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DATE

Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026

CALL PARTICIPANTS

  • Senior Vice President of Investor Relations - George A. Price Jr.
  • President and Chief Executive Officer - John S. Mengucci
  • Chief Financial Officer - Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan

TAKEAWAYS

  • Revenue -- $2.47 billion, representing an 8.2% increase driven by higher gross profit and new contract wins.
  • Organic Revenue Growth -- 2.1%, aligning with management's previously stated expectations for low single-digit growth.
  • EBITDA Margin -- 13.3%, an increase of 160 basis points from the prior year reflecting strong program execution and a favorable mix of high-margin technology work.
  • Adjusted Diluted EPS -- $7.66, growing 11.8% year over year due to operational performance and margin expansion.
  • Free Cash Flow -- $133.5 million, reflecting higher working capital requirements and cash outflows typical of the first quarter.
  • Contract Awards -- $4.8 billion, resulting in a 2.0x book-to-bill ratio for the quarter.
  • Total Backlog -- $34.0 billion, providing multiyear visibility into future revenue streams and cash generation.
  • Funded Backlog -- $6.2 billion, a 14.8% increase that represents the seventh time in the last eight quarters the company achieved double-digit growth in this metric.
  • Apollo Award -- $1.5 billion ceiling, through which the company will enable USCENTCOM to conduct intelligence and information warfare missions using AI.
  • SOF-TOPS II Award -- $1.6 billion task order, continuing a five-year support role for the Army Special Operations Command's response to evolving threats.
  • Domestic Shield Award -- $500 million, including an initial funded task order to provide counter-UAS capabilities.
  • SkyValor Capability -- 75 km detection range, utilizing industry-leading cellular detect and defeat technologies for precision nonkinetic counter-UAS operations.
  • Manufacturing Capacity -- 61,000 square feet, added via a new Center of Excellence in Rochester, New York, to scale production of defense electronics.
  • Net Leverage Ratio -- 3.5 times, with management expecting to return to the low threes by the March quarter of 2027.
  • FY27 Revenue Guidance -- $10.7 billion to $10.9 billion, raised by $50 million from previous estimates citing strong awards and operational developments.
  • FY27 Adjusted Net Income Guidance -- $740 million to $760 million, representing a $5 million increase to the prior range.
  • FY27 Adjusted Diluted EPS Guidance -- $33.18 to $34.08, an upward revision reflecting higher anticipated revenue and profitability.
  • FY27 Free Cash Flow Guidance -- At least $900 million, reaffirmed by management as a key value creation metric.
  • Existing Program Revenue -- 94%, increasing from 83% in the prior quarter and providing high visibility for the current fiscal year.
  • Bid Pipeline -- $4.7 billion under evaluation and $14.7 billion in planned submissions over the next two quarters.
  • Acquired Revenue -- $450 million expected for fiscal year 2027, despite approximately $50 million in ARKA revenue shifting from inorganic to organic following the deal's anniversary.
  • Days Sales Outstanding -- 59 days, excluding the impact of the Master Accounts Receivable Purchase Agreement.
  • Headcount -- 27,000 employees, supporting specialized mission knowledge across intelligence, defense, and civilian sectors.

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RISKS

  • Mengucci stated, "the pace of decision making is not fully normalized and is still sluggish in some areas," potentially impacting the timing of new contract awards.
  • Mengucci warned that "memory, semiconductors, rare earths are seeing very high levels of inflation and elongated lead times," which the company is managing through strategic design and early investment.
  • MacLauchlan noted that while margins were high in the first quarter, the "second half margin ramp is now more gradual" following the strong start to the year.

SUMMARY

CACI International Inc (CACI +2.38%) reported first quarter revenue growth of 8.2% and increased its fiscal year 2027 guidance for revenue, adjusted net income, and adjusted earnings per share. Management reported that the quarter was supported by $4.8 billion in contract awards and a book-to-bill ratio of 2.0x, driven by demand for electronic warfare and space technologies. The company stated it will transition to a calendar fiscal year on Jan. 1, 2027, and scheduled an investor day for early 2027 to provide new three-year financial targets. Management indicated that leverage is expected to decrease to the low three times range by the third quarter of fiscal year 2027 following the integration of recent acquisitions.

  • The company opened a 61,000-square-foot manufacturing center in Rochester, New York, to expand production capacity for systems like the TLS Manpack and BEAM counter-UAS platforms.
  • Management reported that 94% of fiscal year 2027 revenue is already in house via existing programs, reducing the reliance on new wins for the remainder of the year.
  • CEO Mengucci stated, "Across all areas of our business, our technology first approach is directly contributing to our financial performance."
  • The company was selected to supply advanced optical imaging payloads for Vantor's pulse satellite fleet, applying national security sensor capabilities to the commercial market.
  • Management reported that the Apollo award utilizes AI to enhance planning and information integration for commanders in contested territories.
  • The company expects to complete SDA Tranche 1 optical communication deliveries later this calendar year and begin work on Tranche 2.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

  • C-UAS: Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems, technologies used to detect and defeat aerial drones.
  • DSO: Days Sales Outstanding, a measure of the average number of days it takes a company to collect payment after a sale.
  • EW: Electronic Warfare, military action involving the use of electromagnetic and directed energy to control the electromagnetic spectrum.
  • MARPA: Master Accounts Receivable Purchase Agreement, a facility for the sale of specific government receivables.
  • OCT: Optical Communication Terminal, hardware used for high-speed laser-based data transfer in space and terrestrial networks.
  • OTA: Other Transaction Authority, a streamlined procurement method used by the U.S. government to access innovative technologies.
  • SDA: Space Development Agency, a U.S. government agency focused on rapidly deploying space capabilities for national security.
  • TRL: Technology Readiness Level, a scale used to assess the maturity level of a particular technology.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the CACI International First Quarter Fiscal Year 27 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, all lines are in a listen only mode. Peter, we will announce the opportunity for questions and instructions will be given at that time. If you should need any assistance during the call, please press zero, and someone will help you. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to George Price, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations for CACI International. Please go ahead, sir.

