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MasTec (MTZ) Q2 Revenue Jumps 20%

MasTec (MTZ) Q2 Revenue Jumps 20%

Globe and Mail4 days ago
Key Points
Revenue (GAAP) and non-GAAP earnings per share both beat analyst estimates, with revenue up 19.7% and adjusted diluted EPS up 49.0% year-over-year.
Record 18-month backlog grew 23.3% as of Q2 2025, driven by increases across all four segments, with the Pipeline Infrastructure segment showing the most notable growth.
Operating cash flow (GAAP) declined to $6 million from $264 million in Q2 2024, despite strong operational performance.
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MasTec (NYSE:MTZ), a major engineering and infrastructure construction company serving the energy, utility, and communications sectors, reported results for Q2 2025 on July 31, 2025. The standout headline: Revenue (GAAP) and non-GAAP earnings per share both beat analyst forecasts. Revenue (GAAP) reached $3.54 billion, handily exceeding the analyst revenue estimate of $3.40 billion (GAAP), while non-GAAP EPS came in at $1.49, ahead of the $1.40 non-GAAP forecast. These results were driven by broad-based growth in key segments, with a record 18-month backlog of $16.5 billion, signaling continued strong demand. However, despite the top-line success, the company reported a sharp contraction in operating cash flow and only slight growth in adjusted EBITDA, leading to a nuanced overall quarter that mixed operational wins with cash management concerns.
Metric Q2 2025 Q2 2025 Estimate Q2 2024 Y/Y Change
EPS (Non-GAAP) $1.49 $1.40 $1.00 49.0 %
Revenue (GAAP) $3.54 billion $3.40 billion $2.96 billion 19.7 %
Adjusted EBITDA $274.8 million $271.4 million 1.3 %
Cash Provided by Operating Activities $6 million $264 million (97.7 %)
18-month Backlog $16.5 billion $13.3 billion 24.1 %
Source: Analyst estimates provided by FactSet. Management expectations based on management's guidance, as provided in Q1 2025 earnings report.
MasTec's Business Model and Focus Areas
MasTec operates as a diversified infrastructure construction company. It delivers engineering, installation, maintenance, and upgrade services for utility, communications, and energy networks in North America. Its core business segments include Communications, Clean Energy and Infrastructure, Power Delivery, and Pipeline Infrastructure.
Currently, MasTec's focus aligns closely with industry trends such as 5G telecommunications expansion, renewable energy project construction, grid modernization, and energy pipeline upgrades. Success depends not only on winning large, multi-year contracts but also on executing projects efficiently and managing working capital as backlogs surge. The company's strategic positioning in both traditional and growing end-markets, along with a disciplined approach to customer relationships, are major factors behind its competitive edge.
Quarter in Review: Segment Growth, Bookings, and Financial Trends
MasTec delivered strong top-line growth, with GAAP revenue rising 19.7% versus the same period last year. This growth was broad-based, but the Communications segment stood out with revenue up 41.6%. The main driver was increased project activity across both wireless and wireline networks, as the company continued to benefit from ongoing investment in 5G rollout and stronger demand for broadband and data center fiber.
Clean Energy and Infrastructure revenue increased 20.1% year-over-year. This segment, which covers projects like wind and solar energy plants as well as civil engineering projects, saw a major boost in profitability, reflecting productivity gains and progress on successful project close-outs, providing visibility into future work and helping manage risk from market or policy changes.
Power Delivery, which includes work on electrical transmission and distribution systems, also posted a 20.4% jump in revenue. While EBITDA in this segment rose, the margin slipped to 8.7%. The company cited reduced efficiencies at certain project sites, with weather and some short-term productivity impacts keeping margins slightly below last year's level. Still, double-digit Power Delivery backlog growth in Q1 2025 reflects ongoing demand for US grid modernization, especially from transmission projects like the Greenlink effort, which is expected to contribute significantly to 2025 revenue.
