On a guardedly bullish Friday for the stock market, many titles closed the day in positive territory, but Matrix Service (MTRX -8.50%) wasn't one of them. On the back of a displeasing quarterly earnings release, investors sold out of the stock, and it ended the day down by almost 9%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.07%) closed relatively flat.

Revenue and bottom-line performance fell short

For its fiscal third quarter of 2025, Matrix managed to grow its revenue by 21% on a year-over-year basis to slightly more than $200 million. While doing so, it narrowed its non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) adjusted net loss substantially; this came in at $3.3 million, or $0.12 per share, versus a deficit of $14.6 million in last year's third quarter.

Matrix chalked up the notable revenue gain to strength in its storage and terminal solutions, and utility and power infrastructure segments -- these benefited from execution on large-scale projects.

Yet as a group, analysts tracking the stock were expecting a much higher level of improvement. Their consensus estimate for revenue was over $247 million, and that for net loss was $0.05.

During the quarter, Matrix said its project backlog grew nearly 8% year over year to $1.4 billion.

Revenue guidance lowered

Another negative in Matrix's earnings report was its lowering of revenue guidance for the entirety of fiscal 2025. The company is now modeling $770 million to $800 million for the year, quite some distance down from its previous range of $850 million to $900 million. While the new range would top fiscal 2024's $728 million, it's below the average analyst estimate of $854 million.

The company did not provide any forecasts for profitability.

The disparity between the expectations of Matrix's performance and its actual results is troubling. I'd sit on the fence with this stock until the company shows signs of stronger improvement.