George A. Price Jr.: Thanks, Morgan, and good morning, everyone. I am George Price. Senior vice president of investor relations for CACI International. Thank you for joining us this morning. We are providing presentation slides, so let's move to Slide 2. There will be-- excuse me. There will be statements in this call that do not address historical fact and as such constitute forward looking statements under current law. These statements reflect our views as of today and are subject to important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from anticipated. Those factors are listed at the bottom of last night's press release and are described in the company's SEC filings.

Our Safe Harbor statement is included on this exhibit should be incorporated as part of any transcript of this call. I would also like to point out that our presentation will include discussion of non GAAP financial measures. These should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for performance measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. Let's turn to Slide 3, please. To open our discussion this morning, here's John S. Mengucci, president and chief executive officer of CACI International. John.

John S. Mengucci: Thanks, George, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us to discuss our first quarter fiscal year 2027 results. With me this morning is Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan, our Chief Financial Officer. Slide 4, please. Before turning to our results, I want to remind you that CACI is a technology first national security company executing a clear and consistent strategy. The key elements of that strategy are, first, focused on enduring national security priorities and narrow deep funding streams, Second, we utilize our deep mission knowledge in the markets we serve to truly understand what our customers need. Third, invest ahead of customer need, informed by that deep mission knowledge.

Fourth, we deliver software defined technology to address critical needs with the speed, agility, and efficiency our customers demand And finally, deploy capital in a flexible and opportunistic manner to create value for our customers and our shareholders. This strategy is the driving force behind our strong and consistent results. Slide 5, please. We had an excellent start to fiscal year 27, First quarter revenue grew 8%, EBITDA margin reached 13.3%, Adjusted diluted EPS increased 12%, and we generated $133 million in free cash flow. We also won $4.8 billion in awards, producing a 2x book to bill for the quarter.

We have a large and growing backlog and our funded backlog grew double digit year over year for the seventh time in the last 8 quarters. Our margin performance stands out. It reflects superior execution, and a higher mix of differentiated technology we delivered this quarter. We are raising our revenue and earnings guidance for the year and Jeffrey will share additional details shortly. Our results, awards, backlog and pipeline give us a strong foundation for the fiscal year and support our increased guidance. Slide 6, please. Let me discuss in more detail some highlights from the quarter and the demand that we are seeing, that are driving our results and position us for continued success.

I will start with 2 fantastic awards for technology enabled operational support, that exemplify our enduring commitment to national security. First, our Apollo Award, where CCI will enable CENTCOM to carry out critical intelligence and information warfare missions. Our success in winning this new work for CACI stems from our deep mission knowledge, our exceptional business development, and our superior ability to utilize and combat AI in the information domain. The second award is SOF-TOPS II. A 5 year follow on contract supporting the army's special operations command. It reflects the trust we have built through years of work with this customer extends our role helping special operators plan for and respond to evolving threats using our technology first approach.

Our electronic warfare portfolio continues to see strong demand. That is certainly true with the counter UAS market significant and growing opportunity for CACI. Beyond protecting our warfighters, the growing threat to military facilities, critical infrastructure is driving demand for precision nonkinetic counter-UAS capabilities like SkyValor. SkyValor leverages nearly 2 decades of proven counter-UAS deployments, industry-leading cellular detect and defeat capabilities and enables detection up to 75 km so operators have more time to make critical decisions. Our prospective counter-UAS customer base is expanding across the US government and internationally. A great example is our $500 million domestic shield award from JIATF-401, which also included an initial funded task order.

We are also seeing increased demand for our BEAM manpackable counter-UAS systems, from US customers and allies across Europe, and the Pacific theater. Beam is the most technically capable system of its kind on the market, with over a decade of proven performance and an important discriminator for prospective customers. In the critical space domain, we are capitalizing on increasing demand as a leading merchant supplier of optical imaging, and optical communications payloads. CACI was recently selected by Vantor, a commercial provider of satellite based intelligence to supply advanced optical imaging payloads for their pulse satellite fleet.

This work is an example of taking ARKA's exquisite sensor capabilities developed for national security missions and applying them to a more proliferated commercial market which is exactly what the US national security strategy calls for. ARKA has a number of other sensitive opportunities in the national security space domain. that are moving forward and are expected to contribute financially in fiscal year 27. We are also making progress in optical communications. We expect to complete SDA Tranche 1 deliveries later this calendar year and begin work on Tranche 2. CACI was also 1 of 3 companies selected to advance to phase 3 of the Space Force's enterprise space terminal program.

Where we are developing the next generation optical communication terminal to support critical multi orbit initiatives like the space data network. Consistent with our merchant supplier strategy, multiple primes bidding on the SDN have selected our EST technology for their solution. We also continue to win and execute other classified optical communications programs And our successful contribution to the Artemis 2 mission has helped demonstrate the capability of our technology for future human spaceflight. Finally, demand remains healthy for modernization of mission networks and digital applications. Many critical customer priorities including AI adoption, border security, and financial accountability are dependent on modern, secure, integrated networks and applications for success. CACI is a leader in modernization because we do it differently.

Differentiating through speed of delivery, use of outcome based models, and demonstrated success deploying AI based software. Programs such as Beagle, ITAS, and NASA NCAPPS are real world examples of where we are applying AI agile delivery methods to drive customer modernization faster and more efficiently. Leveraging AI translates into reduced cost for customers, and better margins for us. And we consistently see customers reinvest cost savings in additional scope to CACI. Across all areas of our business, our technology first approach is directly contributing to our financial performance, by driving on contract growth, and new business wins from customers who are committed to transforming at the speed of mission. Slide 7, please.

In order to meet strong demand we are seeing for our software-defined technology, we are actively investing to scale our production capacity. Our first step was to open our manufacturing center of excellence for defense electronics in Rochester, New York. The additional 61 thousand-square-foot facility significantly increases our manufacturing space, and expands our capacity to develop, test, assemble, and deliver defense electronics, such as TLS Manpack, BEAM, and others. We plan to open additional manufacturing centers of excellence for space and for integrated systems and we will share more about these initiatives in the coming months. These investments will enable us to deliver advanced technology faster, at greater scale and more efficiently. Supporting continued revenue growth and additional margin expansion.

