Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP) Incurs Loss, Lags Q1 Revenue

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) reported first-quarter 2017 loss per unit of 3 cents against the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 71 cents earnings per unit. The partnership reported earnings of 17 cents per unit in the year-ago quarter.

Revenues

Brookfield Infrastructure’s revenues came in at $656 million in the first quarter, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $696 million by 5.7%. Revenues, however, increased 45.5% year over year.

Highlights of the release

Direct operating costs in the reported quarter were $343 million, increasing 70% from $202 million spent in the year-ago quarter.

Interest expenses in the reported quarter decreased 1% year over year to $94 million.

Fund flow from operations (FFO) in the reported quarter was $261 million compared with $234 million in the year-ago quarter.

Quarterly Segment Highlights

Utilities: FFO for the segment was $100 million, in line with the prior year quarter.

Transport: The segment generated FFO of $123 million, up 31% from $94 million in the year-ago quarter. This year-over-year increase was driven by higher tariffs and volumes across different operations.

Energy: FFO was $62 million or up 55% year-over-year due to strong operating results at the natural gas transmission business. The result was primarily driven by higher gas transport volumes along with input from the newly secured contracts, and reduced leverage levels.

Communications Infrastructure: The segment generated FFO of $19 million in the first quarter on par with prior year quarter.

Corporate and Other: This segment incurred a loss of $43 million in the reported quarter, wider than the loss of $19 million in the year-ago quarter.

Financial Update

As of Mar 31, 2017, Brookfield Infrastructure’s cash and cash equivalents were $1,323 million compared with $786 million at the end of 2016.

Cash from operating activities was $178 million in the first quarter of 2017, increasing from $162 million in the year-ago quarter.

Other Releases

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) reported first-quarter 2017 operating earnings of 71 cents per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 65 cents by 9.2%.

DTE Energy Company (NYSE:DTE) reported first-quarter 2017 operating earnings of $1.79 per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.57 by 14%.

CMS Energy Corporation (NYSE:CMS) reported first-quarter 2017 adjusted earnings of 71 cents per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 65 cents by 9.2%.

Zacks Rank

Brookfield Infrastructure has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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