Can Plains All American (PAA) Keep Earnings Beat Streak In Q3?

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) is scheduled to release third-quarter 2019 results on Nov 5, after market close. In the last reported quarter, the company delivered a positive earnings surprise of 52.27%.

Let’s discuss the factors that are likely to get reflected in the upcoming quarterly results.

Factors to Consider

Plains All American Pipeline issued senior notes worth $1 billion to refinance outstanding debt in the third quarter, which is expected to have lowered interest expenses. The firm reduced long-term debt by 22.9% from 2016 level, which led to 6.4% decline in interest expenses in the first-half of 2019.

The firm started commercial operation of a new crude oil pipeline — Cactus II — with a capacity of 670 thousand barrel per day in August. This is likely to have contributed to the third-quarter top line. The firm recorded solid fee-based earnings from the transportation segment in the first-half of 2019. The trend is likely to have continued in the to-be-reported quarter, which in turn, might have boosted the company’s revenues.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for third-quarter earnings is pegged at 39 cents per share, which suggests a decline of 9.3% from the year-ago quarter’s reported number. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for third-quarter revenues is pegged at $7.88 billion, which indicates a fall of 10.37% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

Earning Whisper

Our proven model predicts an earnings beat for Plains All American Pipeline this earnings season. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an earnings beat.

Earnings ESP: The company’s Earnings ESP is +0.43%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Currently, Plains All American Pipeline carries a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.