Slide 8, please. Turning to the macro environment, budgets, and funding remain healthy and are key areas of focus. With 90% of our revenue coming from national security customers, The priorities we focus on are well funded, and continue to exhibit strong demand signals because they are needs that must be addressed. A continuing resolution, or CR,, is currently in place until December 11th. Regardless of how this dynamic plays out, it is an environment we have navigated successfully for many years. As we demonstrated year in and year out, CRs do not have a material impact on our business given our large backlog, longer duration awards and the critical capabilities that our customers depend on us to deliver.

From an awards perspective, our strong book-to-bill, show some improvement in award activity, though the pace of decision making is not fully normalized and is still sluggish in some areas. As our customers continue to evolve their relationships with industry, through nontraditional procurement methods, our key differentiators of investing ahead of customer need, software-defined capabilities, outcome based pricing are all resonating extremely well because they drive increased speed, efficiency, and lethality. Slide 9, please. Before turning the call over to Jeffrey, I wanted to discuss a few other updates. First, we announced we will move to a calendar fiscal year beginning January 1, 2027.

We believe this reporting cycle will enhance comparability for investors and better align our business with the government's fiscal year. We plan to provide guidance for our new fiscal year when we report December quarter results in February. Second, we plan to host an investor day in early 27 at our Melbourne, Florida facilities. At this event, we intend to provide additional information about the new fiscal year, other contemplated reporting changes, discuss our strategy and capabilities, provide an opportunity to meet with the CACI management team, including additional executive leadership we recently announced, and provide new 3-year financial targets. We look forward to sharing more information with you in the near future.

With that, I will turn the call over to Jeffrey.

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: Thank you, John. Good morning, everyone. Please turn to Slide 10. We are pleased with our first quarter performance in which we delivered revenue growth in line with our expectations. Revenue was $2.5 billion for the first quarter up 8.2% year over year, organic growth of 2.1%, in line with our previously communicated low single digit organic growth. EBITDA margin in the quarter was an impressive 13.3%, 160 basis points higher than the prior year's first quarter driven by strong program execution and a more favorable mix of higher margin work. First quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share of $7.66, were 11.8% higher than a year ago. Driven by this excellent operational performance.

Finally, free cash flow of $133 million for the quarter reflects higher cash outflows typical of the first quarter of the year. Slide 11, please. Turning our attention to the balance sheet and capital structure, we continue to make progress reducing our leverage following the ARKA acquisition. Pro-forma leverage at the end of the first quarter was 3.5 times and we now expect to return to leverage in the low threes in the March quarter of 27. 2 quarters earlier than we had initially anticipated. As we have discussed, this is consistent with our track record of successfully deleveraging after major acquisitions.

Driven by our profitability and strong free cash flow generation, our moderating leverage is quickly putting us back in a posture of having increased optionality for additional flexible and opportunistic capital deployment. Slide 12, please. Turning to our outlook for fiscal 27, we are raising guidance for revenue, adjusted net income and adjusted EPS and reaffirming our guidance for other metrics. I note that while we made a particularly strong initial guide to begin the year, a strong awards quarter and operational developments have retired additional risk relative to our expected range of outcomes.

We are raising our fiscal 2027 revenue guidance by $50 million to between $10.7 billion and $10.9 billion Our fiscal 2027 revenue now assumes approximately $450 million of acquired revenue. While ARKA continues to perform in line with our expectations for the full fiscal year, some space program activities are now expected to contribute to revenue beyond the first 12 months after closing the acquisition. We are reaffirming our fiscal 27 guidance for EBITDA margin in the high 12% range. This and higher revenue has a consequent impact to increase our adjusted net income by $5 million to between $740 million and $760 million which translates into increased adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance between $33.18 and $34.08.

We are reaffirming our guidance for free cash flow of at least $900 million Finally, to assist with your modeling, I would remind you of our prior comments that we expect stronger organic growth and EBITDA margin in the second half of the fiscal year versus the first half. Though I note the second half margin ramp is now more gradual given our strong first quarter performance. I would also note our view that second quarter consensus estimates for organic growth and EBITDA margin are reasonable. Slide 13, please. Turning to our forward indicators, we now expect 94% of our revenue to come from existing programs. With 3% coming from recompetes and 3% from new business.

This significant increase in existing business content which was 83% just last quarter, reflects our successful business development and operational performance and provides increased confidence in our updated guidance, as I mentioned earlier. In fact, this is the highest level of existing business at this point in the year in the last 7 years. First quarter awards were $4.8 billion representing a healthy mix of new work and strong re-compete performance. The weighted average duration of these awards was just under 4.5 years which reflects the higher mix of sole source extensions we have seen recently as well as normal variance in award duration.

Our long award duration continues to provide good visibility into the strength and cash generation capacity of our business. Total backlog was $34 billion and funded backlog increased by 15% year over year. This represents the seventh time in the last 8 quarters we have delivered double digit year over year growth in funded backlog. Underscoring the critical national security priorities we address and the support of our customers. We continue to see a healthy pipeline of new opportunities with $4.7 billion of bids under evaluation, with about 85% of these being for new business. Bids under evaluation also reflect a significant level of awards in the quarter.

We expect to submit another $14.7 billion in bids over the next 2 quarters with more than 60% coming from new business. In summary, our first quarter was a great start to the year. Our consistent performance, substantial backlog and strong market position give us confidence in our increased guidance and our ability to drive growth in free cash flow per share and additional shareholder value. And with that, I will turn the call back over to John.

John S. Mengucci: Thank you, Jeffrey. Let's go to Slide 14, please. In conclusion, we delivered strong first quarter results, and raised our revenue and earnings guidance for the year. Our large and growing backlog, strong customer demand signals, and ability to deliver gives us confidence in our outlook. Regardless of CRs, elections, government shutdowns or other dynamics, we have delivered consistent results. it is worth repeating. CACI has a clear, consistent strategy and our financial results once again demonstrate that our strategy is working. You have heard us say consistently that we view free cash flow per share as the ultimate value creation metric. CACI has a long and consistent track record of generating strong cash flow.

