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Quanta Services, Inc. (PWR)

Q3 2013 Earnings Call· Thu, Oct 31, 2013

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Transcript

Executives

Management

Kip A. Rupp - Vice President of Investor Relations James F. O'Neil - Chief Executive Officer, President, Director and President of Infrasource FI LLC Derrick A. Jensen - Chief Financial Officer

Analysts

Management

William D. Bremer - Maxim Group LLC, Research Division Will Gabrielski - Lazard Capital Markets LLC, Research Division Tahira Afzal - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division Vishal Shah - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division Jamie L. Cook - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division Steven Fisher - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division Andrew J. Wittmann - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division Daniel J. Mannes - Avondale Partners, LLC, Research Division Adam R. Thalhimer - BB&T Capital Markets, Research Division Craig E. Irwin - Wedbush Securities Inc., Research Division John B. Rogers - D.A. Davidson & Co., Research Division Alexander J. Rygiel - FBR Capital Markets & Co., Research Division Noelle C. Dilts - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., Research Division Martin W. Malloy - Johnson Rice & Company, L.L.C., Research Division

Operator

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Quanta Services Third Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded today, Thursday, October 31, 2013 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Kip Rupp, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Kip A. Rupp

Analyst

Great. Thank you, Ron. And welcome, everyone, to the Quanta Services conference call to review third quarter 2013 results. Before I turn the call over to management, I have the normal housekeeping details to run through. If you would like to have Quanta's -- Quanta news releases and other information emailed to you when they occur, please sign up for email information alerts by going to the Investors & Media section of Quanta Services' website at quantaservices.com. In addition, Quanta has an Investor Relations app for iPhone, iPad and Android mobile devices, which is available for free at Apple's App Store and at Google Play. The Quanta Investor Relations app allows users to navigate the company's Investor Relations materials, including the latest press releases, SEC filings, presentations, videos, audiocasts, conference calls and stock price information. A replay of today's call will be available on Quanta's website at quantaservices.com. In addition, a telephonic recorded instant replay will be available for the next 7 days, 24 hours a day, that can be accessed as set forth in the press release. Please remember that information reported on this call speaks only as of today, October 31, 2013, and therefore, you are 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 all 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 are 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, 2012, and its other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which may be obtained on Quanta's website or through the SEC's website at sec.gov. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Jim O'Neil, Quanta's President and CEO. Jim?

James F. O'Neil

Analyst

Thank you, Kip. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Quanta Services Third Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call. I will start the call with an operational overview before turning it over to Derrick Jensen, Quanta's Chief Financial Officer, who will provide a detailed review of our third quarter results. Following Derrick's comments, we will welcome your questions. For the quarter, revenues increased approximately 7% and GAAP diluted earnings per share from continuing operations increased 10% compared to the same quarter last year. Our 12-month and total backlog increased both sequentially and on a year-over-year basis, and both are at record levels. Our Electric Power segment continues to experience strong demand for electric transmission and distribution services. The electric power industry continues to make significant investments in North America's power grid to improve reliability, address congestion issues, create renewable interconnections and upgrade and replace aging transmission and distribution infrastructure. There are several near-term drivers of transmission spending. As coal generation is retired to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, utilities will need to modify existing transmission infrastructure to handle changes in energy flow to maintain grid reliability. As a result, new transmission infrastructure will be required. For example, earlier this year, grid operator PJM, which manages grid reliability on an electric power system that serves more than 60 million people, identified the need for more than 130 grid updates to avoid reliability problems resulting from power plant retirements. PJM's estimate of $2.4 billion in expenditures to address this challenge includes equipment upgrades, new substation and substation upgrades, as well as rebuilding existing transmission lines and the construction of new lines. Earlier this month, PJM approved an additional $1.2 billion in high-voltage transmission system upgrades and improvements to meet the challenging impacts of mother nature, such as…

