't think we're going to probably win that project. Jeffrey Beach - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: And there is a number of projects within CapEx 2020. Any commentary there about whether there's been award activity?

James O'Neil

Analyst

No. We're providing indicative pricing on that and working with them, but there has been no firm RF fees. I don't know a project yet. We'll probably expect that in the middle of next year.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Scott Levine with JPMorgan. Scott Levine - JP Morgan Chase & Co: On the Gas business, if we normalize to the $30 million in cost overruns, in the quarter, it looks your Gas Pipeline business is going to math right as mid-teens. I'm wondering if the profitability, the underlying business, is kind of consistent with your expectations. And then secondarily, if we think about next year, the bidding season's just getting started. Absent execution with your expectations, what are your expectations for the Gas Business margins in 2011 versus '10? Or is it really too early to say given where we are in the bidding season today?

John Colson

Analyst

Yes. It's probably too early, but we don't expect to see any major shifts in the market on those projects. There should be more work in 2011 than there is in '10. So margin should be well in execution risk aside. We very seldom to get those kinds of swings and those kinds of projects. Those are just very fast-track projects that had a tremendous amount of rain. That's really unusual. Scott Levine - JP Morgan Chase & Co: On the renewable side, I think, Jim, you said that you expected double-digit growth in '11 in your prepared comments. I just want to confirm if that's right. And maybe to talk anecdotally about the mix of wind and solar in '11 versus '10, if you could at this point?

James O'Neil

Analyst

Yes, I mean solar, we believe solar is going to have a huge growth in the United States going from a 1 gigawatt to 2-gigawatt market, and we think we will be able to achieve double-digit growth in solar. We think wind will be flat to slightly up. But overall, we think renewables will generate double-digit growth. Solar will probably be at least half or maybe 2/3 of that revenue mix next year.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of David Lowish with Generation.

David Martin Lowish

Analyst · Generation.

I have a question now that the mid terms are out of the way. What impact do you think that will have on your operating environment? Will it make some of these delays go away? Or do you think it's still going to be a slight headwind? And my second question on the Valard acquisition up in Canada, is that a unionized workforce? And how do you see that playing out?

John Colson

Analyst · Generation.

The election, I think, it's a little early to make any projections on what the election will do. I expect to see continued headwinds on these permits and approvals. Hopefully, it will help but I'm not certain that we're going to see much impact from the elections. Valard operates both open shop and union.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Sanjay Shrestha with Lazard Capital Markets.

Sanjay Shrestha - Lazard Capital Markets LLC

Analyst · Lazard Capital Markets.

So on the natural gas cost overrun, if you exclude that, that's like a $0.09 hit to the quarter. Are you guys expecting that to continue in Q4, and that's why your margin guidance for Q4 is what it is as implied by your EPS guidance? Or what's the status of this project? And how much are we completed, how much is left to be done?

James O'Neil

Analyst · Lazard Capital Markets.

Well, the two projects that we talked about that had weather-related issues are about 90% complete, and yes they will have an impact on fourth quarter because of POC accounting. We carry margins across the entire jobs, so there will be impact in the fourth quarter.

Sanjay Shrestha - Lazard Capital Markets LLC

Analyst · Lazard Capital Markets.

So when you really think about all the bidding activity, large transmission projects, large natural gas work, and this has been a year where things sort of seem to have move to the right before they really hit the backlog or P&L benefit. So as you take a sit right now and look at all the opportunity that's out there and think about '11 and '12, so how do you kind of think about it as to the backlog trends? Should we see this meaningful sequential uptick in backlog into Q4, therefore a stronger '11? Or is that a gradual uptick in Q4 backlog and it's really now more in second half in '12 kind of a growth rate, which is more robust and meaningful rather than in '11 growth rate? How do you think about that?

James O'Neil

Analyst · Lazard Capital Markets.

Sanjay, it's difficult. I mean the bidding season for gas is in the fourth quarter and into the first quarter. And taking what the backlog is at fourth quarter, hopefully we'll have some increase in the gas transmission backlog. Seasonal business and its annual, so you're going to have backlog burn off at strong rates after three quarters. And then you're going to build that out into the fourth and first quarters. So I think once we get through the first quarter, we'll have a pretty good bill for backlog for the year. Right now, we're just going to be able to provide you forecast and the amount of bidding activity that we're seeing in the Gas business.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Carter Shoop with Deutsche Bank.

Carter Shoop - Deutsche Bank AG

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

First, a clarification. The $30 million for the Natural Gas business that's caused overruns, can you split that between 3Q and 4Q? Or did you actually say that was all in 3Q?

James Haddox

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

That's all in 3Q.

Carter Shoop - Deutsche Bank AG

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Do you have a sense of how much that would be then in 4Q?

