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Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP) Q4 Earnings Miss Estimates

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Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (BIP - Free Report) posted fourth-quarter 2017 earnings of 36 cents per unit, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 82 cents by 56.09%.

The partnership reported earnings of 40 cents per unit in the year-ago quarter. Direct cost and general & administrative expenses were higher than the year-ago quarter’s level, which led to a year-over-year decline in earnings.

Revenues

Brookfield Infrastructure reported revenues of $984 million, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $942 million by 4.45%. Revenues surged 45.3% year over year from $677 million.
 

Highlights of the Release

Direct operating costs in the reported quarter were $399 million, which inched up 0.8% from $396 million in the year-ago quarter.

Interest expenses rose 15.3% year over year to $113 million, from $98 million in the prior-year quarter.

Fund flow from operations (FFO) in the reported quarter was $313 million, up 27.75% from $245 million in the prior-year quarter.

Segment Details

Utilities: FFO in the segment was $172 million, up 77.3% year over year. This upside can be attributed to contributions from the Brazilian regulated gas transmission operations and rate base & upward inflation adjustments in other utility businesses.

Transport: The segment generated FFO of $139 million, up 20.86% from $115 million in the year-ago quarter. The upside was caused by higher tariffs and volumes at toll and road business and partially by favorable foreign exchange movements.

Energy: This segment generated FFO of $56 million, up 7.69% year over year. This increase can be attributed to contribution from the gas storage business acquisition in North America.

Communications Infrastructure: The segment generated FFO of $19 million in the fourth quarter, down 5% from prior-year quarter.

Corporate: This segment incurred a loss of $73 million in the reported quarter, wider than the loss of $39 million in the year-ago quarter.

Financial Update

As of Dec 31, 2017, Brookfield Infrastructure’s cash and cash equivalents were $374 million compared with $786 million at the end of 2016.

Cash from operating activities was $1,481 million, up from $753 million in the year-ago period.

Brookfield Infrastructure announced that it has increased the distribution payment by 8% to 0.47 per unit. The distribution is payable on Mar 29, to unitholders of record as of Feb 28.

Zacks Rank

Brookfield Infrastructure has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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

Other Releases

NextEra Energy (NEE - Free Report) reported fourth-quarter 2017 adjusted earnings of $1.25 per share, missing  the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.31 by 4.6%.

Xcel Energy (XEL - Free Report) reported fourth-quarter 2017 adjusted earnings of 42 cents per share, which lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 43 cents by 2.33%.

Dominion Energy (D - Free Report) reported fourth-quarter 2017 operating earnings of 91 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 88 cents by 3.4%.

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