Derrick A. Jensen

Analyst

Thanks, Jim, and good morning, everyone. Today, we announced revenues of $1.65 billion for the third quarter of 2013 compared to $1.53 billion from the prior year's third quarter, reflecting growth of approximately 7% quarter-over-quarter. Net income from continuing operations attributable to common stock for the quarter was $92.9 million or $0.43 per diluted share, as compared to $83.6 million or $0.39 per diluted share in the third quarter of last year. Included in our results for the third quarters of 2013 and 2012 were the release of income tax contingencies of approximately $6.6 million and $5.2 million of income, or a net benefit of $0.03 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2013 and a net benefit of $0.02 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2012. Both were due to the expiration of various federal and state statute of limitations periods and settlement of certain income tax audits. Adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations, as calculated in today's press release, was $0.46 for the third quarter of 2013 and grew approximately 10% as compared to adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.42 for the third quarter of 2012. The growth in consolidated revenues in the third quarter of 2013 was primarily due to a 40% increase in revenues from our Natural Gas and Pipeline Infrastructure Services segment, partially offset by a 4% decrease in revenues from our Electric Power Infrastructure Services segment. Our consolidated gross margin increased to 16.6% in the third quarter of 2013 from 16.4% in 3Q '12. The increase in gross margin was primarily a result of improved performance and an increase in revenues from our Natural Gas and Pipeline segment in this year's third quarter as compared to last year's third quarter. This increase was partially offset…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from William Bremer from Maxim Group.

William D. Bremer - Maxim Group LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Can we talk a little bit on pricing, what's currently in your backlog now for each segment? Has that been improving sequentially or has it been improving year-over-year? Just give a little sense on the pricing power of the end markets that you are working on now.

Derrick A. Jensen

Analyst

Sure, Bill. This is Derrick. Relative to pricing, we like to look at things as though we have the same level of pricing discipline throughout. So what I would say is, the margins we're seeing in backlog today are comparable to the margins that you've seen in both the Electric Power and in the pipeline segment.

William D. Bremer - Maxim Group LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. Now let's go into international. Can we get an update on Australia? This something a little bit out of -- a little bit on the newer side in terms of your business mix, what you're seeing there? And then also, touch base on the offshore opportunity for you, given -- and give us a sense of what is the current capacity that you could do there. And I'm sure you'll be investing with that continuously as projects come up, but a little more granularity would be appreciated.

James F. O'Neil

Analyst

Okay. First Australia, Bill. We're seeing similar drivers that we're seeing in the U.S., probably more so than in the U.S. and in Canada. There's significant opportunity to build out the pipeline infrastructure and certainly, we're at or ahead of schedule on where we expected to be when we made the acquisitions. So things are moving along nicely there. As far as the offshore environment, what we're trying to do is replicate the services that we're performing on land today, offshore. The main reason we're doing that is some of our primary customers that we're doing work for on their pipeline infrastructure and facilities on land have asked us to move into the offshore environment, because they don't feel they've got a viable solution with the amount of work that they've got going forward. We thought Performance Energy is an excellent company that has a strong management team and customer relations, that has differentiating services in the Gulf, primarily, today, and certain international markets. And we're going to leverage that with some of our technologies in-house, such as our integrity services, our engineering capabilities and program management to build that business. So we're very excited about that opportunity. Certainly, we're just getting our toe on the water on that and we'll just take it slowly and build opportunities with our customers as they present themselves.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Will Gabrielski with Lazard Capital.

Will Gabrielski - Lazard Capital Markets LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Lazard Capital.

As you look at the offshore market, I guess, can you comment, it sounds like your -- the part of the market that you want to address is fairly fragmented from your comments. Is that true? And how do you view this work? I mean, is it more MSA-style work and recurring opportunity or will it be discrete projects?

James F. O'Neil

Analyst · Lazard Capital.

A significant part of what PES does today is MSA work. It's recurring revenue with margins that are actually better than what we do in our core business today. And then there are other parts of that business that are adjacencies, that are highly fragmented, that lack technology and the sole-source solution that we see an opportunity to provide going forward.

Will Gabrielski - Lazard Capital Markets LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Lazard Capital.

