Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) released its earnings results on Friday. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 2.63% and a net margin of 3.51%. The business had revenue of $6.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis.

Here are the key takeaways from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’ conference call:

• Brookfield reported FFO of $717 million, or $0.91 per unit, and said it achieved its 10% FFO-per-unit growth target for a third consecutive quarter. Growth was supported by organic gains and newly commissioned projects; data FFO rose 25%, midstream 14%, and transport 10% year over year.
• The company is expanding investments in AI infrastructure, including a NAVER partnership to develop more than 200 MW of compute capacity. Brookfield expects to invest about $100 million of equity, with contracted cash flows designed to provide a return of and recovery of invested capital over the initial contract term; deployment is expected to begin in 2027.
• Brookfield has secured nearly $1.5 billion in asset-sale proceeds year to date and is nearing binding offers on additional sales that could generate more than $1 billion before year-end. It also reported about $3.2 billion of corporate liquidity and said more than 90% of debt, excluding Brazil, is fixed rate.
• The corporate simplification has received required approvals and is expected to close November 19. Management expects improved trading liquidity and a broader investor base, though it said potential index-related benefits may take three to nine months to emerge.
• Western Australia has introduced legislation enabling a potential government buyback of the Arc Infrastructure freight network. Brookfield said discussions with the government are ongoing but did not provide details on possible outcomes.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Up 4.2%

NYSE:BIP opened at $39.40 on Friday. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1 year low of $33.21 and a 1 year high of $44.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $36.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $18.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 281.42 and a beta of 1.06.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BIP shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. National Bank Financial lifted their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective (up from $37.00) on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.75.

About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. is a global owner and operator of essential infrastructure businesses. The partnership invests in assets that support the movement and delivery of energy, goods, data and other services.

Its operations span utilities, transport, midstream and data infrastructure. These businesses include electricity and natural gas networks, railways, ports and toll roads, natural gas pipelines and storage, and communications infrastructure such as fiber networks and data centers.

Brookfield Infrastructure serves customers across North America, South America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.