How Parsons' push for synergies also includes tech
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By
Ross Wilkers
Digital twins are a big portion of what Parsons leans on to find commonalities between its federal and infrastructure segments, as CEO Carey Smith put it for investors.
Acquisitions are not the only aspect of Parsons Corp.’s strategy that involves finding commonalities between the federal solutions and critical infrastructure sides of its house.
During Parsons’ third quarter earnings call with investors Wednesday, chief executive Carey Smith highlighted its digital twin offerings as having application to both of its business segments.
As Smith described to analysts, the Parsons Digital Engineering Framework is a foundation for how the company looks to achieve synergies in its technology approach.
Digital twins, or representations of the physical world, are one of several aspects that are a part of PDEF.
Parsons describes PDEF as an architecture-based off-the-shelf technology and open source tool that helps facilitate engineering and decision support functions in a variety of industries.
The idea behind PDEF is to help organizations walk through how they approach analyses, experiments, studies, experiments and other aspects of their operations.
Smith said the Missile Defense Agency is where the biggest application of PDEF is happening today.
Parsons also now has “digital twin capability on-orbit” thanks to its acquisition of BlackSignal Technologies in July, Smith said. That purchase also further built out Parsons’ portfolio of offerings in offensive cyber and electronic warfare.
For the infrastructure segment, Smith said Parsons has “been applying digital twins mostly to our airport projects.”
Digital twins of course are rooted in software, which Smith described as “our key differentiator” from the Parsons perspective.
“I think hardware is going to become more commoditized, and it's really in key areas like digital signal processing,” Smith said. “Software is going to be the nugget.”
Third quarter revenue of $1.8 billion was 28% higher than the prior year period with an organic growth rate of 26%, while profit of $167 million showed a 31% year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).
Parsons lifted its full-year sales outlook to between $6.6 billion and $6.8 billion, up from the prior range of $6.35 billion-to-$6.55 billion.
The company also nudged up its adjusted EBITDA guidance to between $590 million and $620 million, up from the prior range of $555 million-to-$595 million.