Okay. And then can you give us some color on up in the Canadian market? Just over the past 48 hours, a few big oil sands projects were sanctioned and there seems to be some pipelines associated with those. How that market is shaping up on the pipeline side for you and what the opportunity and competitive landscape looks like?

James F. O'Neil

Analyst · Lazard Capital.

Well, the competitive landscape there is less than the U.S. because they just don't have been the industry capacity in Canada that they do in the lower 48, and we anticipated that the Canadian pipeline market was going to be strong in the future years. That's one of the reasons that we've been bullish on our commentary. And the recent announcements that you've seen, I believe you're referring to the [indiscernible] announcement that just came out, is the primary -- one of the drivers. So we have a significant presence in Canada. I would -- I think that we're probably one of the leading, if not the leading, contractor in Canada and we're well-positioned to take advantage of those opportunities.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Tahira Afzal with KeyBanc.

Tahira Afzal - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division

Analyst · KeyBanc.

First question is in regards to, Jim, something you said about 2014. Typically, you guys are pretty conservative as you look out, but, I guess, backlog has grown fairly notably. So could you elaborate a bit on that double-digit quantitative commentary you gave on 2014? Is that in regard to what you think the revenues can do or whether that -- the earnings growth you see going into next year? And really what gives you the confidence you seem to be indicating in regards to that?

James F. O'Neil

Analyst · KeyBanc.

Well, Tahira, we're seeing continued momentum in all of our -- all portions of our business. So we see top line growth. We see solid execution, which we've demonstrated over the past several years. Derrick talked about backlog and the margins in backlog. So everything is leading toward a growth year in all aspects of our bottom line and revenue growth and so forth. So we're excited about the opportunities going forward. That's why we've been bullish as early as we -- typically, we're not bullish until February about these comments. But we just see clear visibility going forward into '14 today than we have in the past this time going into any given year.

Tahira Afzal - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division

Analyst · KeyBanc.

Got it. Okay. And the second question I had was really in regards to the acquisition commentary. Jim, it seems like you -- with the capacity, increasing your revolver, perhaps, and your commentary today, you're looking at doing something more sizable as you go into 2014. Could you give us -- make us a little more comfortable around the offshore opportunities you might be looking at there? We kind of have a mixed record in terms of some of the offshore names we cover because the pipeline from the subsea side sometimes tend to have most -- more risk associated with them. So anything on the risk side would be helpful.

James F. O'Neil

Analyst · KeyBanc.

Well, let me be clear that the expansion of the credit facility is not associated with our movement to offshore. We made comments that we're going to take it slow and steady moving into the offshore environment. The expansion of the credit facility is for the typical reasons that we mentioned in the past. It's working capital in all segments of our business as we continue to grow, and it's capital for -- it's capital for acquisitions across all segments, as well as CapEx for growth. Those are the primary reasons, but it's not because we're trying to make some big play into oil and gas. That is not accurate, whatsoever, and I'm glad you asked that question because I'm sure there's some concerns about that out there. But that's not what the use of that credit facility is for.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Vishal Shah with Deutsche Bank.

Vishal Shah - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

I just wanted to clarify your comments on the margins in the bookings as book margins in pipeline and transmission segment. Did you say that they were consistent with third quarter margins? And I have a follow-up.

Derrick A. Jensen

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Yes, this is Derrick. I mean, our margins that we're seeing in backlog or in the pipeline segment are consistent with the historical bidding margins that we have. So from your perspective of -- we target 9% to 12% from an operating perspective, which is inclusive of the costs that we incurred, but that's not necessarily representative of the margins that we're bidding. But the margins that you see from the bidding side of the equation and what's in backlog are consistent with our bidding approach historically.

Vishal Shah - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Okay. That's helpful. And then can you just talk a little bit about the transmission segment, how your book-to-bill would look like in the U.S. versus Canada. And also, your expectations for growth in 2014 with these markets?

