Fluor (FLR +0.89%), one of the world's largest engineering and construction firms, has been a reliable blue chip stock over the past five years. Its stock has risen more than 125%, compared to the S&P 500's near-80% gain, as it stabilized its sprawling business.
But could Fluor's stock go parabolic over the next decade and churn out some millionaire-making gains? Let's review its growth rates and valuations to get a clearer view.
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Why did Fluor need to stabilize its business?
Fluor manages large-scale projects across the energy, urban planning, and government sectors. Its scale and diversification make it seem like a stable long-term investment, but it isn't immune to economic downturns and other macro headwinds.
In 2020 and 2021, Fluor experienced a severe slowdown due to pandemic-driven delays, cost overruns, and execution issues. It racked up steep losses from its fixed-price megaprojects.
NYSE: FLR
Key Data Points
From 2021 to 2023, the company shifted from fixed-price megaprojects to reimbursable ones, in which its clients cover their own labor, material, and equipment costs plus an additional fee. It also phased out its riskier lump-sum projects, focused on gaining higher-quality energy, infrastructure, and government contracts, and streamlined its spending.
Those efforts stabilized its business, but Fluor faced fresh execution issues in 2024 and 2025 as its clients reined in spending amid unpredictable macro headwinds. A one-time settlement with Santos, an Australian oil and gas exploration and production company, as well as the gradual sales of its stake in NuScale (SMR +3.35%), a developer of small modular reactors (SMRs), further eroded its reported earnings (which turned negative in 2025).
However, analysts expect Fluor's EPS to turn positive again in 2026, then grow at 3% CAGR through 2028 as it continues to increase its mix of reimbursable projects relative to its fixed-price ones. More than 80% of its backlog, which reached $25.5 billion at the end of 2025, already consists of reimbursable contracts. The secular growth of the cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), industrial, and nuclear markets should generate additional tailwinds for its business.
Fluor also recently liquidated its remaining stake in NuScale, turning its initial $570 million investment in the SMR maker (before its public debut in 2022) into $2.43 billion. It will likely plow some of that cash into its buybacks to boost its EPS.
But is Fluor a millionaire-maker stock?
At $42, Fluor's stock looks cheap at 13 times forward earnings. But it's not the kind of stock that will go parabolic and generate millionaire-making gains over the next decade. It could certainly match or beat the S&P 500 if it sticks to its streamlining strategies and buys back more shares, but it will likely disappoint investors seeking multibagger gains.
