Cardinal Infrastructure Group Inc.

Fast-growing Southeast civil-infrastructure roll-up, profitable with healthy backlog and good returns, though margins compressed and FCF turned negative on M&A.

Strengths

• Strong growth — revenue +45% to $456M with a $682M backlog and 17.9% adjusted EBITDA margin
• Above-average returns (ROA 5.7%, 73rd pct) and strong liquidity (current ratio 2.35, 100th pct)

Risks

• Margin compression (net margin 9.0%→6.8%) and negative FCF (-$5.9M) from acquisition spending
• Geographic concentration (NC/Southeast) and fixed-price contract estimation risk

Notable findings

• Exec changeRecent 8-K item 5.02 8-K ↗
• Cash burnNegative free cash flow (-5.9M)