Is Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Quietly Winning the Coastal Spend Boom?

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation GLDD is gaining from the mid and long-term opportunities laid out because of the accelerated coastal and port infrastructure spending in the United States. As of Sept. 30, 2025, its total dredging backlog of $934.5 million consisted of about 84% of capital and coastal protection projects, substantiating the strengths for coastal projects in the market.As of the third quarter of 2025, GLDD highlighted a few noteworthy projects, including the Port Arthur LNG Phase 1 project, the Brownsville Ship Channel project, which is a part of the NextDecade Corp.'s Rio Grande LNG initiative, alongside Woodside Louisiana LNG, which is expected to commence dredging in early 2026. Although the market is navigating through challenges associated with the current government shutdown, the company’s operations remain unaffected, with the bidding and payments ongoing seamlessly.Besides the market trends, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock’s in-house efforts are boosting its prospects and revenue visibility. As a part of its multi-year fleet modernization strategy, in the third quarter of 2025, the company welcomed its sixth hopper dredge, Amelia Island. With this delivery, GLDD now operates one of the most technologically advanced hopper dredge fleet in the United States, optimized for shallow and narrow coastal environments where demand for beach nourishment and resilience projects continues to grow. In parallel, the upcoming delivery of the Acadia in early 2026 expands its addressable market into offshore energy and subsea infrastructure protection, adding another long-term growth lever.Notably, as coastal protection spending ramps and port deepening cycles re-emerge later this decade, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock appears well-positioned to keep winning quietly but consistently. GLDD’s effective approach across high fleet utilization, disciplined cost control and a favorable project mix is proving incremental for its margin growth.Great Lakes Dredge & Dock’s Competitive PositionGLDD faces substantial competition from other market players, including Orion Group Holdings, Inc. ORN and Limbach Holdings, Inc. LMB, despite holding a strong market presence across coastal resilience, port deepening, LNG-related dredging and growing offshore energy services.Orion Group is the most direct peer in marine and dredging work. Its long-tenured marine construction platform offers similar services, like channel maintenance, port expansion and environmental dredging. Orion Group’s diversified marine capabilities provide institutional scale and breadth across project types, but GLDD’s newer, purpose-built hopper fleet and targeted subsea capability give it an operational timing and execution advantage on certain shallow-water coastal restorations and specialized offshore rock-placement assignments.Conversely, Limbach Holdings’ mission-critical MEP focus serves different clients and contract cadences. Due to this market separation, direct competitive overlap with Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is limited and these firms are more complementary than head-to-head rivals in coastal dredging markets.GLDD Stock’s Price Performance & Valuation TrendShares of this dredging service provider have trended upward 13.5% in the past three months, outperforming the Zacks Building Products - Heavy Construction industry, the broader Zacks Construction sector and the S&P 500 index. The detailed price performance can be studied from the chart below.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchGLDD’s current valuation looks promising for investors. The stock is currently trading at a discount compared with the industry peers, with a forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 12.41.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchEarnings Estimate Revision of GLDDGLDD’s earnings estimates for 2025 have inched down in the past 30 days to $1.09, while the same for 2026 have moved up in the past 60 days.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchThe estimated figure for 2025 reflects 29.8% year-over-year growth, with the same for 2026 indicating a 0.2% inch down.Great Lakes Dredge & Dock stock currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Zacks Naming Top 10 Stocks for 2026Want to be tipped off early to our 10 top picks for the entirety of 2026? History suggests their performance could be sensational.From 2012 (when our Director of Research Sheraz Mian assumed responsibility for the portfolio) through November, 2025, the Zacks Top 10 Stocks gained +2,530.8%, more than QUADRUPLING the S&P 500’s +570.3%.Now Sheraz is combing through 4,400 companies to handpick the best 10 tickers to buy and hold in 2026. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these stocks when they’re released on January 5. Be First to New Top 10 Stocks >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Orion Group Holdings, Inc. (ORN): Free Stock Analysis Report Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (GLDD): Free Stock Analysis Report Limbach Holdings, Inc. (LMB): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks