Cuộc họp công bố kết quả kinh doanh quý 3 năm 2026 của Stabilis Solutions (SLNG): Hợp đồng trung tâm dữ liệu thúc đẩy triển vọng năm 2027

Stabilis Solutions (NASDAQ: SLNG) đã báo cáo sự phục hồi mạnh mẽ so với quý trước trong kết quả kinh doanh quý 3 năm 2026, nhờ việc bắt đầu bàn giao LNG cho một dự án trung tâm dữ liệu ngắn hạn. Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng một hợp đồng trung tâm dữ liệu lớn hơn với thời hạn hai năm sẽ thúc đẩy mức tăng trưởng đáng kể trong năm 2027, trong khi nhu cầu từ lĩnh vực hàng không vũ trụ tiếp tục mở rộng.

Điểm nhấn chính

• Doanh thu quý 3 năm 2026 đạt 14,8 triệu USD, giảm 27% so với cùng kỳ năm trước nhưng tăng 25% so với mức 11,9 triệu USD của quý 2.
• EBITDA điều chỉnh tăng so với quý trước từ 0,1 triệu USD lên 1,9 triệu USD. Lợi nhuận ròng quay trở lại mức dương, đạt 0,2 triệu USD, tương đương 0,01 USD trên mỗi cổ phiếu pha loãng.
• Doanh thu liên quan đến trung tâm dữ liệu tăng từ mức dưới 1% tổng doanh thu trong quý 2 lên 17% trong quý 3 sau khi công ty bắt đầu bàn giao theo hợp đồng vận hành thử nghiệm ngắn hạn.
• Doanh thu từ lĩnh vực hàng không vũ trụ tăng 49% so với cùng kỳ năm trước, nhờ hoạt động phóng và thử nghiệm gia tăng cùng tệp khách hàng không gian thương mại tiếp tục mở rộng.
• Hợp đồng cấp điện tạm thời cho trung tâm dữ liệu trị giá khoảng 200 triệu USD với thời hạn hai năm vẫn dự kiến bắt đầu vào giữa quý 1 năm 2027 và đạt công suất hoạt động tối đa theo kỳ vọng vào quý 4 năm 2027.
• Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng năm 2027 sẽ là một năm kỷ lục và cho biết đòn bẩy hoạt động có thể hỗ trợ biên EBITDA điều chỉnh mở rộng lên vùng 17 - 19% khi tiến độ triển khai được đẩy nhanh. Đây không phải là dự báo tài chính chính thức cho năm 2027.

Dữ liệu tài chính cốt lõi

Kết quả kinh doanh và hoạt động

Động lực tăng trưởng chính so với quý trước là hợp đồng cấp điện tại chỗ ngắn hạn hỗ trợ việc vận hành thử nghiệm một trung tâm dữ liệu tại Mỹ. Các đợt bàn giao LNG bắt đầu vào tháng 8, nâng doanh thu từ trung tâm dữ liệu lên 17% tổng doanh thu quý. Dự án dự kiến sẽ hoàn tất trong quý 4 năm 2026.

Hợp đồng trung tâm dữ liệu quy mô lớn hơn của công ty dự kiến sẽ mang lại doanh thu khoảng 200 triệu USD trong thời hạn hai năm ban đầu. Công tác huy động và thử nghiệm dự kiến bắt đầu vào giữa quý 1 năm 2027, tiếp theo là tăng sản lượng giao LNG qua ba quý đầu năm. Ban lãnh đạo kỳ vọng dự án sẽ đạt công suất hoạt động tối đa theo dự kiến vào quý 4 năm 2027.

Hơn 15 triệu USD thiết bị phục vụ riêng cho dự án đã được đặt hàng. Công ty đã nhận đủ 25 triệu USD tiền tạm ứng của khách hàng nhằm tài trợ cho hoạt động mua sắm thiết bị và chuẩn bị. Stabilis cũng đang hoàn tất các thỏa thuận cung cấp LNG chính thức và dự phòng.