The Pipeline Infrastructure segment, which builds and maintains natural gas and emerging carbon/hydrogen pipeline assets, suffered a revenue decline of 5.7%. This was expected, as last year's Q2 benefited from the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a single large project. Pipeline Infrastructure EBITDA fell 54% year-over-year and margin dropped from 23.6% to 11.5%. Management, however, points to an increase of approximately 109% in pipeline backlog for Q1 2025 (based on 18-month estimated backlog for the Pipeline Infrastructure segment, which rose from $735 million as of December 31, 2024 to $1,534 million as of March 31, 2025; backlog is a non-GAAP industry metric), suggesting a recovery and expansion from late 2025 into 2026 as new awards ramp up.
Supporting Data: Backlog, Cash Flow, and Operational Challenges
One of the most notable achievements was the record 18-month backlog of $16.5 billion, up 23.3% compared to the prior year period, and gives the company strong visibility into future revenue, with customer demand supported by factors ranging from AI-driven data center construction to increasing renewable energy investments.
At the consolidated level, adjusted EBITDA rose just 1.3%, as margin pressures in the pipeline segment offset profit gains elsewhere. Management highlighted the need for continuous improvement in operational efficiency, especially as the business scales up. The greatest challenge was cash flow: despite record revenue and bookings, cash provided by operating activities (GAAP) plummeted from $264 million in Q2 2024 to $6 million.
The balance sheet remained within the company's target leverage range, with net debt of $2.07 billion. MasTec expanded its share buyback authorization by $250 million in Q1 2025 and emphasized a disciplined, opportunistic approach to deploying capital for both acquisitions and repurchases, focusing on supporting organic growth and strategic market positioning rather than routine buybacks.
Other notable developments included a decline in overall headcount, primarily due to reduced pipeline activity, with MasTec reporting an average of approximately 33,000 employees for the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, and approximately 32,000 employees as of December 31, 2024, while non-pipeline staffing increased to support growth in high-demand segments. Depreciation expense also declined.
Forward Outlook and What to Watch
Management raised its full-year FY2025 revenue outlook to a range of $13.9 to $14.0 billion, up from $13.65 billion previously, reflecting confidence in current booking trends and end-market demand. Adjusted diluted earnings per share (non-GAAP) are now forecast at a midpoint of $6.33 for FY2025 The adjusted EBITDA target has also been increased to $1.13–1.16 billion for FY2025, with an adjusted EBITDA margin between 8.1% and 8.3% for FY2025.
For Q3 FY2025, management anticipates revenue of $3.9 billion, adjusted diluted EPS of $2.28, and adjusted EBITDA of $370 million. External factors such as tariffs and regulatory changes could introduce fluctuations in certain end-markets, but with a record 18-month backlog of $16.5 billion and strong customer relationships, management remains confident in high revenue visibility for the core segments.
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 recommends MasTec. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Total new wins value reached $3.2 billion over the last twelve months, including $2.2 billion from SME customers. And importantly, we continue to have a high customer retention rate of 95% over the last twelve months. Our commercial success, margin expansion, and improved demand environment give us confidence to raise and narrow our full-year 2025 guidance. I'm also very pleased to share an important update on our pending CWT acquisition. We reached a key milestone last week with the US Department of Justice's dismissal of its challenge to the acquisition and are now positioned to complete the transaction in the third quarter. We look forward to creating even more value for customers, suppliers, and shareholders. Finally, we have a strong balance sheet with reductions in net debt and leverage. We have nearly $1 billion in available liquidity and, importantly, maintain the flexibility to pursue our capital allocation priorities after funding the CWT close, including share repurchases. Given the recent clarity on CWT, we will put a 10b5-1 stock repurchase plan in place under our previously announced $300 million stock repurchase program upon the opening of our trading window tomorrow. This will facilitate additional share repurchases over the next few months, signaling management confidence and driving shareholder value with a strong expected return on invested capital given the current share price. So before we get into the quarterly details, I want to reiterate how excited we are to welcome CWT customers and employees to Amex GBT. We now expect to close this transaction in the third quarter. Our experienced team is ready for the integration, and we are confident in the growth opportunity of the combined company. In addition to benefiting customers, suppliers, and