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Enterprise Q3 Earnings Lag Estimates, Revenues Increase Y/Y

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Enterprise Products Partners LP’s (EPD - Free Report) third-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings per limited partner unit of 65 cents missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. However, the bottom line increased from the year-ago level of 60 cents.

Total quarterly revenues of $13.8 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $13.7 billion. The top line improved from $12 billion reported in the prior-year quarter.

The weak quarterly earnings can be attributed to lower contributions from the Crude Oil Pipelines & Services and Petrochemical & Refined Products Services segments. The negatives were partially offset by higher natural gas processing volumes and increased transportation revenues from its Natural Gas Pipelines and Services segment.

Segmental Performance

Pipeline volumes in NGL, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals totaled 7.7 million barrels per day (bpd), higher than the year-ago quarter’s 7.4 million bpd. Natural gas pipeline volumes amounted to 19.1 trillion British thermal units per day (TBtus/d), higher than 18.4 TBtus/d recorded in the year-ago quarter. Also, NGL, crude oil, refined products and petrochemical marine terminal volumes came in at 2.1 million bpd, which remained flat year over year.

The gross operating margin at NGL Pipelines & Services increased from $1.2 billion in the year-ago quarter to $1.3 billion. This can be primarily attributed to higher inlet volumes at its natural gas processing plant and increased total fee-based natural gas processing volumes.

Natural Gas Pipelines and Services’ gross operating margin increased to $349 million from $239 million in the year-ago quarter. The upside was primarily due to increased transportation revenues and higher average sales margins from its natural gas marketing business.

Crude Oil Pipelines & Services recorded a gross operating margin of $401 million, down from $432 million in the prior-year quarter. The decrease can be attributed to lower average sales margins, a decline in sales volume and increased operating costs.

The gross operating margin at Petrochemical & Refined Products Services was $363 million, down from $453 million in the third quarter of 2023. The segment was affected by a decline in total segment pipeline transportation volumes and lower sales volumes.

Cash Flow

The distributable cash flow totaled $1.95 billion compared with $1.87 billion in the year-ago period. The same provided a coverage of 1.7X. Enterprise retained $808 million of distributable cash flow in the third quarter. It generated an adjusted free cash flow of $0.9 billion compared with $1.2 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Financials

In the reported quarter, Enterprise’s total capital investment was $1.2 billion.

As of Sept. 30, 2024, the outstanding total debt principal was $32.2 billion, and consolidated liquidity amounted to approximately $5.6 billion.

Outlook

For 2024, EPD expects its growth capital expenditure to be in the range of $3.5-$3.75 billion.

The company expects sustaining capital expenditure to be approximately $640 million for 2024, including planned petrochemical turnarounds.

For 2025, EPD has updated its guidance for growth capital expenditure to $3.5-$4 billion.

EPD’s Zacks Rank and Key Picks

Currently, EPD carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the energy sector are Archrock Inc. (AROC - Free Report) , Sunoco LP (SUN - Free Report) and FuelCell Energy (FCEL - Free Report) . Archrock presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Sunoco and FuelCell Energy carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Archrock is an energy infrastructure company based in the United States, with a focus on midstream natural gas compression. It provides natural gas contract compression services and generates stable fee-based revenues.

Sunoco LP is one of the largest distributors of motor fuel in the United States. The partnership distributes fuel to independent dealers, commercial customers, convenience stores as well as distributors. Its current distribution yield is greater than that of the composite stocks in the industry, providing unitholders with consistent returns.

FuelCell Energy is a clean energy company offering low-carbon energy solutions. It produces power using flexible fuel sources such as biogas, natural gas and hydrogen. The company designs fuel cells that generate electricity through an electrochemical process that combines fuel with air, reducing carbon emissions and minimizing the environmental impact of power generation. As such, FCEL is anticipated to play a crucial role in the energy transition by enabling industries and communities to shift from traditional fossil fuels to low-carbon alternatives.

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