Ban lãnh đạo cho biết danh mục cơ hội tiềm năng từ trung tâm dữ liệu đã mở rộng đáng kể. Công ty đang theo đuổi các ứng dụng trong xây dựng, vận hành thử nghiệm, cấp điện tạm thời và dự phòng dài hạn. Hoạt động của khách hàng đối với nguồn điện dự phòng ghi nhận mức tăng mạnh nhất gần đây, tiếp theo là nguồn điện tạm thời.

Hàng không vũ trụ vẫn là động lực tăng trưởng ngắn hạn khác. Doanh thu mảng này tăng 49% so với cùng kỳ năm trước khi các khách hàng hiện hữu tăng cường hoạt động phóng và thử nghiệm, đồng thời có thêm các khách hàng không gian thương mại mới bắt đầu mua LNG. Stabilis đang thảo luận về các thỏa thuận bao tiêu nhiều năm với một số khách hàng, bao gồm khả năng bổ sung cơ sở hạ tầng và công suất.

Đối với dự án tiếp nhiên liệu hàng hải Galveston đề xuất, Stabilis tiếp tục làm việc với các khách hàng và đối tác tài trợ vốn. Dự án này có tổng chi phí ước tính là 350 triệu USD và công suất sản xuất theo kế hoạch là 350.000 gallon mỗi ngày. Khoảng 25% công suất đã được cam kết bao tiêu, tuy nhiên ban lãnh đạo cho biết cần có thêm các cam kết trước khi đáp ứng đủ điều kiện thu xếp vốn và đưa ra quyết định đầu tư cuối cùng.

Triển vọng của ban lãnh đạo

Ban lãnh đạo dự kiến doanh thu quý 4 năm 2026 sẽ phản ánh việc hoàn tất dự án trung tâm dữ liệu ngắn hạn. Dù vậy, công ty vẫn kỳ vọng doanh thu sẽ tăng trưởng đáng kể và đạt mức kỷ lục trong năm 2027, nhờ sự dẫn dắt của hợp đồng cấp điện tạm thời quy mô lớn hơn.

Chi phí cố định hiện hữu dự kiến sẽ không tăng tỷ lệ thuận với doanh thu. Stabilis cũng lên kế hoạch thu mua phần lớn lượng LNG gia tăng từ các bên thứ ba, qua đó hạn chế nhu cầu bổ sung vốn và duy trì công suất nhà máy nội bộ phục vụ mảng hàng không vũ trụ cùng các khách hàng lâu năm.

Công ty cho biết các hợp đồng của mình có cơ chế chuyển giao rủi ro biến động giá hàng hóa. Kết hợp với quy mô doanh thu lớn hơn đáng kể, ban lãnh đạo tin rằng các yếu tố này có thể thúc đẩy mức tăng trưởng EBITDA điều chỉnh mạnh mẽ và giúp biên lợi nhuận mở rộng lên vùng 17 - 19% khi tiến độ thực hiện được đẩy nhanh. Stabilis không đưa ra dự báo tài chính chính thức cho năm 2027.

Rủi ro và các điểm then chốt cần theo dõi

• Hợp đồng trung tâm dữ liệu ngắn hạn sẽ kết thúc vào quý 4 năm 2026, tạo ra một giai đoạn chuyển tiếp trước khi dự án lớn hơn trong năm 2027 tăng tốc triển khai.
• Thời gian kéo dài của nhu cầu cấp điện tạm thời có thể phụ thuộc vào thời điểm trung tâm dữ liệu được đấu nối vĩnh viễn vào lưới điện. Hợp đồng hai năm ban đầu có thể được gia hạn, nhưng ban lãnh đạo cho biết thời điểm cụ thể vẫn chưa chắc chắn.
• Lịch trình của mảng hàng không vũ trụ có thể bị ảnh hưởng bởi những thay đổi trong chương trình, sự cố kỹ thuật và quy trình quản lý, làm giảm khả năng dự đoán về tần suất phóng và thử nghiệm.
• Dự án Galveston chưa có mốc thời gian cam kết cho quyết định đầu tư cuối cùng và phụ thuộc vào việc đạt đủ cam kết bao tiêu dài hạn cũng như hoàn thiện cấu trúc tài trợ vốn.
• Phần lớn lượng tiền mặt vào cuối quý bị hạn chế sử dụng cho hợp đồng năm 2027, khiến lượng tiền mặt không bị hạn chế chỉ còn 1,5 triệu USD.