James Haddox

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Actually, a piece of it would fall into 3Q because the costs were incurred by the cost of the percentage. In purchase accounting, you would lower the percentage profit on the third and the fourth quarter as a result of that. So some of it would into the third quarter, which is probably what would be maybe 10% to 15%. I mean the jobs were about 70% complete on average at the end of the third quarter. Jamie Cook - Crédit Suisse AG: So roughly speaking, $20 million in 3Q on an accounting basis, $10 million in 4Q?

James Haddox

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

That's pretty right.

Carter Shoop - Deutsche Bank AG

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

And then in regards to the bidding activity on the transmission side, you're talking about that business being up, the bidding activity being up over 30%, 40%. Is that for the entire transition business? Or is that just for these large contracts?

John Colson

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

I was speaking to those large contracts.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Adam Thalhimer with BB&T Capital Markets. Adam Thalhimer - BB&T Capital Markets: Does it feel like for you guys that we're at the bottom of the cycle?

John Colson

Analyst

It sure feels better than it has. The second quarter conference call, I think, was we were pretty beat up and feeling pretty bad. Adam Thalhimer - BB&T Capital Markets: That was apparent, yes.

John Colson

Analyst

This quarter, I think, we're much more optimistic. We are finally seeing those awards on the Telecom side comp. And I said, we're working on -- we've been awarded a number of projects and we'll be working on in 2011. Because how do I know that? Well, because we're working on starting to work on them this quarter. So it looks like that once you get started, [indiscernible] have to stop and then of course there's the bidding activity. Finally, we're seeing the CREZ projects come out and others as well. And of course gas pipeline looks good too. So it looks like maybe we're going to see some touch on it here on our business over the next few quarters. Adam Thalhimer - BB&T Capital Markets: And then as a follow-up, you mentioned you had a nice string of year-over-year increases in gross margin, unfortunately, that was broken this quarter. How many quarters do we have to go through before gross margin starts to flatten out and increase again on a year-over-year basis?

John Colson

Analyst

It's hard to say. The first quarter is always difficult because it's a winter quarter, you know it, and weather has a big impact on productivity. But I would expect that because of these big projects that are ongoing at second quarter, we should be back on track with margins. Maybe the first quarter, but it's hard to say in the first quarter because of the impact of the winter weather. Of course we're not giving guidance next year yet, but to try to answer your question, I think second quarter next year we ought to be back on track.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Stuart Bush with RBC Capital Markets.

Stuart Bush - RBC Capital Markets Corporation

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

I was hoping you could expand a little bit on your feelings about Tehachapi awards. I know you got six and 11 out of the -- expands six and 11 out of the total eight available. Is that indicative that there's more aggressive pricing environment out there? It seemed like you guys were set up well given that you did the first portion at Tehachapi? And then I wanted to follow up also on your thoughts about the oil pipeline business especially the TransCanada Keystone Excel Project and where you stand there and how you think that progresses through next year?

John Colson

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

Yes. We're happy with the awards with Tehachapi. Of course, we'd like to do it all, but there are other competitors out there. I think that having done the last Tehachapi job probably bodes well for us getting the projects that we did get because they are across the national forest lands, and we're pretty experienced in doing that and have a good reputation of being general on the environment, so forth. So I think our experience did help us, but there are other competitors out, unfortunately, we're just not going to get all of them. Do you want to address the gas question, Jim?

James O'Neil

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

Yes. There's 16 total spreads on the Excel project. And the first part was the south section that was awarded, and that took up six spreads and that the remaining work could be done as early as the second half of this year and into 2012. So we do think that the federal scrutiny over permitting or bring those pipelines into the U.S. from Canada has delayed that project somewhat. But we're hearing it'll be [indiscernible] good start as early as the second half of this next year, certainly into 2012.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of John Rogers with D. A. Davidson. John Rogers - D.A. Davidson & Co.: Jim, you made a comment in your prepared remarks, and I don't think i quite got it. Relative to gas pipeline construction this year saying, you thought it was $900 million. Is that the right number?

James O'Neil

Analyst

We forecasted a year ago that price probably would do between $700 million and $900 million in revenue for the full year 2011. And we've been updating everyone on the calls, and I think the most recent, last second quarter call, we said they would be close to $900 million. And now we're saying that and forecasting that price order will exceed $900 million in revenues, which is essentially our gas transmission business. John Rogers - D.A. Davidson & Co.: And then the second question I had, in terms of bidding activity, are you seeing any changes in the terms for the bids as it relates to the risks that are being put on to contractors or being pushed back to owners?

James O'Neil

Analyst

No. There's been no change over the last two years. There are firm-priced contracts, and the contracts terms are consistent with what they've been in the past several years.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Justin Hauke with Robert W. Baird.

Justin Hauke

Analyst · Robert W. Baird.

Just one last question on the guidance reduction, I guess. Just to make sure that I do understand this correctly, would it be fair to say that well over half of the guidance reductions for 4Q was driven by these cost overruns rather than delays? I guess the guidance for the full year is maybe a better way to talk about it.

