In a bid to combat climate change and affirm its leading position in the sustainable biofuels arena, KBR, Inc. KBR recently received an engineering contract from Biojet AS to perform a concept study for the latter’s renewable energy facility in Ringerike, Norway.

Per the contract, KBR will perform technology evaluations, early engineering and project development to convert forestry residues to renewable and sustainable green fuels.

Jay Ibrahim, the president of Sustainable Technology Solutions, said, "KBR is pleased to support Biojet in their mission to provide the European market with renewable and sustainable fuels by 2026."

KBR’s Robust Technology Support to Aid Business

The Sustainable Technology Solutions segment — comprising 20.3% of the company’s total revenues — includes Energy Solutions, Technology Solutions and Non-Strategic Business segments. This segment is anchored by innovative, proprietary process technologies.

Over a decade, KBR has developed and designed various renewable and sustainable fuels projects across the globe. Its best-in-class technologies have been helping to design and build end-to-end, sophisticated digitization solutions as well as services for clients across the world.

Over the past several years, KBR has been offering proprietary sustainable technologies and professional services to support decarbonization. Also, it is actively involved in the hydrogen value chain, both as a technology provider and an advisor by providing differentiated project delivery solutions.

Overall, it has been driving growth by focusing on lowering carbon emissions, product diversification, energy efficiency, and more sustainable technologies as well as solutions. Demand for the company’s technologies across ammonia for food production, olefins for non-single-use plastics, and in refining for product diversification and more green solutions to meet tighter environmental standards has been strong. A strategic shift to IP-enabled maintenance is gaining traction and KBR continues to see increasing activity across the advisory portfolio, particularly in energy transition.

KBR and other Engineering - R and D Services industry players like Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. J, Quanta Services Inc. PWR, and Fluor Corporation FLR are bound to witness the risk of cost overruns. As most of the contracts are particularly fixed-price in nature, these are subject to risks of cost overruns.

KBR’s solid prospects are backed by continuous contract wins, strong project execution, backlog level, and potential government as well as technology businesses.

A Brief Overview of the Above-Mentioned Companies

Jacobs Engineering Group: Dallas, TX-based Jacobs is one of the leading providers of professional, technical, and construction services to industrial, commercial, and governmental clients. Higher backlog, acquisitions and efforts to focus on the high-value business are likely to benefit the company going forward. Also, its digital focus and leadership in strategic end markets that include space exploration, life sciences, cyber as well as water solutions bode well.

J’s earnings for fiscal 2021 are expected to grow 13%. That said, Jacobs has seen a 0.1% upward estimate revision for fiscal 2021 earnings over the past 30 days, depicting analysts’ optimism over the company’s prospects.

Quanta Services: This Houston, TX-based company is a leading national provider of specialty contracting services and one of the largest contractors serving the transmission and distribution sectors of the North American electric utility industry. The company is set to deliver a resilient performance in 2021 and beyond despite a challenging environment. It is benefiting from a three-pronged growth strategy and strong margins from the Electric Power Infrastructure segment. Focus on the base business via supporting long-term programmatic spend of utilities and participating in the development of infrastructure that supports renewables and technology deployments such as 5G as well as electric vehicles will drive growth. It is to be noted that 80-90% of revenues are derived from utility, communications, and a few pipeline and industrial infrastructure services, which remain strong.

PWR has seen a 0.2% upward estimate revision for 2021 earnings over the past 60 days. Earnings for 2021 are expected to advance 25.4%.

Fluor: Irving, TX-based, Fluor provides engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance services (EPCM) through a number of subsidiaries. It also provides operation and maintenance services to major industrial clients. The company is gaining from its "Building a Better Future" initiative — which aims at enhancing markets outside the traditional oil and gas sector, fair and balanced commercial deals, financial discipline as well as high-performing business culture. It made significant progress toward strategic goals that comprise the reduction of outstanding debt by 30% and identified ways for more than $150 million in annual cost savings.

FLR’s earnings for 2021 are expected to grow 143.1%. That said, Fluor’s earnings has remained over the past 60 days.

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