This level of cash generation enables us to continue investing ahead of customer need deploying capital in a flexible and opportunistic manner. Both of which then enable us to generate additional cash flow over time. You have seen us do exactly that as we deploy new technology capabilities and made strategic acquisitions like Azure Summit, and Arca. These actions allow us to turn the strong demand we see into results for our customers and lasting value for our shareholders. As is always the case, our success is driven by our 27 thousand employees who are ever-vigilant in expanding the limits of national security.

To everyone on the CACI team, I am proud of what you do every day for our company, and for our nation. And to our shareholders, I thank you for your continued support of CACI. With that, Morgan, let's open the call for questions.

Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, press star then the number 1 on your telephone keypad to raise your hand simply press 1 again. Your first question comes from Sheila Karin Kahyaoglu with Jefferies. Your line is open.

Sheila Karin Kahyaoglu: Thanks so much. Good morning, John, Jeffrey and George. Maybe just on your closing remarks, you have consistently been in the right place at the right time in terms of future funding needs, I guess what is the secret, and how do you think about where the growth goes from here? I know you will have a Marcie Analyst Day or a first-half analyst day where you will talk about that. But how have you been able to outperform your peers here?

John S. Mengucci: Yeah. Sheila, thanks. And I really appreciate the question. Look, I think simply, first off, it is because we are a very different company than others in our current sector. We have been doing our best to outperform others in the larger spaces well. And it is really down to something that we have shared over the last decade. Is just having a clear strategy intentional leadership and disciplined execution over many, many years. We have invested ahead of need and have decades of deep mission knowledge And we are in areas of enduring need. We like to talk about neural funding streams.

But the way we look at it internally, these are all things that are not the first, the tenth, or the hundredth thing that customers are going to want to turn off. We take a lot of purposeful discriminating actions. I can tell you internally, that we measure the time between vision or strategy and action in weeks. And we have been very honest upfront, very transparent, and very thoughtful around capital deployment to truly build shareholder value. So a lot of transparency, a lot of results, that lead to a lot of credit credibility, frankly. The other thing that I would mention is something that we do not talk a lot about, but it is very important.

Is that we truly did recreate this company 10, 12 years back to be a to be a FAR Part 15 and a FAR Part 12 truly commercial company. And, you know, we did not get lucky. We actually did study where the market was going to go and where the customer sets were-- the customers were going to be changing how they buy. I think it is, you know, true as today that $500 million of our bookings last year were done through OTAs and CSOs. that is something that we are called very, very right many, many years back. You do not just turn that thing on overnight. So strategy is placed where we where we come from.

We have an outstanding leadership team that actually drives the strategy forward. And a whole slew of PMs and finance leads and the like that are making sure that we frankly, deliver excellence because customers buy from people that they trust and customers buy from people who always deliver, and I think our results show that.

Sheila Karin Kahyaoglu: No. that is great. Thank you. Maybe just a follow-up on that. As we look at the organic growth, for first quarter up 2%, second quarter up 7% implies second half grows low double digits in the face of pretty tough comps, Can you give us some color on what is driving your organic growth visibility and your confidence in the guide there?

John S. Mengucci: Yes. I mean, it really points ourselves towards, you know, how do we get through a back-half risk model, and we have been getting that question a lot. I think we navigate our way not only through the questions, through the performance last year. You know, look. Risk is something that we work through all the time. it is just the nature of our business. You know, when our revenue starts from a new win, it is really based on timing of award, the program start date, funding type of contract, etc. This year, it is true. We have a number of late last year and early this year awards.

To hit their first notch in their growth stride after the second quarter. And I am very much aware that is the same exact time that the, current CR ends. So what gives us confidence? We have taken a long look at the growth of our backlog. I think you should all look at the level of funded backlog growth. The fact that we have got a lot of non-protested recent large awards. We have a customer base that frankly really needs to move forward quickly. And that just happens to align with our current third quarter, I guess, in other quarter, it will be our newest first quarter, right?

And so we won those jobs, and that is sort of how the revenue profiles stack on top of each other. We have always talked about long duration awards. Right? So what else gives us a lot of confidence, the first or second ramp or the third and fourth quarter ramp is that we stack a number of awards with longer durations over a long, period of time. So we see the awards. Our funded our funded backlog is there. Our technology deliveries will also be there, and I think everything is greatly aligned. Fit on top of that reduces the risk of a high second-quarter profile, CRs shutdowns, budget woes, midterms, anything else you could throw in there.

So, Jeffrey, anything you want to add?

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: Yeah. I think there are 2 things Sheila, that are a little bit different about our portfolio from some others. 1 is that we have a great number of small programs, smaller programs. So we are managing, kind of 1.9 thousand or so active pieces of the portfolio and managing that for the year. The other thing that is different, I think, about our portfolio is that, we have a great deal of margin volatility. Not volatility, variability. And because of that, we have programs with single digit EBIT margins, and we have programs with you know, EBIT margins in the low thirties.

And so managing that mix, and we do manage for the year, which I am sure you are tired of, hearing us say, but managing across that mix is a is a constant challenge. As you would imagine. it is a very different management experience in my experience, from working in an enterprise that has 15 or 20 large programs.

John S. Mengucci: The last thing I am gonna add is the metrics that we have shared. The fact that we are at the end of the first quarter, we are looking at 94% of our revenue already in house. And only 3, 3% due and 3% recompete left, that is an outstanding position for us to be and even better than where we were last year, and you all know how last year turned out. You know, record revenue, record earn. Earnings, record free cash flow. Thanks, Sheila.

Sheila Karin Kahyaoglu: Awesome. Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from Gavin Parsons with UBS Financial. Your line is open.

Gavin Parsons: Thank you. Good morning.

