Western Midstream reports Q1 EPS 79c, consensus 82c

Reports Q1 revenue $917.12M, consensus $926.55M. “I am pleased to report another successful quarter for WES marked by strong financial performance and stability,” commented CEO Oscar Brown. “We also successfully commenced operations at the North Loving plant in the Delaware Basin ahead of schedule and under budget in late February…In Q1, our Adjusted EBITDA increased primarily due to increased NGLs recoveries in combination with higher commodity pricing, another quarter of record natural-gas throughput and increased margin contribution from the Delaware Basin, and lower operating expenses. Notwithstanding the recent market volatility, our 2025 guidance remains unchanged as we have not observed any significant, near-term forecast changes by our customers. We still anticipate throughput growth this year across all products… Additionally, our contract structures provide more predictable cash flows, even during periods of commodity price volatility. We continue to expect capital expenditures of $625M-$775M primarily driven by the completion of the North Loving plant, ongoing Pathfinder project expenses, and expansion efforts in the Powder River Basin and at our Chipeta plant in Utah…With investment-grade credit ratings, net leverage below 3.0-times, and $2.4B in liquidity, we have the financial flexibility needed to execute our growth plans. We are also committed to returning capital to our unitholders, as evidenced by our recent 4-percent distribution increase, and we are confident that our disciplined approach will continue to create significant long-term value for our unitholders”.