Southland

Southland still has 1.88 billion dollars of contracted future work in its backlog, which is more than twice its annual revenue. Their Civil division, the one that builds water pipelines and treatment plants, is genuinely profitable and earned a 14.1 percent gross margin in the most recent quarter. There is a real business hiding inside this company.

America's water systems, bridges and tunnels are old and need replacing, and that spending happens whether the economy is good or bad. Southland operates in exactly the right corner of the market. The demand for what they do has never been the problem.

Southland's total liabilities are 1.09 billion dollars against 928 million dollars of assets, leaving shareholders roughly 169 million dollars in the hole. Cash fell from 53 million dollars to 20 million dollars in a single quarter. The company is only current on its loans because the insurers backing its contracts waived every default and suspended its payments, an arrangement that runs out around May of 2027.

In the first quarter of 2026 Southland lost money before paying a single office bill, with a gross margin of negative 2.8 percent, down from positive 9 percent a year earlier. Full year 2025 revenue fell to 772 million dollars from 980 million, and the company lost 306 million dollars, or 5 dollars and 67 cents per share. The backlog is also shrinking, from 2.47 billion dollars down to 1.88 billion.