John S. Mengucci: I mean, I am clearly seeing the investments you have made in technology already, reflected in the margins, but I want to ask how you think about payback period. And, obviously, without asking about any specific programs, but maybe if you could use SkyValor as frame of reference. Yes. Sure. Look, we have invested in a lot of software based tech over the last decade. And I truly believe that our shareholders have been greatly rewarded, and they will continue to be rewarded for the results. And we can talk about counter-UAS.

We can talk about ARKA, talk about space, talk about OCTs. there is a lot of examples here But, you know, at the end of the day, strategy is a place where we come from. So these are not, these are not high risk invest ahead of customer need operations. I mean, we run this company as a full throated company. And it is why we always talk about we are not gonna invest for the next quarter. We are gonna invest for the next decade. So as hard as some of this stuff is that we do, You know, we do not.

We have never come back to our investors and said, because we had to invest more, these financials are not gonna look the way they look. Okay? We are a, you know, consistent free cash flow compounder and a consistent company that is out there buying the right capabilities to go ahead and continue to drive this company forward. So whether it is counter UAS where we have been investing for well over a couple of decades, we have invested we sort of moved from a fixed site solution to a mobile solution. You know, things like BEAM are not in high demand because we got lucky.

They are in high demand because we are good, and it is-- and it is good. So whether it is SkyValor giving commanders larger range. You know, we understand how to do all of that because we have 1.4 thousand people formerly deployed and a lot of people embedded. And that kind of operational support gives us just absolute better data than everybody else gets. Back to Sheila's earlier question. And allows us to, invest in the right manner in the right levels, in a manner that we are not coming to our shareholders after the quarter is done saying, wish we had not invested in all that because now we cannot make revenue or we cannot make earnings.

We are doing it all.

Gavin Parsons: Got it. Thanks for that. And then maybe just a quick clarifier on ARKA to make sure I heard correctly: no change to the expected ARKA revenue for the full fiscal year. it is just timing.

John S. Mengucci: Yes. Let me talk a little bit about ARKA because I think it is been, probably at least here or 2 for us, probably 1 of the greatest acquisitions that we have done because it sets us up for so many things. it is a great business. it is performing as expected. Their leading provider of sensing and sense-making capabilities. I like to say they have they have been doing large aperture solutions since what we think was a minnow. They are 1 of 1.5 companies that do what they do, so it is a very strong barrier to entry.

And now as you heard from the Vantor award, we are now moving to smaller form factors without sacrificing, purity and we are also building those in higher, quantity. So specific to your to your question, yes. The $50 million moves a quarter to the right, we did not take the full year or their guidance down. We actually raised full year and shifted theirs. So at the end of the day, this $50 million is different than the $50 million raised guide. This is really about moving that from next 12 months based on a March closure date to the current first fiscal year.

So all of this attention is really moving revenue to after March 9 but before June 30. So we do not see. it is not about missed numbers. it is just timing. Like the majority of the rest of our business. Jeffrey, anything else you want to add?

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: I think you covered it, but I would say maybe slightly different way that might land with some people differently. The $250 million numbers you are hearing are unrelated. Completely independent. there is a $50 million growth in the total revenue, and there is $50 million of movement in the ARKA revenue from inorganic to organic based on being after the anniversary date. So they are different fifties.

Gavin Parsons: Very clear. Thank you.

John S. Mengucci: Next time, we will raise it by 51.

Operator: Your next question comes from John Godin with Citi. Your line is open.

John Godin: Hey, Thanks for taking my question. Good morning, I wanted to just hopefully unpack margins a little bit. If I rewind to maybe a year or so ago, there was sort of a conversation about the growth versus margin trade off. And how margins might be topping out. The margin performance and execution has been great. We also have ARKA in there, so it is kind of hard to unpack that perfectly. But maybe you could just talk about growth versus margins in the core business versus ARKA? Are we at a point where we are finding a new sort of lever to get margins higher?

Operator: Look, we have said a couple things pretty consistently, and I am going to come back and answer your question more directly.

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: But we have said a couple things pretty consistently. 1 is that we manage the business for free cash flow. And so we are continually making decisions, investment and growth. The other thing that may be clouding this up a little bit is a condition I mentioned earlier, which is the margin variability. And what we see as we manage our way through this, particularly in the internal quarters of the year, as we manage across the 1.9 thousand programs that I mentioned earlier. So those conditions are both what they are and no 1 should be surprised. We have talked about these with multiple forums for a long time.

To get to your more specific question, I think, we do continue to see opportunities for continued modest margin improvement. And that is taking into a account the 2 conditions I just mentioned. But it is an extremely opportunity rich environment. And we see plenty of opportunities to invest and plenty of opportunities for growth which really put us in the posture I think, in some ways of being able to kinda have our cake and eat it too. So I think we do see continued modest margin improvement even while we are maintaining the growth vector.

John Godin: Okay. that is good to know. And if I could just ask a kind of related follow-up on margins this year. In the prepared remarks, you mentioned that margins in the back half would step up, but perhaps less so now that you had good early year margin performance. I just wanted to revisit that It sounds like the margin improvement engine is firing on all cylinders. As you said, you have a kind of target-rich backdrop. Is there some conservatism in that view? Could we maybe see an even higher step up in the back half that is a loaded question.

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: Look, we continue to do what I have been describing that we do. And if it shakes out that way, it is impossible for me at this point to necessarily predict an investment decision that we might make or not make next April. But, you know, we have we have tried to be pretty open with you sharing the levers and the knobs that we are managing and how we solve for them, you know? And I think I probably should leave it at that.

John Godin: Yeah. Okay. Fair enough, guys. Thanks a lot.

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from Scott Mikus with Melius Research. Your line is open.

Matt Martolo: Hi. Good morning. This is Matt Martolo on for Scott. Yeah. Good morning. We have heard we have heard from aerospace companies that memory, semiconductors, rare earths are seeing very high levels of inflation and elongated lead times. Are you managing around those constraints? Are there any other pinch points you would call out in the supply chain?

John S. Mengucci: Yeah. Look, thanks. Yeah. We are seeing some of that as well, and we are managing it accordingly. that is a key focus. Why we brought Chris Monoski in. who is our new EVP of manufacturing. And it is as we really scale to combat things like that. I can tell you that those types of items are reflected in our guidance. it is really 1 of the factors that create the low end of our range and our high end of our range. The administration is aware of this as well, and they are making, the right kinds of investments, which we fully support.