Điểm nhấn phiên hỏi đáp với chuyên viên phân tích

Ban lãnh đạo cho biết tệp khách hàng và mức độ hoạt động trong mảng hàng không vũ trụ đều đang mở rộng. Nhiều khách hàng đang thảo luận về các thỏa thuận cung cấp nhiều năm, điều này sau cùng có thể hỗ trợ việc bổ sung thêm cơ sở hạ tầng hóa lỏng hoặc logistics, dù công ty chưa cung cấp kế hoạch công suất hay triển vọng tài chính cụ thể.

Đối với hợp đồng trung tâm dữ liệu năm 2027, ban lãnh đạo xác nhận thời hạn ban đầu là hai năm với giá trị khoảng 200 triệu USD. Dự án dự kiến bắt đầu vào giữa quý 1, tăng dần quy mô qua quý 3 và đạt công suất hoạt động tối đa theo kỳ vọng vào quý 4 năm 2027.

Ban lãnh đạo mô tả danh mục cơ hội bán hàng cho trung tâm dữ liệu đã mở rộng đáng kể so với ba tháng trước, nhưng lưu ý rằng các cơ hội tiềm năng chưa phải là doanh thu đã ký hợp đồng. Các ứng dụng điện dự phòng dài hạn đang ghi nhận tốc độ gia tăng hoạt động nhanh nhất.

Về mảng tiếp nhiên liệu hàng hải, công ty xác nhận đã thiết lập quan hệ khách hàng dài hạn với một đối tác. Khoảng 25% công suất của cơ sở Galveston đề xuất đã được cam kết, trong khi cần có thêm các hợp đồng bao tiêu để hỗ trợ việc tài trợ vốn cho dự án.

Toàn văn biên bản cuộc họp báo cáo kết quả kinh doanh

Toàn văn cuộc gọi công bố kết quả kinh doanh

Phần trình bày của ban lãnh đạo

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the operator. We will be getting started in just a few minutes. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to Andy Puhala, Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Puhala, please go ahead.

Andrew Puhala

Good morning and welcome to Stabilis Solutions' third quarter 2026 results conference call. I'm Andy Puhala, Senior Vice President and CFO of Stabilis, and joining me today is our Executive Chairman and Interim President and CEO, Casey Crenshaw. We issued a press release after the market closed yesterday detailing our third quarter operational and financial results. This release is publicly available in the Investor Relations section of our corporate website at stabilis-solutions.com.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that today's conference call will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other securities laws. These forward-looking statements are based on the company's expectations and beliefs as of today, November 5, 2026. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected.

The company undertakes no obligation to provide updates or revisions to the forward-looking statements made in today's call. Additional information concerning factors that could cause those differences is contained in our filings with the SEC and in the press release announcing our results. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements.

Further, please note that we may refer to certain non-GAAP financial information on today's call. You can find reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measures in our earnings press release. Today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay. With that, I'll hand the call over to Casey Crenshaw for his remarks.

Unknown Speaker

Thank you, Andy, and good morning to everyone joining us today. Our third quarter results were in line with our expectations and consistent with the outlook we provided on our call last quarter. Revenue improved 25% sequentially and adjusted EBITDA improved to $1.9 million. Following the conclusion of multiple large contracts at the end of 2025, we have now turned the corner with momentum continuing to build ahead of what we expect will be a record 2027 for Stabilis.

The driver of the sequential improvement from the second quarter was the short-term behind-the-meter power generation contract we secured earlier this year to support the commissioning of a U.S. data center. We began delivering LNG under the agreement in August. As a result, data center-related revenue represented 17% of our total revenue in the third quarter compared to less than 1% in the second quarter. This project will conclude in the fourth quarter.

Looking ahead, our focus is squarely on 2027. Our multiyear agreement to supply LNG for behind-the-meter bridge power at a U.S. data center, expected to be the largest contract to date in our company's history, remains on track to begin in the first quarter of 2027 and will ramp during the second and third quarters. We're progressing as planned on the pre-commissioning for the project, with more than $15 million of specific project equipment on order and scheduled for delivery ahead of startup. The investment required for readiness is fully funded by customer advance payments under the contract. We are finalizing LNG supply agreements for the project, along with backup supply alternatives to support reliable delivery.