Derrick A. Jensen

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Yes, we continue to see opportunities in the U.S. and Canada comparable. I think that the growth rate in Canada has the ability to maybe be at slightly higher, simply because of the fact that it's growing on a smaller base. But the overall award activity we see between the U.S. and Canada is comparable. And then I think the second part of your question was really as it relates to '14. I think that we continue to see margins within the segment, specific Electric Power, in that 9% to 12% range that we continue to see throughout this year. You're seeing it in that performance of the 11% range. But as we look forward, I continue to say that, overall, a 9% to 12% is what we feel comfortable with.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Jamie Cook with Credit Suisse. Jamie L. Cook - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: Just a couple of -- question one, on the quarter specifically. It was fairly a good quarter, the revenues were sort of at the low-end of what you guided. Can you just talk about was there anything different than your expectation? The Electric Power revenues struck me as a little light relative to what I thought, but I don't know if that was just me. And then, I guess, just my second question, again on the Electric Power margin, is there any reasons -- if we look at the margins in the first 9 months relative to where you were last year, I understand that there's less storm work. But as I look to sort of 2014, is there any reason, structurally, assuming that execution margins couldn't exceed or be more towards the higher end of the range or does like mix from distribution or smaller projects sort of bring the margin profile down [indiscernible]?

Derrick A. Jensen

Analyst

Yes, Jamie, relative to the revenues, we did have some delay from the third quarter out associated with some of the transmission work up in Canada. It got a little bit later start than we anticipated. On a consolidated basis, we also had a little bit of delay on mainline. It came through -- those few projects started 3 to 4 weeks, a little bit later than what we had anticipated. So that's somewhat what pushed some of the revenues out and ended up putting us at the lower end of our revenue guidance. When thinking about '14 and the margins, as I said earlier, we continue to look at the 9% to 12%. Do I think that we could be at the higher end of that range throughout? From a normal perspective. I would say yes. But as you then, you talked about the growth of distribution. Distribution historically may have been at a little bit lower margins, but we continue to push ourselves into additional program management solutions and we're providing additional solutions to our customers, which is moving us up the value chain with them on the distribution side. So I think that we actually look at being able to push the margins and distribution up a little bit more than what we've seen historically.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Steven Fisher with UBS.

Steven Fisher - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst · UBS.

Jim, on the electric transmission bigger prospects you mentioned in the next few months, what's driving the confidence in those projects and timing? Have they gotten all the regulatory and permitting issues behind them?

James F. O'Neil

Analyst · UBS.

There are some projects that are in the final stages of trying to get permitting, and that's just -- we see that on every project, which could affect the timing, whether it gets awarded at the end of this year or in the first quarter of next year. But we do see 2 to 3 big projects that could be coming out here in the near term that -- we don't expect any major hurdles for those projects to be -- to move toward construction in '14.

Steven Fisher - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst · UBS.

Okay. And then on the pipeline, we're heading into what was the more traditional bidding season for the larger pipelines. Do you think that seasonality still holds for some of these bigger mainlines? And what's your base case for when we could see more of these mainlines get awarded?

James F. O'Neil

Analyst · UBS.

Well, we said it past that really this traditional bidding season that we historically have seen over the past, probably last year and this year, has really kind of gone away. It's kind of like a year-round process now that occurs. So there's really no bidding season. It's more having discussion with customers on these bigger programs and they could be lighted anytime during the year. So I wouldn't focus so much on the bidding season anymore. It's just not -- that dynamic just isn't occurring like it did, as it has historically.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Andy Wittmann with Robert W. Baird. Andrew J. Wittmann - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division: You've touched on this question a little bit already. But in the new business, in the offshore stuff, you kind of mentioned that it's MSA or maybe it's MSA-like. Does that mean it's not fixed pricing, it's done on a reimbursable basis? I just want to get a little bit better sense of what that risk profile looks like.