Know, the other thing that we are pretty good at is making certain that we are eyeballing those types of shortages before they present themselves and really work designs around some of those items. The last thing from a from a shareholder margin cash flow point of view is really getting our hands around what are those, long lead high risk items that we have to invest in. Meaning, you know, do we spend some of our, cash flow earlier than we would like, but it actually supports much longer term. Growth. So do we spend $30 million of cash in the second quarter to end up picking up 60 million more over the entire year?

The answer is gonna be yes. that is why we talk about being a full year company versus a, a quarterly company. Jeffrey, anything you want to add?

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: Yeah. I would. I would only add. You did not explicitly ask this, but I think it was sort of in the undertone of your question. We also have a business model, where we have more pricing opportunity frequency. So the nature of much of the. Of what we sell it gets repriced, you know, each time there is an order. So unlike a large you know, 6 or 8 year platform program, where the pricing is committed far in advance, we rarely are more than a year or 18 months or so from, you know, being able to price the next increment. So that is also, I think, a risk mitigator that may not be fully appreciated.

Compared to some of the others in your question.

Matt Martolo: Great. Thanks for taking the question, guys. I will stick with 1.

John S. Mengucci: You bet. Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from Peter Arment with Baird. Your line is open.

Peter Arment: Thanks. Good morning, John and Jeffrey. Nice results.

John S. Mengucci: Good morning, Peter. Thanks.

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: Thanks, Peter.

Peter Arment: Hey, it is John. You know, you mentioned OTA-kind of contract structures early on in your kind of opening comments. When you guys have some, I guess, through TLS Manpack and maybe ARKA has a little bit Could you kind of describe kind of the exposure or, I guess, risks around OTAs We have seen some other competitors for OTAs are easy to cancel or easier to cancel and just how you are thinking about the exposure with, CACI and, you know, the use of those contracts structures when you think about your business?

John S. Mengucci: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Look. You just kinda know what you are getting into when you are getting into them. And this really ties back to our invest ahead of customer need thesis that we have been on for just short of a decade.

The reason why our OTAs and our CSOs are successful is because it starts months and years ahead of when that OTA is actually signed. it is really about understanding the areas that we as a company believe we have unique skill sets in that we have proven we have the unique skill sets in and the fact that our 1.4 thousand people who were colocated in commands tell us that those are dire technology needs that our customer requires. So we are not putting hundreds of millions of dollars down.

We are actually putting hundreds of person years of knowledge into an OTA where we are working with folks on the bleeding edge of the mission on the customer side And places where the customers have nothing today a 50% or 60% solution looks awesome. So we are also not making the mistake of trying to develop the 100% pure solution under an OTA. Because that means that there is far more risk on us than the risk equation between us and customer gets on. Unbalanced.

So what makes ours successful far more times than not is a willing customer, a common understanding of what the mission needs, software based tech, so that we can make really quick changes during that OTA cycle, And our window between the design development, which is the phase 1 of the OTA and production is most likely industry leading. that is what drove our TLS Manpack that is what is driven a lot of the other $500 million of different OTAs that we are involved in today.

So understanding the threat, understanding what the investment needs to be, get involved in low risk areas, And then when we get to the production side, building these centers of excellence, so we do not let that customer down even though we may be building a 60% solution. And then also being able to modify that solution because it is software based. Got it.

Peter Arment: Appreciate the color.

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: You could add the commercial tools that we, that we apply to those problems as well. So the mission familiarity is important our partnership with GitLab, and some other commercial entities lets us react in a way you know, that is that is a discriminator. Got it. I appreciate that color.

Peter Arment: And just a quick follow-up on ARCA. The Space Force budget is the majority of it is in the base budget. it is only $12 billion tied up in the original $350 billion reconciliation bill. So is that giving you the confidence around that the majority of the Space Force budget is in base and that the booking visibility for ARCA continues to be robust. Just some additional color just given all the budget dynamics.

John S. Mengucci: Yeah, Peter, you are absolutely right. And I would also tell you that ARCA also brings about $2 billion worth of work that is over the next 3 to 5 years. Whose future is in space based payloads that are in the base budget. But they have not been put into our backlog yet, as Jeffrey explained. So, yeah, it is it is it is comforting that it is there. It is comforting that we did the acquisition when we did. It was very intentional and to make certain we could get our hands on things that are in the base budget.

I would also say in the reconciliation side, you look at Golden Dome, what Arca delivers is extremely crucial to that mission, and we all know that the reconciliation funding is not just single year funding. Some areas, it is 4 to 5 years of the of the year. In other areas, you know, 2 to 3 years. All of that helps support the ARCA business case.

Peter Arment: Appreciate it. Thank you.

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: Add In terms of timing, I think we were also pretty opportunistic in terms of time that we were able to enter the debt market. You know, times have looked pretty good a year later. Yeah. Yeah.

Peter Arment: Thanks again, guys. Appreciate the color. Yep. Thanks, Peter.

Operator: Your next question comes from Tobey Sommer with Truist. Your line is open.

John S. Mengucci: Tobey, you there?

Tobey Sommer: Yes. I am. I wanted to ask you a medium- to long-term project question about your product portfolio. You know, in 3 or 5 years, of what you have currently, what is do you think is gonna be generating the most revenue and profit for the firm?

John S. Mengucci: Yeah. If I had opened my crystal ball up on an open investor line, I would probably say it is a good mix between what we do in the EW area and then supported by what we are doing in space. You know, we are we are just so early. We are in the infancy stage of both of these markets. You know, if you think about EW, we have got things that across the entire spectrum that will help the customer drive their mission forward.

The fact that they are all software based means that we can continually make changes So if you look at the potential margins going out, not as a future guide, but the fact that things are software-based, we are going to the production bench much less times than others are because we are able to provide additional features like the phone you all carry in your jackets. So it has the right mix of commerciality to it. Both the solutions and how we drive investments. And, frankly, that is what is gonna continue to drive, larger and larger free cash flow as we go forward. Appreciate that, John.