Beyond the contracts in hand, demand for small-scale LNG to support behind-the-meter power at data centers remains robust. We think about these opportunities in 4 phases: construction, commissioning, bridge power, and long-term backup. Our commercial team is bidding on work across multiple phases of data center demand. We believe we are well positioned to extend our growth runway well beyond 2027 and the contract that begins next year.

Outside of the data center market, aerospace remains the other key growth engine of our business. Revenue from aerospace customers increased 49% year-over-year in the third quarter, driven by an increasing pace of launch and testing activity and a growing number of commercial space customers. These customers have demanding purity and delivery requirements, and the operating track record we have built with them is difficult to replicate. We are currently in discussions with multiple space customers for long-term offtake agreements.

Turning to Galveston, we continue to engage with prospective customers and financing partners, and we believe the project offers an attractive long-term growth opportunity for Stabilis. That said, we are not ready to commit to a timeline for FID, which remains subject to arranging a final financing structure and securing sufficient commercial offtake. While we remain super excited about the long-term value of the project and what it could and we believe will create, our primary short-term and near-term growth opportunities remain in the aerospace and behind-the-meter data center power projects.

To close, the third quarter marked the beginning of a transformational period for Stabilis. While fourth quarter revenues will reflect the conclusion of our short-term data center project, we expect meaningful revenue growth in 2027. We have returned to profitability on a net income basis. Our largest contract is funded and on schedule, and our growth end markets are expanding. We expect this momentum to build in 2027, and we remain committed to delivering value for our customers and our shareholders through disciplined capital allocation and focused execution. With that, I'll turn the call over to Andy for a detailed review of our financials.

Andrew Puhala

Thank you, Casey. I'll begin with a discussion of our third quarter performance, followed by an update on our cash flow, balance sheet, liquidity, and capital spending. Third quarter revenue was $14.8 million, a decrease of 27% compared to the third quarter of 2025. Similar to the first 2 quarters of the year, the year-over-year decline reflects the completion of large marine and power generation contracts in the fourth quarter of 2025, partially offset by continued growth within aerospace, where revenue increased 49% compared to the prior year period, as well as growth in our legacy industrial business. On a sequential basis, revenue increased $2.9 million, or 25%, from $11.9 million in the second quarter. That increase was primarily driven by the short-term data center contract that began deliveries in August, which took data center-related revenue from less than 1% of the total in the second quarter to 17% in the third.

Adjusted EBITDA was $1.9 million in the third quarter compared to $2.9 million in the prior year period, with the decrease attributable to the completion of the 2 large multiyear contracts in the fourth quarter of 2025. Sequentially, adjusted EBITDA increased to $1.9 million from $0.1 million in the second quarter, primarily due to the higher revenues. Net income was $0.2 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, compared to net income of $1.1 million in the third quarter of 2025 and a net loss of $4.6 million in the second quarter. I would also note that SG&A was $2.5 million in the quarter, essentially flat with the second quarter and down from $2.8 million a year ago.

Turning to cash flow, operating cash flow was $3.9 million in the third quarter compared to $2.4 million a year ago and included a $5 million customer advance payment for our 2027 data center contract. The second quarter operating cash flow was $7.1 million, which also included a $5 million advance payment. So the sequential decline primarily reflects changes in working capital. Year-to-date, cash flow from operations totaled $23.4 million, reflecting the full $25 million of advance payments we've now received under the contract.

At quarter end, cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash totaled $18.4 million, compared to $18.9 million at the end of the second quarter. Of the $18.4 million, $16.8 million is restricted to support equipment purchases and other preparations for the 2027 data center contract, and $1.5 million is unrestricted. Capital expenditures totaled $4 million during the quarter, compared to $2.3 million in the second quarter, bringing year-to-date capital spending to $11.5 million. These expenditures were primarily related to equipment and infrastructure for the upcoming data center contract. Looking ahead, we expect to continue investing to secure equipment and guaranteed supply ahead of the first quarter 2027 start, and we expect those investments to continue to be funded by the advance payments already received.

