Kinder Morgan (KMI) Reports In-Line Q3 EPS

Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) reported Q3 EPS of $0.21, in-line with the analyst estimate of $0.21. Revenue for the quarter came in at $2.92 billion versus the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion.

“We are now in the seventh month of an unprecedented reduction in energy demand due to the pandemic,” said KMI Executive Chairman Richard D. Kinder. “Yet our company continued to produce considerable earnings and robust coverage of this quarter’s dividend.

“We generate substantial cash and we remain committed to funding our capital needs internally, maintaining a healthy balance sheet and returning excess cash to our shareholders through dividend increases and/or share repurchases. Once we have completed our 2021 budget process, the board will determine the fourth quarter 2020 dividend and our dividend policy for 2021,” Kinder concluded.

“We are very proud of how our team has performed during this challenging time. Essential workers in the field have adapted to new practices and procedures designed to keep everyone safe and healthy as we maintain our assets and execute on projects. Thousands of office workers have adapted to new working conditions as we continue to serve our customers and generate new business,” said KMI Chief Executive Officer Steve Kean. “Our continued success is key to providing services that are vital for the country and the world’s economy — and for the quality of life for millions of our fellow citizens.

“We have also maintained our vigilance with respect to capital spending, expenses, and increased operational efficiency. We have reduced our 2020 expenses and sustaining capital expenditures by approximately $175 million combined versus our original budget without sacrificing safety and compliance. That figure is net of more than $12 million that we will spend on personal protective equipment, enhanced cleaning protocols, temperature screening, and other measures we adopted to protect our colleagues. And we reduced our expansion capital outlook for 2020 by approximately $680 million, or almost 30%,” continued Kean.

“Finally, and as I noted last quarter, the actions we took over the last several years to strengthen our balance sheet, including reducing our net debt by $10 billion since the third quarter of 2015, have increased our resiliency for these challenging times,” Kean concluded.

“Despite the on-going headwinds facing the energy sector overall, including continued low crude oil and natural gas production and reduced demand for refined products, we generated third quarter earnings per common share of $0.20, compared to earnings per common share of $0.22 in the third quarter of 2019,” said KMI President Kim Dang. “Financial contributions from our Products Pipelines and Terminals business segments were down compared to the third quarter of 2019, primarily due to lower refined products volumes as a result of the pandemic and the December 2019 sale of Kinder Morgan Canada Limited (KML). This was somewhat offset by lower interest expense versus the same period last year.

“Adjusted earnings per share in the third quarter of 2020 were down 5% compared to the third quarter of 2019. At $0.48 per common share, DCF per share was down $0.02 from the third quarter of 2019, reflecting the items above as well as higher cash taxes due to deferrals from the second quarter of 2020. We also achieved $487 million of excess DCF above our declared dividend.

“Our project management team made excellent progress this quarter on the Permian Highway Pipeline project, with the project standing at more than 97% mechanically complete. As previously announced, we expect the project to be in service early in 2021,” said Dang. “We also completed the Elba Liquefaction project, and the facility is fully in-service. Both projects are contracted under long term, reservation-based contracts.”

2020 Outlook

For 2020, KMI’s original budget contemplated DCF of approximately $5.1 billion ($2.24 per common share) and Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $7.6 billion. Because of the pandemic-related reduced energy demand and the sharp decline in commodity prices, the company expects DCF to be below plan by slightly more than 10% and Adjusted EBITDA to be below plan by slightly more than 8%. As a result, KMI expects to end 2020 with a Net Debt-to-Adjusted EBITDA ratio of approximately 4.6 times.

Market conditions also negatively impacted a number of planned expansion projects such that they are not needed at this time or no longer meet our internal return thresholds. We therefore expect the budgeted $2.4 billion of expansion projects and contributions to joint ventures for 2020 to be lower by approximately $680 million. With this reduction, DCF less expansion capital expenditures is improved by approximately $135 million compared to budget, helping to keep our balance sheet strong.

KMI expects to use internally generated cash flow to fully fund its 2020 dividend payments, as well as all of its 2020 discretionary spending.

As of September 30, 2020, we had over $3.9 billion of borrowing capacity under our $4 billion credit facility and $632 million in cash and cash equivalents. We believe this borrowing capacity, current cash on hand, and our cash from operations are more than adequate to allow us to manage our cash requirements, including maturing debt, through 2021.

Due to the impracticality of predicting certain amounts required by GAAP such as unrealized gains and losses on derivatives marked to market and potential changes in estimates for certain contingent liabilities, KMI does not provide budgeted net income attributable to KMI and net income, the GAAP financial measures most directly comparable to the non-GAAP financial measures of DCF and Adjusted EBITDA, respectively, or budgeted metrics derived therefrom.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Kinder Morgan (KMI) click here.

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