Williams Partners (WPZ) Q4 Earnings Miss Estimates, Up Y/Y

Williams Partners LP (NYSE:WPZ) reported fourth-quarter 2017 adjusted earnings of 39 cents, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 44 cents owing to higher operating and maintenance costs.

The bottom line, however, increased from 24 cents in the year-ago quarter. The improvement was mainly driven by increase in fee-based revenues from higher volumes from the Haynesville shale play.

Total revenues increased 1.5% year over year in the quarter to $2,223 million from $2,190 million. The top line also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,130 million.

Williams Partners' distributable cash flow (DCF) for the reported quarter was recorded at $702 million, up from $699 million in the year-ago quarter. The partnership’s cash distributions for the October to December quarter stands at 60 cents per unit.

Segment Performance

Consolidated adjusted segment profit was $1,150 million, up 3.3% from the year-ago level of $1,113 million.

Northeast G&P: The business unit generated adjusted earnings of $238 million, increased almost 9% from $219 million profit for the October to December quarter of 2016. During January to March quarter of 2017, the partnership boosted its ownership in two gathering systems in the Marcellus shale, contributed to the higher profit for fourth quarter.

Atlantic-Gulf: The partnership reported adjusted profit of $433 million from the unit, down 4.6% from $454 million in the year ago comparable period. Transco pipeline system’s higher operating and maintenance expenditure led to the underperformance.

West: Segmental profit was $481 million, up by 22% from $394 million a year ago. Increase in fee-based revenues associated with surge in volumes from the Haynesville shale play aided the outperformance.

NGL & Petchem Services: From this business unit, Williams Partners reported adjusted loss of $1 million against a profit of $46 million in the prior year quarter.

Operating & Maintenance Expense

The partnership reported fourth quarter operating and maintenance expense of $421 million, up almost 7% from the year-ago period.

Q4 Price Performance

Williams Partners fell 0.3% during the fourth quarter, outperforming the industry’s 1.2% decline.

Guidance

For 2018, the partnership expects growth capital spending at $2.7 billion. The 2018 capital expenditure for the Transco growth project has been estimated by Williams Partners at $1.7 billion.

The partnership projected distributable cash flow for 2018 to lie between $2.9 to $3.2 billion.

Zacks Rank

Williams Partners carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked players in the energy sector are Statoil (OL:STL) ASA (NYSE:STO) , Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE:PXD) and Cabot Oil & Gas (NYSE:COG) . All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Headquartered in Stavanger, Norway, Statoil is a major international integrated energy player. The company is expected to witness year-over-year earnings growth of 17.1% in 2018.

Headquartered at Irving, TX, Pioneer Natural Resources is an upstream energy firm. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 66.9% for the preceding four quarters.

Headquartered in Houston, TX, Cabot is also an upstream energy company. The firm will likely see year-over-year earnings growth of 114.7% in 2018.

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