Before I close, a brief reminder on the points we made last quarter about the earnings profile of the business as we continue to scale. Nothing here is new, and we're not providing 2027 guidance, but with the third quarter now behind us, they're worth keeping in mind. First, our fixed cost base is largely in place and we do not expect those costs to grow in proportion to revenue as the 2027 contract comes online, which should drive meaningful operating leverage. Second, we'll service much of the incremental power generation demand with third-party LNG, so it requires limited incremental capital and preserves our plant capacity to support continued growth with our aerospace and other existing customers. The equipment for the 2027 contract is being funded by advance payments already received. And third, our contracts pass through all commodity price risk. Taken together and in the context of a materially larger revenue base in 2027, this should translate into meaningful growth in adjusted EBITDA dollars and margin expansion into the high teens as execution accelerates.

That concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open the line for the Q&A session.

Operator

The floor is now open for questions. [Operator Instructions] Our first question is coming from Martin Malloy with Johnson Rice. Please go ahead.

Phần hỏi đáp

Martin Malloy

First question, I just wanted to ask about the aerospace—

Unknown Speaker

Good morning, Marty.

Martin Malloy

—markets, and your prepared remarks sounded incrementally positive on what's going on there. Could you maybe talk a little bit more about the volumes involved with these discussions with customers for long-term offtake contracts versus your current business? And perhaps could this lead to investment in additional liquefaction capacity?

Unknown Speaker

Yes, let me start, Marty. And, again, thanks for joining the call today covering the company. I'll take it from a high level and then let Andy try to come in and answer anything additional. But look, if we weren't clear, we believe Stabilis has 3 really dynamic markets that we operate in. 1 is the behind-the-meter power business that works in the hyperscale data centers, distributed power markets, like all types of different end markets. 2nd is this giant marine bunkering infrastructure opportunity. And finally, it's the aerospace business that we've been heavily involved with since, I guess 2018, 2019, quite some time. And we provide high purity, reliable supply to people in aerospace, primarily related to rockets and launching rockets, primarily for telecommunications, satellites, different things of that nature.

We don't know exactly everything they do, but mainly those end markets. And we are just seeing the maturing of the business with both additional customers, so more clients that are real clients that buy product and need product, and the expansion and increasing of launching and testing by all of those clients. Both the expansion of the customer base and maturing of the customer base and the increased activity of all the customers across that industry is driving the growth. And our historic performance is leading us to be successful in some of the market. We certainly don't have all of anything, but we have proximity to some clients and historical relationships with others, and we expect it to be a meaningful growth area for us.

One of the challenges with the customers is due to the newness of some of the programs, you have anomalies, you have changes in timing, you have regulatory stuff that everybody's going through, so that changes some of the visibility of cadence of everything, but we're starting to see clients ask for multiyear offtake arrangements, and we're having multiple customers that we're involved with on that. At the same time, you know, there's conversations out there about some of the clients wanting to vertically integrate. So you have a lot of noise out there, but the growth is kind of beyond any of the negative noise out there. So I've touched it from a high, high level and then I'll let Andy add to it if there's anything to add, but we expect it to continue to grow in volume and revenue.

You know, as a percentage of the overall company, when you see the new behind-the-meter activity that's contracted, that may grow, as you look at percentages, that may just outgrow that growth rate next year. But we're seeing some tremendous growth rate and multiyear contracting happening in the aerospace industry.

Your last question was, will we have enough demand or term contracts to add capacity? We hope to, and if they want a contract, we're in some discussions to add infrastructure and capacity. We've talked about contracting even in the Galveston facility to bring it inbound, inland from there. We've talked about additional expansion opportunities with infrastructure. So we're actively involved with that, but we don't have anything to give you any forward guidance on that other than multiple customers now, multiple term contracting negotiations going on. So real positive overall market movement.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Barry Haimes with Sage Asset Management. Please go ahead.

Barry Haimes

I had a couple of questions. One is the new data center contract that's starting up in the first quarter. Is there an end date to that or just a little bit more feel for the term there? That's the first question. I have a couple others, but that's the first one.

