Large Houston award to be final shortly. On Tuesday, the Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority held a special meeting and awarded the first dredging contract of up to $95.4 million for Project 11, a multi-billion dollar expansion and deepening of the Houston Ship Channel. The work involves dredging 11.5 miles of the 52-mile channel and widening a major portion of the Galveston Bay reach. The base award and value of the options were not disclosed and a press release will be out once the award is finalized. If not finalized by the quarterly call, the pending award will be added to the low bids pending award total.Another low bid was out last week. GLDD was low bidder at $29.4 million when bids on South Atlantic Regional Harbor Dredging (W912PM21B0008) were opened last week. As described in our last research report, the project, which includes work at five harbors along the east coast, is attractive since it fits environmental windows and hopper dredge availability.No change in dredging market outlook and 3Q2021 awards to date total $302.9 million. Including three recent awards of $65.9 million and previously announced 3Q2021 awards of $237 million, total 3Q2021 awards approximate $302.9 million. Please note the low bids discussed above have not been awarded yet. Bidding has been active, and bids on several other projects are slated for opening shortly.Investor feedback has been positive on smooth CFO transition. Based on our meeting last week with the new CFO Scott Kornblau, we believe that Scott is a great addition to the executive team and his experience at Diamond Offshore working with shipyards on major capital projects should be helpful as the hopper dredge and rock dumper barge new build projects move forward. Feedback from several investors has also been been positive.Maintain Outperform rating and price target of $17.05/share due to recent awards, the fleet renewal program and disciplined capital allocation. While the stock is up 9% this year, softer 2Q2021 results have dampened stock price performance over the past two months and the stock is off to a weak start to 4Q2021, down >4%. We think the 2Q2021 shortfall should be transitory, and the risk/reward profile remains favorable. Trading at an EV multiple of 8.2x 2021E EBITDA, the stock is attractive due to recent awards and a successful debt refinancing in 2Q2021. Read More >>