Key Points

• GAAP revenue reached $313.9 million, exceeding expectations in Q2 2025, up 1.5% year over year.

• Adjusted EBITDA dropped approximately 7.6% year-over-year to $54.6 million as margins compressed.

• NV5 merger completed post-quarter, setting up a larger, more leveraged company.

• These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires ›

Acuren (NYSE:TIC), a leading provider of testing, inspection, certification, and asset integrity services, released its second quarter 2025 results on August 14, 2025. The company reported GAAP revenue above analyst expectations and continued to grow its business with existing customers. However, profitability fell compared to the prior year as Adjusted EBITDA margin declined to 17.4% from 19.1%, with margins coming under pressure due to higher costs. The period also marks a transition, as the major acquisition of NV5, closed after quarter-end, will reshape the company’s size and future direction. Management did not provide updated guidance as it prepares for the post-merger phase, leaving assessments of the quarter mixed: revenue is growing year-over-year, but investors await clarity on improved profitability and integration progress.

Source: Analyst estimates provided by FactSet. Management expectations based on management's guidance, as provided in Q1 2025 earnings report.

Business Overview and Key Success Factors

Acuren specializes in asset integrity management, providing crucial services like nondestructive testing (NDT), inspections, and engineering solutions to help customers maintain equipment and infrastructure. Its work spans industries such as energy, utilities, infrastructure, and government, focusing on helping clients keep assets safe and compliant throughout their operational life.

The company’s growth is driven by several secular trends. Aging infrastructure creates a steady need for inspection and maintenance, while tighter regulations require frequent compliance checks. Acuren leans into digital transformation, deploying proprietary software and analytics for inspection data, and integrating newer methods like drone-enabled geospatial analytics. The competitive landscape rewards companies that meet evolving customer needs with better technology and broader service offerings. Key to success are a strong presence in recurring, compliance-driven revenue streams and expertise in technology-enhanced asset protection.

Quarter Highlights: Revenue, Margins, Transformational M&A

The company reported GAAP revenue of $313.9 million, exceeding analyst estimates by $5.5 million (GAAP) and up 1.5% year-over-year. Organic revenue, which excludes effects from acquisitions and currency changes, rose 2.0%. Management credited the gains to “strong callout work”, which refers to on-demand, project-based services, and deeper relationships with existing customers. These trends align with the broader industry needs for regular asset inspections as infrastructure ages and regulations tighten.

Adjusted EBITDA, which is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and certain non-cash charges, dropped to $54.6 million from $59.1 million. The company’s Adjusted EBITDA margin—the share of revenue converted to Adjusted EBITDA—fell to 17.4%. Management highlighted increased expenses tied to being a public company and higher costs related to transforming the business for future growth. Net loss (GAAP) narrowed sharply to $0.2 million, from a loss of $5.5 million in the comparable period, mainly reflecting the absence of costs that hit last year, including share compensation for legacy shareholders and lower interest expenses. However, business transformation costs still weighed on the bottom line.

The biggest structural event was the merger with NV5, which closed after the quarter ended on August 4, 2025. This $1.7 billion acquisition created a $2 billion TICC and engineering services company on a pro forma basis, as disclosed following the completion of the NV5 merger and broadens its services, especially by adding geospatial and engineering capabilities. The deal brought a sizable increase in the company’s debt load—term loan debt rose to $1.6 billion post-merger (as of August 2025), while total shares outstanding jumped to 200.6 million as of August 12, 2025, from 121.5 million. Management sees the merger as unlocking opportunities for cross-selling and cost savings.

Cash and liquidity were reasonable at quarter end, with $130.1 million on hand and $75 million available via undrawn borrowing, all before the NV5 debt was added. Free cash flow and debt management will become more important metrics for investors as the combined company moves forward. The mix of recurring compliance revenue and digital, tech-enabled service offerings should provide a stable foundation, but margin trends and execution of the merger are now the main areas to watch.

The ongoing volume in callout work and compliance-focused services demonstrates continued demand in a heavily regulated environment.

Outlook and What’s Ahead

Management did not provide financial guidance for the third quarter or for fiscal 2025. It stated that a comprehensive outlook, including anticipated revenue and adjusted EBITDA ranges, will be provided with its next earnings report in November 2025. This measured approach reflects the company’s focus on completing the NV5 integration and preparing updated forecasts based on the combined entity.

Without guidance, investors will closely track progress on integrating NV5, the impact on earnings and cash flows, and any signs of reversing margin compression. The absence of explicit outlook means near-term uncertainty will persist until management sets new targets and provides post-merger updates.

Revenue and net income presented using U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) unless otherwise noted.

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JesterAI is a Foolish AI, based on a variety of Large Language Models (LLMs) and proprietary Motley Fool systems. All articles published by JesterAI are reviewed by our editorial team, and The Motley Fool takes ultimate responsibility for the content of this article. JesterAI cannot own stocks and so it has no positions in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Acuren. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Your college years are typically thought of as some of the best of your life, but they can be hard to enjoy to the fullest if you're worried about paying for the essentials like food, textbooks, supplies and, if you're lucky, the occasional evening out with friends. With everything going up in price, it may seem like good discounts are few and far between, but that's not the case. Students still have excellent discounts to take advantage of across the board, be it on streaming services, shopping subscriptions, digital tools and more. We’ve collected the best student discounts we could find on useful services, along with some things you’ll enjoy in your down time. Just keep in mind that most of these offers require you to prove your status as a student either by signing up with your .edu email address or providing a valid student ID.