James F. O'Neil

Analyst

Well, a lot of it is crews that are working on these production platforms, maintaining the engineering, the -- excuse me, the electrification and instrumentation and mechanical maintenance of the platform. So those folks are typically on some type of fixed-fee basis that -- on a 7-day on, 7-off basis or whatever. It's year-round work. It's MSA work that the margins are predictable, and they're certainly accretive to the company as we stand today. Andrew J. Wittmann - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division: Got it. Okay. And then, you mentioned that in the -- I guess, in the electric segment that there's an MSA renewal. You don't see that every quarter, was that -- how much is the MSA backlog up sequentially? Maybe just give us a better sense of how much the MSA contribution helps -- was contributing to backlog this quarter.

Derrick A. Jensen

Analyst

Yes, I don't know that I'd say how much the MSA backlog was up per se, but I'll tell you that of the non-acquisition-related backlog, the remaining piece was probably roughly half of it was MSA work and most of that was in the beyond '12 period.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Dan Mannes from Avondale.

Daniel J. Mannes - Avondale Partners, LLC, Research Division

Analyst

A couple of quick follow-up questions. First, you mentioned, Jim, in your prepared comments that you picked up the work from PPL. Without going into the details of this one, can you talk a little bit about maybe historical precedent for replacing other contractors, number one, and your positioning there? And then secondly, why would that occur in the first place, without specifically talking about this one?

James F. O'Neil

Analyst

Yes, I mean, it's difficult to get into that. I mean, we don't typically know the reasons why we get put on projects, because why other people might get replaced, I mean, it could be of various -- there could be various reasons for that. So I don't want to get into that, Dan. I mean, I -- what's exciting for us is that we were called in to help finish the project, and I believe we're doing very well on that project. We're ahead of schedule and we're excited to build that relationship with PPL and do more work for them going forward.

Daniel J. Mannes - Avondale Partners, LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. I just wanted to see if this was something that had happened in the past to other contractors and if this had been something you've been a beneficiary, not just this time, but maybe historically as well.

James F. O'Neil

Analyst

Yes, we've -- I mean, we've replaced folks in the past on projects. And that's happened recently over the last several years because of the uptick in work. Labor is tight, the experienced leadership is tight and certainly some of these projects are becoming more difficult to complete, because there's aggressive time frames, it's more difficult terrain and more populated areas. So certainly, that's in our sweet spot from an execution standpoint, and we have replaced contractors over the last several years to finish projects.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Adam Thalhimer from BB&T Capital. Adam R. Thalhimer - BB&T Capital Markets, Research Division: Jim, I just wanted to ask you about -- you've talked about this in the past, your strategy in the pipeline business was to, I think, let others fill up on the early work, thinking that might be lower margin and then hold back some capacity for the later bidding. I just -- maybe you could reflect on kind of that strategy and where you are in that cycle?

James F. O'Neil

Analyst

Yes. Adam, I don't know if that's exactly right. I mean, I think what we do is we're disciplined on pricing. And we've got several of our customers that we have more strategic relationships with that have more difficult builds in geographic areas where we typically excel, that have come out later than some of the other projects that came out earlier, a couple of -- again, earlier last year. So it's just the timing of when projects in certain geographical areas come up and when our key customers start their build programs more than waiting and holding capacity. Certainly, if there's a project for anyone that meets our margin profiles, we're going to take advantage of that opportunity. Adam R. Thalhimer - BB&T Capital Markets, Research Division: Okay. And then the second question, I wanted to ask about the -- Jim, your long-term outlook for offshore oil and gas. And, I guess, the question for me is how did the production costs offshore compare to the production cost onshore because -- and I don't know much about offshore, but you would just think that with all the development of onshore that offshore would be in secular decline. But maybe that's totally false, I really don't know.

James F. O'Neil

Analyst

Well, let me just -- I want to say this again. We're not changing the profile of the company, okay? We're taking advantage of it in an adjacent market opportunity. So this isn't any big shift in strategy. It's a natural progression as we follow our customers into an opportunity that we believe we can execute on. When you look at the cost profile of this business, certainly, we believe that it's going to be more profitable than our core business today, and PES is a good example of that. Their margins are higher than our core business today, and their return on invested capital is higher than our margins today. I just want to make another comment that our primary service is not to be a marine support -- to provide customers with marine support activities. We see opportunities to provide solutions using technology and leverage our capabilities in-house today, and the marine vessels are just one aspect of supporting that, okay? And this is going to be very limited. I mean, we're not going to -- we're not going out to buy a bunch of vessels. We're here to support our customers in providing solutions that we don't believe are in place today, where our customers have comfort that there's a contractor that can provide those solutions today.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Craig Irwin with Wedbush Securities.