colleagues, it's a compelling financial transaction with a highly attractive post-synergy multiple. We expect to deliver approximately $155 million in identified net synergies and have a proven track record of integrating large acquisitions and achieving our synergy targets. This is a stock and cash transaction, so it will help our shareholder base. CWT shareholders, who are primarily investment funds, will own approximately 10% of the combined company upon closing. The transaction is valued at $540 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis. Upon closing, approximately 50 million shares will be issued to the CWT shareholders at a fixed price of $7.50 per share, and the remaining consideration will be funded with cash on hand. Turning back to the quarter and the financial highlights, total transaction volume was up 1% on a workday-adjusted basis. Heightened macro uncertainty impacted April, but I am pleased to say that demand improved in May and June. The quarter results overall were slightly above our expectations. TTV, or total transaction value, reflects both volume and price, grew 3% on a workday basis to reach $7.9 billion, driven by transaction growth, modestly higher average ticket prices, hotel room rates, and a favorable FX impact. Revenue was up 1% to reach $631 million for the quarter, which was above our guidance midpoint. Our focus on margin expansion and operating leverage resulted in adjusted EBITDA growth of 4% to $133 million, with strong margin expansion of 70 basis points year over year to reach 21%. Turning to the transaction growth in more detail, macroeconomic uncertainty resulted in a modest year-over-year decline in corporate travel demand in April. This impact was temporary, and our transaction growth inflected back to positive territory, up 2% in May and June combined. We continue to see green shoots into July that give us confidence that the demand environment has improved. And as a reminder, these growth rates are all workday adjusted, which helps neutralize the year-over-year timing impact of Easter. Transaction growth remained stronger with global multinational customers and was up 3% in May and June. SME customers reached 2% growth, a significant improvement versus April. Air transactions stabilized in May and June after declining modestly in April. This trend was most pronounced in regional and international air routes, while domestic air routes were more stable during the period. Hotel transactions also saw an encouraging acceleration to reach 4% growth in May and June. So once again, hotel transactions outpaced air. Our strategy to increase our hotel revenues is working well. Finally, on a regional basis, transaction growth in The Americas reached 2% in May and June, and EMEA transactions improved dramatically from April to reach 3% in May and June. Importantly, our growth continued to outpace the industry. 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In our most recent top 100 customer survey, macro uncertainty seems to be moderating, with customers seemingly less concerned or increasingly neutral on the impact of tariffs. We have seen little by way of tangible customer actions taken in terms of travel policy restrictions. Spend outlooks across industry verticals remain mixed. Technology and financial services look strong. Conversely, consumer, manufacturing, energy, and mining look softer. Finally, our meetings and events business is performing well, and this is important because it tends to be a forward-looking indicator. We currently anticipate a 5% year-over-year increase in the number of meetings in the second half of this year. So let me close by summarizing the key highlights of the quarter. We again delivered on our commitments with Q2 results ahead of expectations. We raised our full-year guidance. We are excited to close the CWT acquisition in Q3. And we can now accelerate share repurchases to demonstrate our confidence in the business. And now I'd like to hand it over to Karen to discuss the financial results and the updated 2025 outlook in more detail. Karen Williams: Thank you, Paul, and hello, everyone. Before we get into the specifics for the quarter, I'm incredibly pleased with our momentum in driving the business forward. We delivered financial results ahead of expectations, exceeding the guidance midpoints we previously communicated. Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded. We continue to invest, and importantly, we have reached a pivotal inflection point in our financial strategy. The announcement of CWT last week will accelerate our strategic ambition and enable us to execute on our share repurchases, deploying capital in a disciplined, value-accretive manner. So let's turn to our financial performance in more detail. Revenue reached $631 million, up 1% year over year. The increase in total revenue was driven by modest growth in TTV, increased product and professional services revenue, and favorable foreign currency impact. On a constant currency basis, revenue was largely flat year over year. Revenue yield, which we define as revenue divided by TTV, was 8%. This was down 10 basis points year over year but in