John Colson

Analyst · Robert W. Baird.

Well, it was actually a combination. I mean there was -- we definitely did take the guidance down related to pipeline, but also the other projects start-ups are occurring later than we had originally forecasted when we were in the second quarter. So there was some effect on pulling the estimates down on electric, particularly transmission, on the renewable side and on the Telecom side business. The majority of it was pipeline.

Justin Hauke

Analyst · Robert W. Baird.

Just kind of a housekeeping question, but on Price Gregory and with your comment that it's going to be above $900 million for year, can you tell us what their contribution has been year-to-date through the third quarter in revenue?

James Haddox

Analyst · Robert W. Baird.

We don't physically disclose those particular operating units for the quarter. I have the numbers, but I don't have them right here in front of me. I think the rate -- to back into that is the gas segment revenues, probably 85% to 90% of that is transmission revenue.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Dan Mannes with Avondale Partners.

Daniel Mannes - Avondale Partners, LLC

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

A quick follow-up on the pipe business, you talked about Keystone Excel and the TransCanada project. Could you talk a little bit more about maybe about how that fits in? First of all, is that included in that $2 billion of bidding that you brought up? And two, given some of the uncertainty on the regulatory side, do you have some risk and sort of waiting for that especially in relation with TransCanada? Or do you just bid what you bid? And if that isn't what you end up with, it's fine? I guess I'm just trying to understand bidding strategy given the size of that project.

James O'Neil

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

Yes. I mean the part that's been awarded on Xcel is not in the $2 billion and opportunities that we're saying. And we're saying $2 billion and opportunities in addition to the Xcel project to TransCanada.

Daniel Mannes - Avondale Partners, LLC

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

So the 10 spreads that are open are not included in the $2 billion.

James O'Neil

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

That's correct. We've got more than $2 billion in opportunities. We've risk weighted that, that it could potentially happen in '12 more likely than '11.

Daniel Mannes - Avondale Partners, LLC

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

So from a bidding perspective, that's not something you're necessarily expecting to get? Got it.

James O'Neil

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

No. We expect to bid on it if it comes out, but we're seeing $2 billion of projects that we believe will start in 2011.

James O'Neil

Analyst · Avondale Partners.

By the way, I have a follow-up number. On Price Gregory's year-to-date revenues through the nine months were about $670 million.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Craig Irwin with Wedbush Securities.

Craig Irwin - Wedbush Securities Inc.

Analyst · Wedbush Securities.

Most of my questions have already been asked, but one question I have is really about the history of Price Gregory. I was wondering if they had any significant overruns in their past or if any of their predecessor companies really had a history of overruns given that the public financials actually showed some pretty impressive profitability. And whether or not the big teams that are bidding on the different gas projects coming up are really the same big teams that we're bidding for Price Gregory?

John Colson

Analyst · Wedbush Securities.

Yes. There hasn't been any change in the bidding teams for Price Gregory. And yes, you have some projects through the years that are good and bad, and Price Gregory is doing very well. They had a couple of test projects that -- because we're a public company, we're very exposed. But they're doing very well, they're a great company, good bid team. We expect good things from them going forward. It's just unfortunately, no one can predict the weather as to bear us what we have there. It just -- it really hurt us, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

Craig Irwin - Wedbush Securities Inc.

Analyst · Wedbush Securities.

So then last quarter, you mentioned one project, one solar project, 134-megawatt project that was really being pushed because of panel availability. I was wondering if it's something that you thought would come back in 2011 and might be part of your expectations for substantial growth in the solar market.

James O'Neil

Analyst · Wedbush Securities.

Well, we're looking at several utility scale programs that would start in '11 in addition to that 130-megawatt program. That program is still on the table, and we're still working through issues there. So but there are plenty -- they're going to be several utilities scale opportunities in '11 that we haven't seen in the past.

John Colson

Analyst · Wedbush Securities.

Also, let me finish up a little bit of question on Price Gregory there. If some of these other projects had not been pushed, for instance the solar project or a couple of the transmission projects if they hadn't been pushed to the right, then those shortfalls of Price Gregory would've gone unnoticed because we would've not had any issues now. Going forward and going backwards, sometimes when Price Gregory makes up, there's one transition project goes out or it's pushed to the right. So it's a good thing to have Price Gregory. They have more time, if should not, 99% of the time they're going to perform very well. And so it's a good company, and we're really proud to have them.

Operator

Operator

And this concludes this question-and-answer session. Management, please proceed with any closing remarks.

John Colson

Analyst

Okay, I just like to thank you all again for your participation in our third quarter conference call. We appreciate your questions and your ongoing interest in Quanta Services. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the Quanta Services Third Quarter 2010 Earnings Conference Call. If you'd like to listen to a replay of today's conference, please dial (303) 590-3030 with the access code 4380675. AT&T would like to thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.