TC Energy's Q1 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Decline Y/Y

By Zacks Equity Research | May 05, 2025, 6:32 AM

TC Energy Corporation TRP reported first-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings of 66 cents per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 70 cents. Moreover, the bottom line decreased from 92 cents in the year-ago period. This underperformance could be attributed to weak Power and Energy Solutions segment results. (See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.)

This energy infrastructure provider's quarterly revenues of $2.5 billion also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by $18 million. Moreover, the figure decreased 19.8% year over year.

TC Energy’s comparable EBITDA was C$2.7 billion for the reported quarter, up 1% from the year-ago period.  The figure also exceeded our model estimate by 2.4%.

In addition, TRP’s board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of 85 Canadian cents per common share for the period ending June 30, 2025. The dividend will be paid on July 31, 2025, to its shareholders on record as of the close of business on June 30.

TC Energy Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

TC Energy Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

TC Energy Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | TC Energy Corporation Quote

TRP’s Segmental Information

Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines reported a comparable EBITDA of C$890 million, up 5.2% from the year-ago quarter’s level. This was driven by higher EBITDA in Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines, primarily due to increased flow-through costs and greater contributions from Coastal GasLink. Moreover, the figure beat our estimate of C$887.1 million.

The company reported that Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines deliveries averaged 27.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), which increased 8% compared with the first quarter of 2024. Total NGTL System deliveries reached a new record of 17.8 Bcf on Feb. 18, 2025. Furthermore, Canadian Mainline receipts averaged 5 Bcf/d, reflecting a 14% rise compared with the first quarter of 2024.

U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines reported a comparable EBITDA of C$1.4 billion, indicating a 4.7% increase from the prior-year quarter’s actual. Moreover, the figure beat our estimate of C$1.1 billion.

The company reported that its U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines’ daily average flows reached 31 Bcf/d, reflecting a 5% increase compared with the first quarter of 2024. GTN achieved a new record with 3.2 Bcf on Feb. 19, 2025. Additionally, deliveries to LNG facilities averaged 3.5 Bcf/d, up 5% compared with the first quarter of 2024.

Mexico Natural Gas Pipelines reported a comparable EBITDA of C$233 million, up 8.9% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure of C$214 million. However, the figure missed our estimate of C$265.7 million.

The company reported that Mexico Natural Gas Pipelines flows averaged 3.1 Bcf/d, up 6% from the first quarter of 2024. Additionally, a new daily flow record of 4.1 Bcf was set on March 31, 2025.

Power and Energy Solutions registered a comparable EBITDA of C$224 million, down 30% from the year-ago quarter’s level of C$320 million. This decline was primarily due to lower contributions from Bruce Power, reflecting the start of the Unit 4 Major Component Replacement (“MCR”), along with lower realized power prices in Canadian Power and tighter natural gas storage spreads in Alberta. Moreover, the figure missed our estimation of C$317.8 million.

The company reported that Bruce Power achieved 87% availability in the first quarter of 2025, reflecting a planned outage on Unit 5. TC Energy achieved 98.6% availability in its cogeneration power plant fleet in first-quarter 2025, due to fewer forced outages and early completion of spring outages.

 

TRP’s Expenditure and Balance Sheet

As of March 31, 2025, TC Energy’s capital investments amounted to C$1.8 billion.

TRP had cash and cash equivalents worth C$2 billion and long-term debt of C$45 billion, with a debt-to-capitalization of 61.1% as of the same date.

 

TRP’s 2025 Guidance

TC Energy is set to bring approximately C$8.5 billion in projects online in 2025, including the Southeast Gateway pipeline project. For other projects scheduled for completion in 2025, the company is on track with timelines and has kept costs below initial projections. The company continues to focus on prioritizing high-return projects.

Moving forward, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company plans to approve projects with an attractive risk/reward balance, while staying within the C$6 billion annual net capital expenditure limit and extending its project backlog through 2030 to secure growth. This strategy aims to drive comparable EBITDA growth, support a 3-5% annual dividend growth target and lower leverage over time.

The company expects comparable EBITDA for 2025 to be between C$10.7 billion and C$10.9 billion. TRP expects comparable earnings per common share to remain consistent with the guidance provided in its 2024 Annual Report, though lower than the prior-year levels. The company also expects capital expenditures to total between C$6.1 billion and C$6.6 billion on a gross basis and C$5.5 billion and C$6 billion on a net basis.

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

 

TRP’s Project Highlights

The Southeast Gateway pipeline is ready for service. The Comisión Nacional de Energía (“CNE”) has agreed to the contracted rate and accepted all requirements for in-service. Approval of the regulated rates from CNE is expected by the end of May, at which point the company anticipates the in-service of the Southeast Gateway pipeline.

While 100% of the capacity is contracted with CFE and there are no requests for interruptible service, approval of the regulated rate by the CNE is a standard procedure before commencing service. The 1.3 Bcf/d, 715-kilometre natural gas pipeline was constructed approximately 13% under the original cost estimate in less than three years from the project’s final investment decision.

The Northwoods project, an expansion of the company’s ANR system, has been approved. This project is designed to provide 0.4 Bcf/d of capacity to serve natural gas-fired electric generation demand in the U.S. Midwest, including data centres and overall economic growth. It has an anticipated in-service date of late 2029 with an estimated cost of approximately $0.9 billion and is expected to deliver a compelling build multiple in the range of five to seven times.

The company received approval for the Unit 5 MCR final cost and schedule estimate from the Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator on April 2, 2025. The Unit 5 MCR, worth C$1.1 billion, is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2026, with a return to service in early 2030.

ANR and GLGT each filed Section 4 Rate Cases with FERC, requesting an increase to their respective maximum transportation rates, expected to become effective on Nov. 1, 2025, subject to refund. The company will pursue a collaborative process to find a mutually beneficial outcome with customers through settlement.

 

Important Earnings at a Glance

While we have discussed TRP’s first-quarter results in detail, let us take a look at three other key reports in this space.

Oil and gas equipment and services provider, Liberty Energy LBRT, reported a first-quarter 2025 adjusted net income of 4 cents per share, which marginally beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 3 cents. Liberty's outperformance indicated operational efficiencies as well as increased utilization of frac and wireline fleets. However, the bottom line underperformed the year-ago quarter’s reported figure of 48 cents due to a decline in service activity.

As of March 31, Liberty had approximately $24.1 million in cash and cash equivalents. The pressure pumper’s long-term debt of $210 million represented a debt-to-capitalization of 9.6%.

Another oil and gas equipment and services provider, Halliburton Company HAL, posted first-quarter 2025 adjusted net income per share of 60 cents. The figure met with the Zacks Consensus Estimate but was down from the year-ago quarter’s profit of 76 cents (adjusted). The numbers reflect softer activity in the region of North America, partly offset by international growth. Meanwhile, Halliburton’s revenues of $5.4 billion decreased 6.7% year over year but beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.3 billion.

As of March 31, 2025, Halliburton had approximately $1.8 billion in cash/cash equivalents and $7.2 billion in long-term debt, representing a debt-to-capitalization ratio of 40.8.

Houston, TX-based oil and gas equipment and services provider, Baker Hughes BKR, reported first-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings of 51 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 47 cents. The bottom line also improved from the year-ago level of 43 cents.

As of March 31, 2025, Baker had cash and cash equivalents of $3,277 million. Baker had a long-term debt of $5,969 million at the end of the reported quarter, with a debt-to-capitalization of 25.9%.

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Halliburton Company (HAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
TC Energy Corporation (TRP): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Baker Hughes Company (BKR): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Liberty Energy Inc. (LBRT): Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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