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You shouldn’t rely on social media to be your sole source of news. With foreign wars, new viruses, Supreme Court decisions and upcoming elections making headlines daily, it’s important to get your news from reliable sources. Yes, it’s daunting to get into the news on a regular basis, but it’s crucial to know what’s going on in the country and the world as a whole. Here are some reputable news organizations that offer student discounts on their monthly or annual subscription plans.

The Atlantic: Starts at $50 per year for digital-only access.

The New York Times: $1 per week for one year for the base subscription.

The Washington Post: $1 every four weeks for digital-only access.

The Wall Street Journal: Starting at $2 per week for one year for digital access.

A San Diego startup says it's made the world's first 100% biodegradable sneaker — and that most of the competition is greenwashing.

But what does it mean to be "biodegradable"? And are biodegradable plastics really better for the planet?

We tested seven shoes brands to see if they would biodegrade and whether they're truly bio-based. And we explore why it's so hard to make an environmentally friendly shoe.

• Three teenagers in New York designed a cardboard, called Kiriboard, to replace plastic packaging.
• They got the idea when a box of motors for their robotics hobby arrived damaged.
• Their invention won the $12,500 Earth Prize. Now they plan to buy a machine to make more Kiriboards.

Three teenage boys in New York City have invented a clever packaging material that they hope will replace toxic plastics and make plastic-free shipping a reality.

Zhi Han (Anthony) Yao, Flint Mueller, and James Clare are planning to pursue a patent and eventually pitch their product to Home Depot, as well as traditional shippers like Amazon, FedEx, and the US Postal Service.

They call their geometric, cardboard invention Kiriboard, since it's inspired by Japanese kirigami, which is the art of cutting and folding paper.

"Something like this is the wave of the future," Jerry Citron, the teenagers' environmental-science teacher, told Business Insider.

Yao, Mueller, and Clare won the Earth Prize on April 8, making them one of seven winning environmental projects by teenagers across the globe. The award comes with $12,500, which they plan to use to buy a cutting machine, called a CNC router, and test more prototypes.

Plastic-free shipping could change the world

Just like any plastic, Styrofoam and other plastic packaging can shed microscopic bits of plastic into homes and the environment.

Microplastics have been detected from the oceans to the top of Mount Everest, in animals' and humans' body tissues and blood, and even in rain all over the planet. They're associated with heart attack and stroke risk. Some researchers suspect they could even be contributing to the recent rise in colon cancers in young people.

"I didn't realize it was as big of an issue as it was," Yao told BI. "I mean, companies have made sustainable initiatives and greener initiatives, but they haven't really fully replaced plastic packaging."

Enter the Kiriboard: Kiriboard is cut into lattice-like shapes so that it can bend to fill the space between an item and the wall of its box. The cuts give the cardboard a three-dimensional structure that makes it sturdy and allows it to bend and absorb impact, protecting what's inside, similar to bubble wrap but without the plastic.

Once perfected, the three teens hope their design can help ship packages of sensitive or heavy equipment even more securely, at a competitive price.

Broken motors and crumple zones

Clare, Mueller, and Yao are all on the same robotics team at Stuyvesant High School in New York City. Clare is a junior, and Mueller and Yao are seniors.

The idea for Kiriboard started when they opened a shipment of Kraken X60 motors, which are about $200 a pop. They found that the brass pins, which connect the motors to a robot, were damaged and unusable. They assumed the pins had been damaged in transit.

"We're like, well, we should do something about this packaging, because clearly the packaging wasn't good enough," Mueller said.

Clare thought about how cars are engineered with crumple zones, meant to absorb the energy of impacts to protect the people inside.

Similarly, he said, "you can make strategic weak points in your packaging so that the package warps and deforms," sparing the package's contents.

With help from the Earth Prize program and Citron, they built and tested their first Kiriboard prototypes.

The matrix

It was a scrappy effort, with cardboard scavenged from their school.

After some research and consulting various teachers, Yao said they drew up eight or nine different designs, and narrowed down to four to build and test. Then, came the fun part: dropping heavy stuff on their creations.

To test their prototypes' durability, the teens slammed them with a roll of tape, a stapler, a can of soda, and a metal water bottle — "which did the most damage, but not as much as we thought it would," Clare said.

They dropped each item onto the Kiriboard prototypes from various heights, so that they could calculate and study the physical forces of each impact.

"Basically, we want to see what's the most amount of force it can take before it snaps," Yao said.

The results were promising, the trio said. The Kiriboard prototypes sustained very little damage, which they judged by checking the cardboard for dents. They plan to move forward with all four designs, which they hope will be useful for different types of shipping.

In the design pictured above, four triangular "legs" hold the Kiriboard in place inside a box.

"This middle section, we call it the matrix. This is supposed to be flexible," Yao said. Once you place an item for shipping inside the box, the matrix "is supposed to form to the product."

Once they've purchased a CNC router to automate cutting the cardboard, they plan to test prototypes by actually shipping them in boxes.

"Right now, we want to perfect our product," Yao said.

When it's ready, they said they might also pitch it to the electronics company AndyMark, which shipped them the robotic motors that arrived broken.

"No shade to them," Clare said, adding that their robotics team frequently orders from AndyMark with no problems.

"We're on the brink of, like, this could become a reality, and it's just up to us to put in that final effort," Mueller said. Clare chimed in: "All from a broken package."