Craig E. Irwin - Wedbush Securities Inc., Research Division

Analyst · Wedbush Securities.

So in your outlook statement in your release, you lead off with an indication that there might be some regulatory or permitting risks in the fourth quarter. My understanding is previously you had looked to include a little of these potential risks in your guidance. Can you comment as far as whether or not anything's changed or if there's anything specific or unique that you're looking at in the fourth quarter and why would -- you would choose to put something in versus out, given that there might be a little bit of risk?

James F. O'Neil

Analyst · Wedbush Securities.

Craig, we usually put that statement in our outlook every quarter. It's just the nature of -- our customers always have delays, projects never start on time. That's been like that for decades. And I don't see anything material or different. In fact, I think the environment is probably better today than it's been in quite some time. But we deal with delays all the time, and we have 2 or 3 of our the big transmission projects that are delayed right now. But people don't see that because we're on 16 major transmission projects. But delay is just something that we have to deal with, our customers have to deal with, and that's why it's in the outlook. And it will be in there in the future as well.

Craig E. Irwin - Wedbush Securities Inc., Research Division

Analyst · Wedbush Securities.

Great. Great. And then the next question is really just a housekeeping question. Can you maybe share with us the mainline gas contribution in the quarter to bookings, revenue, backlog and where we stand on those numbers?

Derrick A. Jensen

Analyst · Wedbush Securities.

Yes, we don't typically get into the specifics of the quantification of how much revenue came from that subsegment. And then in relation to backlog, I'm not certain I understood your question. I think you're just asking kind of how much of the incremental awards were mainline?

Craig E. Irwin - Wedbush Securities Inc., Research Division

Analyst · Wedbush Securities.

Yes, that would directly answer it, yes.

Derrick A. Jensen

Analyst · Wedbush Securities.

Okay. Well, as it stands right now, we also don't go through and really get into that level of detail on the specifics of kind of how mainline works, but our mainline is a component of that. But the reality is that the increase in backlog quarter-over-quarter is really all associated with Nacap within the pipeline group, and Nacap's revenues are historically mainline.

James F. O'Neil

Analyst · Wedbush Securities.

Craig, TransCanada's not in backlog yet since that was announced subsequent to the quarter. So that will be added at the end of fourth quarter.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from John Rogers with Davidson. John B. Rogers - D.A. Davidson & Co., Research Division: Jim, could you talk a little bit about where you are on the pipeline capacity utilization? I mean, Derrick, you mentioned that you're pretty disciplined on pricing, but you've seen margins climb quite a bit. And is that just better utilization of what you have? And kind of where are we and how much excess capacity do you still have going into 2014?

James F. O'Neil

Analyst

Well, I wouldn't say we have excess capacity right now. I mean, if you remember, we deployed our field leadership into the shales, and we've been very active in the shales doing gathering work. We probably generated over $1 billion in gathering revenues. And now the mainline work is beginning to accelerate and that does help, obviously, leverage some of the fixed costs we have on specialized pipeline, large-diameter pipeline handling equipment. So certainly, we have the ability to expand the spreads that we have to take advantage of opportunities. Strategically we've been planning this move in -- the increase in mainline activity while remaining in the shales, working for the customers we're working for today. So I wouldn't say that we've got excess capacity sitting around though. But certainly, we have an opportunity to take advantage of mainline price as it comes out over the next several years. John B. Rogers - D.A. Davidson & Co., Research Division: But, Jim, if you can expand the spreads, not an exact number, but can you give us a sense of how much more work you can do with your capacity that you have now? I mean, I'm thinking about with TransCanada, hopefully, starts up and -- or that Keystone starts up.