line with expectations, reflecting the non-TTV driven components of the revenue base and a continued strategic shift to more digital transactions, which has a downward impact on yield but a positive impact on our adjusted EBITDA margin. I am incredibly pleased with the momentum we continue to see across the enterprise when it comes to our focus on driving efficiency and increasing productivity. Our traveler care cost per transaction, our productivity metric, improved by 5% year over year in the quarter. Adjusted operating expenses were flat year over year and actually 2% down on a constant currency basis. And so putting these together, adjusted EBITDA grew 4% to $133 million, and our adjusted EBITDA margin grew 70 basis points year over year to reach 21%. We continue to see momentum when it comes to cash, generating $27 million of free cash flow in the quarter. Free cash flow declined year over year due to one-time elements of the Agensia working capital benefits in the prior year, as well as increased investments. Finally, moving to the balance sheet, I'm incredibly proud of the strength of our balance sheet. Our net debt declined $70 million year over year, and our leverage ratio of net debt divided by last twelve months adjusted EBITDA continued to decline to 1.6 times as of 06/30/2025, down from two times one year ago and 3.5 times two years ago. And so with our balance sheet in a strong position, we are confident to execute on our M&A agenda while also initiating our share repurchase program. This dual-track approach reflects our confidence in the underlying strength of the business and our commitment to driving long-term shareholder value. So taking a closer look at our expense line items, we can clearly see how we are hitting the mark on the factors in our control. Cost of revenue went down 2% in the quarter, and general and administrative costs went down 14%. This enabled us to grow our sales and marketing costs by 13% and technology and content by 8%, while keeping costs strongly in control. So our efficiency gains are enabling us to make continued investments for driving future growth and productivity. Now moving to guidance. The improved demand environment, our Q2 performance, share gains, and strong margin expansion give us confidence to raise and narrow our full-year 2025 guidance. As a reminder, our updated guidance does not include the impact of the CWT acquisition, which we now expect to close in Q3. We will provide updated guidance, including the impact of CWT, on our next earnings call in November. We are now guiding to full-year revenue growth of 2% to 4% year over year, with the midpoint up three percentage points to $2.488 billion. This is a significant improvement versus our previous revenue guidance, which had a wider range of minus 2% to up 2% and reflects our confidence. Now it's important to note our updated guidance midpoint incorporates expectations for 4% revenue growth in H2, which is four percentage points higher than our previous expectation. Approximately half of this increase is driven by improvements in recent trends, and our performance, and half is driven by FX, which, as a reminder, does not fall through to adjusted EBITDA due to our natural hedge. We continue to expect a modest decline in revenue yield as we intentionally increase our mix of higher-margin digital transactions. We are now guiding to full-year adjusted EBITDA growth of 6% to 13% or $505 million to $540 million, with a full-year midpoint of $523 million. We now expect strong adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of 80 to 180 basis points year over year, or 130 basis points at the midpoint to 21%. This reflects our strong efficiency gains. We're continuing to execute on our $110 million cost savings program while making incremental investments. We expect to see higher volumes on an absolute basis in the third quarter versus the fourth quarter given our seasonality, with September being a strong month for business travel. However, we expect revenue and adjusted EBITDA to be equally split across the third and fourth quarters, given that Q4 is seasonally our highest revenue yield quarter. And so finally, back to full year, we expect to generate a strong level of free cash flow. We are now guiding to a range of $140 million to $160 million, or $150 million at the midpoint. Our capital allocation strategy remains the same. But as I said earlier, we have reached a pivotal inflection point in our financial strategy with CWT. As a reminder, the acquisition will be funded with stock and cash on hand. We are ready to integrate CWT while maintaining a strong and flexible balance sheet and remain within our target leverage range. We are also now able to execute against our $300 million share repurchase authorization. In summary, we delivered Q2 results ahead of expectations. We raised and narrowed our full-year guidance. It's a critical moment to accelerate our strategic ambitions and deploy capital in a disciplined manner with the CWT acquisition and accelerate share repurchases. We remain focused on what we can control and driving shareholder value. So we can move into Q&A. Paul and I are joined by Eric Bock, our Chief Legal Officer and Global Head of M&A. Operator, please go ahead and open the line. Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. When preparing to ask your question, please ensure your device is unmuted locally. We will make a quick pause here for the questions to be registered. Our first question comes from Lee Horowitz with Deutsche Bank. Great. Thanks for taking the question. Two, if I could. Lee Horowitz: So nice improvement at the back half of the year. You guys are now pacing at low single-digit FX neutral revenue growth. Guess, does that still underwrite ongoing share gains at the back half of the year? And, you know, with that sort of growth still below your long-term growth algorithm, are we simply waiting for some of these more depressed customer segments to see a better macro environment before you guys return to that longer-term growth algorithm? Then one on sales and marketing. I guess, you know, sales and marketing expense, up decently as a percentage of revenue and volume in the front half of the year. You guys are investing against growth plans. Just any more clarity on the types of investments that are being made within that line? The payback periods you expect on that. And if anything is perhaps structurally changing within your business that is perhaps necessitating a more intense sort of sales and marketing investment plan? Thanks so much. Paul Abbott: Yeah. Well, look. Thanks, Lee. In terms of the share gains, yes, you should definitely expect to see continued share gains in the second half of the year. In fact, the second part of your question links to the first part. You know, we are increasing our sales and marketing investments as you've seen, as Karen covered in the presentation. And partly, that's because of the significant opportunity that we see but also partly because we are operating in a lower growth environment. You know, we need to accelerate the impact of net new wins and share gains. And so we are hoping to see an acceleration as we get into the second half of the year. And also, in particular, see a larger impact of net new wins on the growth rate in SME in particular. So that's why you are seeing that increase in the sales and marketing investments so that we can increase the contribution from net new wins in what is, you know, a lower growth environment. So hopefully, that answers both parts of the questions. Very clear. Helpful. Thank you. Operator: Thank you. So just as a reminder, it's star one on your telephone keypad to ask a question. The next question comes from Duane Pfennigwerth with Evercore ISI. Jake Cunningham: Hey. Good morning. This is Jake Cunningham in on for Duane. I understand it's still preliminary, but do you have any visibility into CWT's 2025 performance? And then are there any updated views on the timing of synergy capture you could provide? Paul Abbott: Jake, on the first question, we're not able to provide detailed information about CWT's financial performance until post-close. So we will be able to give you an update on that, you know, post-close when we announce Q3 results in November. So, just need to be a little bit patient on that one. Jake Cunningham: Okay. And on the timing? Paul Abbott: Oh, sorry. The timing of the synergies. Apologies, Jake. No worries. We have, obviously, a little more time to pressure test the synergies. We're still very confident, you know, in the previous data that we shared. So, $155 million of net synergies. So that's bottom-line impact from the transaction. You know, we expect to deliver those over a three-year period. And we expect to see I think it's approximately 30% of those synergies in the first twelve months. Jake Cunningham: Okay. Thank you. And then really interesting acceleration for May and June versus April. So thanks for breaking that out. How much of April do you think was weighed down by the Easter shift? And then how much of that acceleration was driven by US travel versus other geographies? And then just one more point. The deceleration in APAC, what drove that? Paul Abbott: Yeah. Maybe just the first part. The numbers we're sharing are workday adjusted. So we try to neutralize for the timing of Easter. Now that's not necessarily a 100% precise science. But we are adjusting for the workday difference created by Easter year over year. So you should sort of see the majority of the acceleration, you know, as being, I think, a sequential improvement in May and June versus April. And then maybe pass to Karen for the second part of the question there. Karen Williams: So, Jake, in terms of the question, was it about the US? Jake Cunningham: Do you mean US performance and also APAC? Karen Williams: Yes. Yeah. The chart breaks out US by region of sale, but just asking for US travel. And then the deceleration in APAC from up six to up one. Karen Williams: Yeah. So from a US perspective, we, you know, as the chart shows, we saw a strengthening as we saw across the board. I think, yeah, APAC, that deceleration is primarily driven by Australia. And really what we're seeing there is it really is about the timing of tariffs in that region. And also, particularly around kind of the mining vertical. Jake Cunningham: Okay. Thank you. Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Toni Kaplan with Morgan Stanley. Yehuda Silverman: Hi. This is Yehuda Silverman on for Toni Kaplan. Just curious about the declines in April again. Are those bookings that are being pushed out? Are they able to or expected to be recoverable now that there's a little bit more clarity on restrictions and other decisions, or is it more cancellations? Paul Abbott: Well, what you see there are transaction volumes in the month. And, you know, I think April was, you know, I would say, the height of some of the macro uncertainty in terms of both significant GDP revisions and the introduction of tariffs if you cast your mind back to April. So, you know, I think what happened is we saw, frankly, a stabilization in May and June in terms of the macro environment, and companies just getting more confident to plan. So I wouldn't necessarily think of those transactions being recoverable. I would just think about it as being, you know, a weaker month that was driven primarily by, you know, macroeconomic uncertainty. Yehuda Silverman: Great. Got it. And just a quick follow-up on the operating expenses. So G&A, noticeably lower and cost of revenue also a bit lower. Can you touch on the specific a bit more on some areas within those that you're able to lower during times that are a bit more challenging like you saw in April? Karen Williams: Sure. So, you know, we have talked about previously the focus in terms of productivity, efficiency, and the $110 million in terms of the cost base. And so, you know, particularly, we're very proud in terms of progress that we've made in that space in terms of cost of sales, and we've talked on the call in terms of the gains that we're seeing from a traveler care, our servicing side of things, the operations, continuing to focus in that area. But then also more broadly across the enterprise as we continue to focus in terms of delivering against that $110 million that we've previously spoken about. Great. Thanks. Operator: Thank you. So just as a reminder, star one on your telephone keypad to ask a question. James Goodall: Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess it's sort of following up from this in terms of the transaction chart that you gave. Obviously, in the back half of Q2. How are trends into July? You know, we had a number of US airlines talk about some very strong trends in corporate travel that they've seen in the first three weeks of July when they were reported. Is that something that you're seeing too? And then the second question is on what's implied in terms of the guide for transaction growth in H2. I think in the Q1, it was based on flat transaction growth for the rest of the year because that's what you were seeing. So what, I guess, is implied in H2? Paul Abbott: Yeah. Maybe I take the first part. On July trends, and Karen can chat about the numbers that were implied in the H2 guide. The short answer is yes. We've been pleased with the trends that we've seen in July. You know, and it's consistent with what obviously, we are guiding to the second half of the year. I do think though it's worth just as a reminder, you know, September is 40% of our Q3 volumes. So whilst it's encouraging to see, you know, stronger volumes in July, that sort of post-Labor Day demand in September really, you know, is a very important part of delivering the third quarter. So and we're, you know, we're just a little bit too early to call that right now. But, yes, we've certainly seen some improvement, and we're encouraged by that. And certainly, in terms of your question, around transaction and H2 assumptions, obviously, we talked on the call about revenue. But transaction, the midpoint is 2%, with a range of zero to 4%. James Goodall: Brilliant. Thanks so much. Operator: Thank you. So just as another reminder, if you would like to ask a question or any follow-up question, please. A final reminder, that is star one on your telephone keypad. And as we have no further questions in the queue, I will hand back over to you, Paul, for any final comments. Paul Abbott: Well, before closing, just a big thank you to everyone across AmexGBT for, you know, your dedication to our customers and delivering another strong quarter. We're very excited about the second half of the year and very much looking forward to welcoming the CWT colleagues and customers into Amex GBT. So thank you very much for joining us today and your continued interest in American Express Global Business Travel. Thank you, everyone. Operator: Thank you, everyone. This concludes today's call. You may now disconnect. Have a great rest of your day. Where to invest $1,000 right now When our analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,039%* — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 181% for the S&P 500. They just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025 This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. Parts of this article were created using Large Language Models (LLMs) based on The Motley Fool's insights and investing approach. 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