Pembina Pipeline Corporation PBA reported first-quarter 2026 earnings per share of 59 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 52 cents and increased from the year-ago quarter’s level of 56 cents. This improvement was primarily driven by strong underlying operational performance and volume growth across the Pipelines and Facilities divisions. PBA’s Pipelines and Facilities volumes for the period were 2833 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboe/d) and 899 mboe/d, respectively, beating the consensus estimates of 2794 mboe/d and 277 mboe/d.
This Calgary-based oil and gas storage and transportation company’s quarterly sales of $1.5 billion decreased about 3.5% year over year, caused by weak revenue performance in the Pipelines and Marketing & New Ventures segments. However, the metric beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 18.7%.
Pembina Pipeline Corp. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Pembina Pipeline Corp. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Pembina Pipeline Corp. Quote
The company’s operating cash flow decreased approximately 60% to C$335 million. Adjusted EBITDA decreased 3% year over year to C$1.1 billion.
Pembina Pipeline’s board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of 73.5 Canadian cents per share, representing an increase of approximately 3.5 percent, to its common shareholders of record as of June 15. The payout will be made on June 30, 2026.
Near the end of the first quarter of 2026, the company successfully commissioned the Wapiti Expansion, both on schedule and within budget, which added 115 million cubic feet per day of natural gas processing capacity at the Wapiti Plant and the 28-megawatt K3 Cogeneration Facility at PGI’s K3 Plant.
In the first quarter, the oil and gas storage and transportation company witnessed volumes of 4,083 mboe/d compared with 4,073 mboe/d reported in the prior-year quarter.
PBA’s Q1 Segmental Information
Pipelines: Adjusted EBITDA of C$647 million decreased about 4.4% from the year-ago quarter’s level. This was caused primarily by lower net revenues on the Alliance Pipeline (C$26 million) due to the negotiated settlement between Alliance and its shippers and higher interruptible volumes on the Cochin Pipeline due to wider condensate price differentials.
Volumes in this segment saw a 0.9% year-over-year increase to 2,833 mboe/d.
Facilities: Adjusted EBITDA of C$363 million increased from the year-ago quarter’s C$345 million, driven primarily by a higher contribution from certain PGI assets related to higher volumes.
Volumes of 899 mboe/d increased marginally by about 0.3% year over year.
Marketing & New Ventures: Adjusted EBITDA of C$188 million decreased from the year-ago quarter’s C$210 million. This decrease resulted from narrower WCSB and U.S. NGL frac spreads due to lower NGL prices combined with higher U.S. natural gas prices.
Volumes of 351 mboe/d decreased about 4.9% year over year.
PBA’s Capital Expenditure & Balance Sheet
The company spent C$187 million as capital expenditure in the quarter under review compared with C$174 million a year ago.
As of March 31, 2026, PBA had cash and cash equivalents worth C$173 million and C$20 billion in long-term debt. Debt-to-capitalization was 54.2%.
PBA’s 2026 Guidance
This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company has raised its 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to C$4.35 billion-C$4.55 billion from the previous C$4.125 billion-C$4.425 billion range, reflecting a C$175 million increase at the midpoint. The upgrade is driven by stronger expected contributions from the marketing business, supported by favorable commodity prices, wider Canadian and U.S. frac spreads, and improved crude oil marketing. Pembina Pipeline is also benefiting from premium propane pricing in Asian markets through its Prince Rupert Terminal and third-party agreements. Additionally, around 65% of the company’s 2026 frac spread exposure has been hedged, including roughly 90% for the second and third quarters.
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Important Earnings at a Glance
While we have discussed PBA’s first-quarter results in detail, let us take a look at three other key reports in this space.
Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. NOG reported first-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share of 74 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 71 cents. The outperformance reflects strong production. However, the bottom line declined from the year-ago adjusted profit of $1.33 due to weaker natural gas prices and a 77% increase in operating expenses.
The Minnetonka, MN-based oil and gas exploration and production company reported oil and gas sales of $539.9 million, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $511 million, supported by higher crude oil realizations. However, the top line decreased from the year-ago figure of $576.9 million. The year-over-year decline was mainly due to lower oil and gas sales during this quarter.
As of March 31, 2026, Northern Oil had $37 million in cash and cash equivalents. The company had a long-term debt of $2.6 billion, with a debt-to-capitalization of 58.8%.
Canadian Natural Resources Limited CNQ reported first-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share of 85 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 74 cents and increased from 81 cents in the year-ago quarter. The outperformance can be attributed to strong operational performance and higher realized natural gas prices.
Total revenues of $7.9 billion increased from $7.6 billion in the prior-year period, fueled by increased production volumes. Additionally, the figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $7.5 billion.
As of March 31, 2026, CNQ had cash and cash equivalents worth C$808 million and long-term debt of approximately C$16.5 billion, with a debt to capitalization of about 27%.
The Williams Companies, Inc. WMB reported first-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share of 73 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 65 cents. The bottom line increased from the year-ago period’s level of 60 cents, driven mainly by a 12.5% decrease in costs and expenses. Moreover, better-than-expected performance of its Transmission, Power & Gulf, Northeast G&P, West and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments also contributed, with increases of 17.2%, 1.9%, 15.8% and 46.5%, respectively, from the year-ago quarter’s level.
The company’s revenues of $3 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.3 billion. The figure decreased marginally by 0.6% from the year-ago quarter’s reported revenues. This can be attributed to lower service revenues tied to commodity contracts and an increased loss from commodity derivative instruments.
As of March 31, 2026, WMB had cash and cash equivalents of $950 million and a long-term debt of $30 billion, with a debt-to-capitalization of 66.5%.
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Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (WMB): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).