(Reuters) -Kinder Morgan forecast higher earnings for 2025 on Monday as the U.S. pipeline operator bets on growth in its natural gas pipelines and energy transition ventures amid rising demand for the fuel.
Shares of the Houston, Texas-based company were up 1.7% after the market close.
Pipeline operators such as Kinder Morgan are also banking on electric generation associated with artificial intelligence operations, cryptocurrency mining and data centers.
Net income attributable to the company is expected to be $1.27 per share in 2025, in line with analysts’ average estimate, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Kinder Morgan had forecast a profit of $1.17 per share for end-2024.
The company’s third-quarter profit fell short of Wall Street estimates earlier this year. It had also lowered its annual profit forecast as the U.S. pipeline operator contended with lower crude volumes.
However, the company now expects to generate $8.3 billion of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in 2025, up nearly 4% from the 2024 forecast of $8 billion.
Kinder Morgan, one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America, operates about 79,000 miles of pipelines.
A lower net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA ratio would provide the company with good capacity for “additional opportunistic investment,” said CEO Kim Dang in the statement.
Kinder Morgan added it expects to invest $2.3 billion in discretionary capital expenditures, including expansion projects and contributions to joint ventures.
(Reporting by Seher Dareen and Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Shreya Biswas)