James F. O'Neil

Analyst

We have 9 to 12 spreads of capacity in the lower 48. And right now, we're on a couple of jobs. So certainly we can -- we've got the capacity to move -- to take on more opportunities in the lower 48. We've certainly got Australia, don't forget about that. I mean, Australia and Canada, there's certainly opportunities for growth there, too. We have capacity in those areas as well to take advantage of growth opportunities. So we're well positioned to take advantage of growth. We -- if there's an opportunity, being the largest specialized contractor in the industry, if there's a will there's a way. We'll be able to man those projects. We're not concerned right now about having limitations on pursuing additional work. We're not going to turn down work for our key customers or any project that has margins that meet our profile.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Alex Rygiel with FBR. Alexander J. Rygiel - FBR Capital Markets & Co., Research Division: Very excited about the backlog growth. Very excited about the pipeline margins being the highest in the last couple of years. And obviously, your commentary about bidding in the next quarter or so with regards to transmission and pipeline, all very bullish. You've answered most of the questions out there. But I did want to find out a little bit more color on the timing of the Sunrise arbitration. How should we think about that over the next 6 to 12 months?

Derrick A. Jensen

Analyst

Yes, to the extent that we've moved it noncurrent, that's a direct statement that we're not anticipating any settlement within the next 12 months. I would think, in my own mind, that it's probably something in the 18- to 24-month time frame. Alexander J. Rygiel - FBR Capital Markets & Co., Research Division: That's perfect. And then, Jim, as it relates to sort of other acquisitions in the offshore arena, sort of in the near term, is that something we should be expecting or is this initial acquisition sort of an acquisition that you're going to use to sort of test the waters for the next year or 2 to see how much further you want to go?

James F. O'Neil

Analyst

Yes, I think the latter is more accurate. I mean, PES is a nice platform to grow on. We may do some smaller selective-type acquisitions, but it's going to be more around technology-driven opportunities versus trying to build more mass. I don't see any big acquisitions in oil and gas in the near future.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes with a line of Noelle Dilts with Stifel. Noelle C. Dilts - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., Research Division: I actually wanted to start off with a few housekeeping questions. So first on the pipeline backlog, I know you talked about most of the growth coming from acquired operations. But could you just talk -- could you give us the exact number of -- amount of acquired backlog in both the next 12 months and total in pipeline?

Derrick A. Jensen

Analyst

On the pipeline side, I would say that actually, it's -- if I'm not mistaken, I think most of the components of the 12-month and beyond are effectively from the acquisition of Nacap, probably in the $150 million range. Noelle C. Dilts - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., Research Division: Okay. And then when you look at the acquisition-related expenses that hit the quarter, did that fall into the electrical segment or did it fall into kind of unallocated corporate?

Derrick A. Jensen

Analyst

It will fall in unallocated.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Martin Malloy with Johnson Rice. Martin W. Malloy - Johnson Rice & Company, L.L.C., Research Division: I was wondering, could you talk a little bit more on the -- and John Rogers asked this question, but a little bit more on the margin -- potential margin increases? You have more consistent work on the large-diameter pipeline. So I'm just trying to get a feel for, is there a couple of hundred basis points of upside potential there as you more fully utilize your equipment?

Derrick A. Jensen

Analyst

Yes, in general, I mean, we look at the pipeline segment being able to get back into a 9% to 12% operating margin to the extent that more mainline work is provided. We reached the 9% level this quarter. We did have the contribution of the mainline work with Nacap and a little bit of mainline work here in the U.S. For us to get into that true 9% to 12% range on a recurring basis, we think that we're going to need to have some level of recurring mainline work. And I -- as we look at 2014 with some of the projections that Jim has talked about, we think that we have that opportunity.

Operator

Operator

And there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Jim O'Neil for closing comments.

James F. O'Neil

Analyst

Well, I'd like to thank all of you for participating in our third quarter 2013 conference call. And we appreciate your questions and ongoing interest in Quanta. Thank you. This concludes our call.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude the conference call for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect your lines.