Unknown Speaker

Well, first of all, thanks for being on the call. It's a multiyear contract. I'll let Andy give the details of what we can go over on that.

Andrew Puhala

Yes, Barry, good morning. What we've disclosed publicly is that it's roughly a $200 million contract over 2 years, and it'll ramp starting in the beginning of next year. Now, it's bridge power, so a lot of these bridge power contracts depend on when the data center gets their permanent connection. So the initial contract is for 2 years. I think it is possible that that gets extended depending on the timing of grid connections and that sort of thing, but we just don't know yet.

Barry Haimes

Got it. Okay. Second question, could you give a little more of an update on the marine market, and do you still have the cruise customer you used to have and just a little bit more color in that market? Thanks.

Unknown Speaker

Yes, so I'll take it from a high level, then let Andy come in after that. But, yes. The cruise, or I should say marine bunkering business, is something we've been doing. We talk about it a lot. We have a specific project that we've talked a lot about in the Houston Ship Channel, specifically Galveston, related to a couple different cruise customer opportunities. We have 1 contract in hand with a long-term customer relationship. And when you look at the macro right now and you look at the alternatives of our really strong, high credit-worthy cruise customers, they can either use marine gas oil, which is kind of a diesel-based product, or LNG, and their ships have switching capability.

And because of the disruptions globally and the increased cost around those alternatives, their need for a fit-for-purpose asset to make LNG molecules and then have fit-for-purpose delivery capability and bunkering vessel is high and the macro is better than it's ever been for us to get an asset financed with enough adequate offtake to help that process happen. And one of the challenges with these offtake agreements to get the project financing is the duration of contracting and how the contracting works to make the project financing work.

This project's a $350 million total project, and it requires significant committed offtake over a significant amount of time to make the project financing work for everybody. And so we're just working through those processes, but the macro is really strong on moving that project forward and Stabilis' project is the furthest along and we believe the most efficiently cost process in the Gulf Coast region. And so we believe we're the leader of the pack in that area. We still haven't gotten the project to final FID.

Barry Haimes

Okay, great. And just 1 quick follow-up on that is, in terms of how much offtake is committed, I mean, just ballpark it. Is it 1/3 committed, 1/2, 2/3? Just where are you in that process? What inning are we in, if you will?

Unknown Speaker

Yeah, well, right now we've got about 25% of the committed offtake of that facility, the 350,000 gallons a day production. We don't need 100% offtake, but we need more than what we have now.

Barry Haimes

Got it. Fair enough. And then just last question, the 3 key markets you mentioned: behind the meter, the marine bunkering, and the aerospace. Could you give a rough sense of what percent of revenues each of those were and whatever you think is most representative, either the third quarter just reported or year-to-date estimate for '27? I'm not looking for precision. I'm just looking for ballpark. Thanks.

Unknown Speaker

Yes, let me give you the ballpark real quick. I think the best thing to do is to think about '27, '28, what we have booked and contracted right now. So we've already disclosed that we're assuming we have 1 contract that's a $200 million contract, plus or minus, think about it, $100 million in revenue a year. We have other behind-the-meter power opportunities that we are bidding and actively working on and intend to execute on. And then we have the aerospace market, which is growing really fast, but a lower base when you think about percentages of growth rate. And then you talk about marine, where we really see marine being very strong for us is out past, not next year, but hopefully getting some real revenue and earnings back during 2028.

And when you look at the 10 years past there, we're really excited about that being an anchor term duration while we have ups and downs from both aerospace and behind-the-meter projects. So that is a not perfectly clear explanation, but we see short-term those kind of percentages happening, and then when you look 3 years out and further and you start talking about how that backup power on behind-the-meter apps demand starts happening where you need like peaking opportunities with LNG around large behind-the-meter projects, and you continue to see the aerospace growing, those can be major, major long-term contributors, consistent.

But obviously, once we get the asset in on an FID, the marine project, that would be a meaningful percentage of revenue at that point in time. But that's not in our kind of next year plan, which we expect to be a record year for Stabilis.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Matt Dane with Titan Capital Management. Please go ahead.

