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Plains All American to Post Q4 Earnings: What's Next for the Stock?

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Key Takeaways

  • Plains All American is expected to post Q4 revenues of $11.55B, a 6.85% year-over-year decline.
  • Plains All American relies heavily on fee-based, long-term contracts that support steady cash flow.
  • Plains All American completed the EPIC Crude acquisition, adding assets with long-term volume commitments.

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (PAA - Free Report) is expected to post a decline in the top and bottom lines when it reports fourth-quarter 2025 results on Feb. 6, 2026, before market open. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is currently pegged at 42 cents per unit on revenues of $11.55 billion.

Fourth-quarter earnings estimates have gone down 17.65% over the past 60 days. The bottom-line projection is on par with the year-ago quarter’s number. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly revenues indicates a year-over-year decline of 6.85%.

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PAA Stock’s Earnings Surprise History

Plains All American Pipeline’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two out of the trailing four quarters and missed in the other two, resulting in an average surprise of 4.21%.

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What the Zacks Model Unveils

Our model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Plains All American Pipeline this time around. 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. That is not the case here, as you can see below.

PAA’s Earnings ESP: PAA has an Earnings ESP of -6.11%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

PAA’s Zacks Rank: Plains All American Pipeline currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Here are some stocks in the same sector that, according to our model, have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in the quarter to be reported.
 
Sunrun (RUN - Free Report) , South Bow Corporation (SOBO - Free Report) and Cameco (CCJ - Free Report) carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each at present. Currently, the Earnings ESP of RUN, SOBO and CCJ are +116.43%, +2.99% and +5.26%, respectively.

Factors Likely to Have Shaped PAA’s Q4 Earnings

Plains All American Pipeline operates an extensive network of pipelines and storage assets across key North American oil-producing regions, including the Permian Basin, Bakken and Eagle Ford. Most of these assets are supported by long-term contracts with creditworthy customers, providing stable and predictable revenue streams, which likely strengthened fourth-quarter earnings.

A significant portion of PAA’s cash flow comes from fee-based contracts, which provide stable and predictable revenues largely shielded from short-term oil price fluctuations.

These agreements help mitigate commodity market volatility and support reliable distributions to unitholders, which is expected to have positively influenced the firm’s fourth-quarter performance.

The acquisition of EPIC Crude Holdings, LP, was completed on Nov. 1, 2025, and the synergies are likely to have a positive impact on fourth-quarter earnings, as the acquired assets already have long-term minimum volume commitments from customers.

PAA Stock Returns Lower Than Its Industry

Plains All American Pipeline’s trailing 12-month return on equity is 11.04%, lower than the industry average of 13.28%. Return on equity, a profitability measure, reflects how effectively a company utilizes its shareholders’ funds to generate income.
 

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PAA’s Units Are Trading at a Discount

Plains All American Pipeline’s units are somewhat inexpensive relative to its industry. PAA’s current trailing 12-month Enterprise Value/Earnings before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortization (EV/EBITDA) is 10.78X compared with the industry average of 10.88X. This indicates that the firm is presently marginally undervalued compared with its industry.

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