Tobey Sommer: Thank you.

John S. Mengucci: Yeah. Thanks, Tobey.

Operator: Your next question comes from Colin Canfield with Cantor. Your line is open.

Colin Canfield: Hey, thanks for the question. If we could talk about cash flow progression If you could talk about how you think about essentially the combined base based capability portfolio-- so ARKA, OCT, and then space-based EW. How do you think about the investment requirements relative to the scale of opportunities? And then maybe if you could parse that out on how you kind of view the fastest growing swim lanes between commercial EO providers and what you have won with the Vantor base situational awareness constellations like what we are seeing with True Anomaly, And then participation in SpaceX's Star Shield program. So those 3 particular programs.

And if there is a fourth lane of, you know, really fast growing prime classified work as well. Just how you think about kind of the investment requirement versus those program growth? Or that program growth?

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: Yes. So John will probably want to add to this, and he will have some insight on some of the specific programs and places that you mentioned. But, basically, Colin, I mean, the cash. I am gonna come back to cash flow. I mean, we apply the same tools in the context of your question that we do others. If we see an opportunity to invest in a way that grows free cash flow dollars, that is the decision that we make.

I would also point out because we have had a little bit of noise in our free cash flow forecast over the last couple of years, I would also call attention to a slide that we provide from time to time that sort of lays out some of the unusual items that are in free cash flow so that you can sort of do your analysis and kinda tease out what is sort of recurring free cash flow, I will call it, versus what are some unusual cash items. And that chart is in the appendix here.

But you will see you will see in there a nice progression in free cash flow as we as we make those investment decisions and trade offs that you that you asked about.

John S. Mengucci: Yeah. Colin, and I was writing as frantically as I could, but on some of the different programs that you mentioned. You know, I will start by answering all of the above is what is going to continue to drive for free cash flow. But look, let's let's talk about, you know, Vantor and what ARKA has done in that area. Look, they have found a way to put exquisite results into a smaller payload And, you know, Why did we enter ventures like this, frankly, I mean, without bragging, we were the best solution. I went to a competitive evaluation. We had high TRL.

We took the family of systems of approach, a really strong design and history of supporting you know, cutting edge capabilities in space. So for them, that was a value added proposition as well as it is for us. So there is a case where we balance investment and a lot of that investment happened before we took over ownership. Because we have got a group of folks in Danbury, Connecticut who have been doing this for you know, almost 7 decades, they understand the investments they need to make. And they are all very much free cash flow and cost conscious. If you look at OCTs, that is gonna be another area that is going to continue to grow.

We put the right, investment dollars into tranche 1, We openly shared that we were going to struggle through the produceability side of that. You know, enter ARCA. That understands how to build in that environment really well. So you know, from the current CACI work into the new ARCA work, They brought some great helping hands to make sure we could get through tranche 1, and then we have got EST terminals everything else later.

So, you know, in both of those examples, the ones that I can talk about on this line, If we look at space based EO/IR as well as OCTs, both of those are really good strong business cases, and, as Jeffrey mentioned, as we go forward, gonna have other areas, both in space and in EW. As well as in our digital network tech area. We will have to look at the level of investments we are looking to make but all with an absolute first eye on generating more free cash flow. Got it.

Colin Canfield: And as you think about M and A strategy, maybe if you could talk about kind of the balance of cash flow growth versus price that you are seeing out of the PE-backed assets versus sponsor-backed assets? And maybe just talk about kind of which buckets of assets are you seeing as more attractive at the moment?

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: Yes. Colin, it is hard to make a general comment about that. You will not be surprised to learn that every 1 of those sort of has its own story: the length of the hold, the prospects, the market position, You know, we continue to curate our pipeline pretty carefully. You know that we focus on gaps. We are not buying volume or, bulk. We continue to look You know, there is some price valuation I will call it correction or adjustment, kind of in the air. We are mindful of that and watching it Personally, I do not think it is done.

But that is certainly part of how we think about and evaluate opportunities And again, it is very hard to generalize every story, every opportunity sort of has its own set of facts and circumstances. Fair enough.

Colin Canfield: Thank you.

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: Yeah.

John S. Mengucci: Thanks, Colin.

Operator: Your next question comes from Gautam Khanna with TD Cowen. Your line is open.

Gautam Khanna: Yes, thanks. Good morning, guys. Good morning. Was wondering if you could maybe just calibrate us on recompetes this year. You know, have any been extended? So if you could just talk about the exposure there. And then also, given the outstanding bids and the submissions to come, if you could characterize what you expect in terms of bookings in the December quarter, which normally is soft, but it seems like you might be able to do better than what is typical seasonality. If you could just talk about cadence of bookings through the fiscal year as well.

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: Yes. John will certainly want to add to this, but we have had a number of sole source extensions, which you know, sort of short circuit or delay. I will say they do not they do not do away with it. But delay recompete processes. We have seen that on Beagle in a number of classified areas. We have seen areas where you know, we have got year or 2 kind of extensions. Which is also. Although you did not ask it, is also part of the award duration statistic that you saw because, obviously, you put those in at 1 or 2 years, it lowers the average. But it is also a significant risk mitigator beyond the statistic.

So those are areas where, obviously, we have satisfied customers that are in a position that they can justify an extension, we are obviously always happy for that to happen. So the recompetes, you saw a step down in this quarter Beagle was a big part of that and a couple of other classified things, as I said. And there are not any single large meaningful re-competes-- significant re-competes. There are a handful of smaller things for the balance of the year, but that 3% of remaining re-compete content is probably 6 or 8 smaller programs.

John S. Mengucci: Yeah. And I think the other half of your question, yeah, on the. You know, let's see. Jeffrey talked about the duration of contracts put into our backlog this quarter. Hey. Look. I am always happy to take the millions of dollars I have to spend today on our recompete. And add all those millions up and go after there and start bidding even more new work. So it is a real positive measure for us. On the booking side, I think in my prepared remarks, I talked about you know, we are, we are very, very pleased, and we start to see some positive signs of the award announcement rate picked up. But it is also still sluggish.