Matthew Dhane

Had a couple of questions here. First one, the data center contract that starts here in Q1 of '27. Just was looking for a little bit more detail. Does that start January timeframe? Does it start later in the quarter? And then secondarily, please confirm I heard correctly so it ramps over Q2 and Q3, so does that imply that Q4 is finally the full run rate for that contract?

Andrew Puhala

Yes, good morning, Matt. Appreciate you joining the call today. So, second question first, it'll ramp over the first 3 quarters of the year. And so by the fourth quarter of next year, yes, we expect that to be kind of at the full run rate. In terms of startup, it'll start middle of the first quarter. It'll start with mobilization of equipment and testing and some things like that. And then the deliveries will start to, the LNG deliveries will start to ramp from there. So that's kind of the schedule and really the level of detail that we can go into at this point.

Matthew Dhane

Okay, great. Appreciate that, Andy. Then also I want to get a little bit more color, if I could, on the pipeline of data center opportunities. I know you talked about the 4 different buckets they fall in. Just was curious, how would you, I guess, first off, classify the overall pipeline? Does it continue to grow? Is it pretty much stable with what you saw last quarter? And then what is the largest bucket where a lot of those opportunities fall into? I assume bridge would be the largest just because of the size of the contracts, but just, yes, if you could add more color where things tend to fall within the pipeline, that would be helpful.

Unknown Speaker

I'll try to give a little color. I don't know that we can give just all the detail around our kind of sales funnel, but I would say the first 3 categories are the biggest. That's the construction, where they're trying to, you know, try to get, wean themselves off diesel. That's a really good opportunity where we're doing customer education and trying to show them how that's working. The commissioning has become kind of a new and now robust area where they're like, we need to get the construction and the projects commissioned even before they get permanent power solutions in. And bridge is becoming, the size of bridge is pretty extreme, and it's not something that the customers are kind of anticipating, so it's becoming kind of a more and more needed area when they have disruptions on their time schedules on getting their grid connections or pipeline interconnections into the facility. So that's becoming a more and more needed issue as you see delays or unexpected things happen.

One that we're probably seeing the most activity in the last quarter and we think in the future is going to be this backup area where we're providing kind of backup solutions long term for our clients that are active in behind-the-meter activity around data centers. And so that's the newest area that we're starting to see ramped-up activity and questions around. Super excited about that. So I'd say if you talk about, like, increased activity, that's the one that's increasing the most. And then I'd say next increasing is just the bridge activity due to delays and so many projects coming online and having connection delays. So I hope I answered it without giving the specifics. All 4 of those areas are active and exciting to us, and obviously with the price of diesel and the intent on having environmental compliance with construction being a focus of communities, having LNG and a better environmental footprint on construction is important to the owners of the facilities.

Matthew Dhane

Okay, that is helpful. The overall size of the pipeline as of the end of the quarter or here today relative to say what it was like 3 to 6 months ago, let's say 3 months ago, how would you say that? Does it just continue to increase the opportunities that you are bidding and talking to people about?

Unknown Speaker

Correct, substantially. Now again, I mean, a pipeline, you don't get to bill against a pipeline. A pipeline is a pipeline. So I'm talking, there's significant projects out there. We do not have to land—

Matthew Dhane

Okay, great. Thank you. I mean—

Unknown Speaker

—all of the very many of the opportunities to be super successful in this area, this growth area of our company. So that's the way we're kind of looking at this area. The opportunities are pretty extreme. There's broad, deep need for infrastructure and execution in this space. I'd say we're a little bit more tighter focused in marine where we're much more focused on a specific project in a specific region. This area is pulling us into just where they're having issues on behind the meter or where they think they have a cost advantage.

Matthew Dhane

Understood. I hope you win more than your fair share, though.

Unknown Speaker

We are hoping to win enough to make our shareholders happy.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes the Q&A portion of today's call. I would now like to turn the floor over to Andy Puhala for closing remarks.

Andrew Puhala

Well, thank you, everyone, for joining the call today. We appreciate your time and your continued interest and support of Stabilis. If you'd like to learn more, please reach out to me at our Investor Relations contact numbers, and we'll be happy to talk further.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's Stabilis Solutions third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Please disconnect your line at this time.

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