So what I-- what I-- what Jeff with the rest of the company focuses on is that is why you focus on your backlog and your funded backlog and why program performance is so important. Because when the customers have a discretionary dollar at the end of a fiscal year, and as they have done 7 of our last 8 quarters, they put the additional funding to be really certain that the contracts that we are delivering are funded. So will it still be sluggish? Yes. I think it is gonna still be sluggish over the next couple of quarters.

But, you know, we are not we are not winning work in the first quarter to support our financials of the second quarter. We actually win work in the first quarter to, you know, continue to grow this business over the next 7 to 8 to 9 quarters. So at the end of the day, we are winning the business at the right rate to continue to grow this business. And we have also proven the last couple of years with sluggish rewards. That we continually come back to you all and our shareholders and talk about, you know, another full year of fantastic growth and great free cash flow. Thanks, Gautam.

Gautam Khanna: Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from Seth Seifman with JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Rocco J Barbero: Hi, good morning. This is Rocco on for Seth. I am looking at the contract mix type. Fixed price work has increased to the low to mid thirties as a percentage of revenue over the last few quarters. How much of that was driven by ARCA versus the overall government push towards fixed-price work? And where should we think about that percentage going in the future?

John S. Mengucci: Yeah. Look, it is it is, it is far beyond Arca. I do not remember what the actual metric was between first or second quarter. I am sure Jeffrey's gonna add to this. But I am just sort of focused on, you know, fixed price and look, we are very comfortable with it. They are improving margins where a technical risk is understood. I think I might have shared the last couple of quarters that we have had some good deep discussions inside this company. Around if we are gonna be asked to bend the laws of physics, we probably will not take that fixed price.

But if it is software based, we understand what it is we are out there delivering. there is no reason why we should not. We got a great track record of strong performance over time. And you know, we are. Our customers are increasingly asking us different task orders under different fixed price arrangements. You know? Whatever money we are saving them, they come back to us with additional work. So we are very disciplined in the kind of fixed price work that we take. And it absolutely has contributed to margins far beyond the, book of business that ARKA brings.

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: Yeah. And maybe a little more specifically, if you look at that increase from 27% to 33% about half of those. Of that 6 points is attributable to the inclusion of ARCA. So the other half of it, you ought to think about in the latter category John where we just have sort of native organic increased fixed price activity.

Rocco J Barbero: Alright. That makes sense. And then last quarter, Kathy announced the hiring of several different tech hardware executives. How have they kind of integrated into the firm as a whole, and how should we think about these individuals kind of helping to drive growth in technology?

John S. Mengucci: Yeah. So, David, Chris, and, Tom, I will start with Tom. Tom's a prior CACI alumni. he is running our electronic warfare business, doing an outstanding job. Bringing a lot of great new creative ideas to us and things that are gonna continually grow that business area. David has come in as our COO. Done a fantastic job. You know, really, really focused on cross company initiatives, everything from being able to drive better more predictable produceability between engineering design and production. As well as, you know, David has a lot of experience in the space realm. And he is and he is been running different-sized businesses. Latest business, about $77 billion.

Which is, you know, only a few-- 3 or 4 billion dollars short of our company. So I like what he is been able to bring. And then Chris clearly, you know, Chris has all of the. All of our focus as well as all of our support to really building out these centers of excellence. You know? And this is another example of investing ahead of need. Okay? We know what our next few years will look like. We talked about giving you a new 3-year guide. I do not think that is gonna disappoint anybody out there.

But for us to be able to achieve that continued growth, we need to make certain that we put a longer term look at how we are doing the production items within this company. So Chris is gonna bring a lot of expertise there. Fact that we are a growing company and we are a different kind of company and 1 that is very well respected in a very different part of the market. That makes it easier and easier for us to find world class talent that is more than happy to come here to continue what it is we built and to push us even further. So I appreciate the question. Great.

Rocco J Barbero: Thank you.

John S. Mengucci: Yep.

Operator: Our last question comes from David Strauss with Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Joshua Korn: Hi, good morning. This is Joshua Korn on for David. Good morning. Hi. Just wanted to follow-up on the organic growth outlook. You had a strong bookings quarter, almost $5 billion in awards. I guess, how should we think about the way those bookings in the quarter convert to revenue this year and beyond? And then if there is specific programs you would want to highlight driving growth. Now in the next couple of quarters?

Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan: it is really, Joshua, pretty broad-based across the portfolio. I would not call out any 1 specific program. A couple of the bigger awards that we talked about you will notice our 5 year programs. And we will, you know, we will we will see those ramp up in sort of the normal way and there will be a little bit of contribution this year. But it. it is really pretty broad based. Really, there is no part of the portfolio where, happily, we are seeing any kind of contraction. I mean, the business is hitting on all cylinders.

John S. Mengucci: Yeah. Joshua, I would also add a little bit about the Apollo win. Because it really is a unique-- it is the latest example of using technology first solutions for us to win more and more work And as Jeffrey mentioned, that is going to drive a lot of top line growth over the next couple of years before that levels off. it is a 5-year program. We are really using bleeding edge AI to, analyze and create inputs in the area of information warfare, something we cannot dig into on this kind of a call, but just recognize usually important and really, really hard. We sort of have a habit of doing hard.

But it is expected to be in its higher ramp in Q3. So back to the very first questions, it is 1 of those drivers for us to go drive growth. And then we have got things like JTMS and other programs out there that are going to, continue to make sure we are set up for another really successful year.

Joshua Korn: Okay. Thanks. I will stick to 1. Thank you.

John S. Mengucci: Thanks.

Operator: That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to John S. Mengucci for any closing remarks.

John S. Mengucci: Well, thanks, Morgan, and thank you for your help on today's call. We would like to thank everyone who dialed in or listened to the webcast for their participation. We know that many of you will have follow-up questions, and Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan, George Price, Lisa Parkinson are available after today's call. Please stay healthy. All my best to you and your families. This concludes our call. Thank you, and have a great day.

Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect, and have a wonderful rest of your day.