Cheniere Energy Q1 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y

Cheniere Energy, Inc. LNG reported a first-quarter 2025 adjusted profit of $1.57 per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.81. Moreover, the bottom line decreased from the year-ago quarter’s level of $2.13 per share. The underperformance can be attributed to an increase in operating costs and expenses.

Revenues totaled $5.4 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.4 billion and increasing 28% from the year-ago quarter’s level of $4.3 billion. The increase in revenues can be attributed to the strength in liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) shipments. During the period, Cheniere Energy loaded 608 trillion British thermal units (TBtu) of LNG, ahead of the consensus mark of 586 TBtu.

Cheniere Energy, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Cheniere Energy, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Cheniere Energy, Inc. Quote

LNG’s Key Q1 2025 Highlights

As part of its comprehensive capital allocation strategy, Cheniere allocated over $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2025 toward accretive growth initiatives, strengthening its balance sheet and delivering returns to its shareholders. During the quarter, the company repurchased approximately 1.6 million shares of common stock for around $350 million and repaid $300 million in consolidated long-term debt. It maintained its quarterly dividend of 50 cents per share of common stock to be paid on May 19, 2025.

In March 2025, Cheniere announced that it had achieved the substantial completion of the first train of the CCL Stage 3 Project. In the same month, the company announced that its CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project received authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to site, construct and operate the project.

The oil and gas storage and transportation company reported consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $1.9 billion in the first quarter of 2025, up about 5.6% from the year-ago quarter’s level. This improvement was driven by higher total margins per metric million British thermal units of liquefied natural gas delivered during the 2025 period compared to the corresponding 2024 period.

Distributable cash flow (DCF) was $1.3 billion. In the reported quarter, the company shipped 168 cargoes compared with 166 in the year-ago period.

(Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.)

LNG’s Costs & Balance Sheet

Costs and expenses amounted to $4.5 billion for the first quarter, up 44.7% from the prior-year quarter’s level.

As of March 31, 2025, Cheniere had approximately $2.5 billion of cash and cash equivalents. Its net long-term debt amounted to $22.5 billion, with a debt-to-capitalization of 69.1%.
 

LNG’s 2025 Guidance

The company expects consolidated adjusted EBITDA in the range of $6.5-$7 billion for 2025.

It also expects DCF in the band of $4.1-$4.6 billion.
 

LNG’s Project Updates

Sabine Pass Liquefaction (SPL) Project: The company, through its partners, operates liquefaction and export facilities with a total production capacity of approximately 30 mtpa (million tons per annum) of liquefied natural gas.

SPL Expansion Project: The company, through its partners, is developing an expansion adjacent to the SPL Project, known as the SPL Expansion Project, with an anticipated production capacity of up to approximately 20 mtpa of LNG, including potential debottlenecking opportunities.

In February 2024, certain subsidiaries of Cheniere Partners submitted applications to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for site approval to construct and operate the SPL Expansion Project. Additionally, these subsidiaries applied to the Department of Energy (DOE) for authorization to export LNG to both Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and non-FTA countries, excluding debottlenecking activities. In October 2024, the DOE granted authorization to export LNG to FTA countries.

CCL Project: The company, in partnership with its collaborators, operates liquefaction and export facilities at the Corpus Christi LNG terminal, with a total production capacity of around 16 mtpa.

CCL Stage 3 Project: The company, in partnership with its collaborators, is advancing an expansion adjacent to the CCL Project, referred to as the CCL Stage 3 Project. This expansion involves the development of seven midscale trains, with a total projected production capacity exceeding 10 mtpa of LNG. Substantial completion for the first train of the CCL Stage 3 Project was achieved in March 2025.

As of March 31, 2025, the project is 82.5% complete and remains under active construction. The expected timeline for substantial completion is between the first half of 2025 and the second half of 2026. Key milestones include engineering, which is 98.2% complete, procurement at 99.8%, subcontract work at 89.8% and construction progress at 53.7%.

CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project: Cheniere, in partnership with its collaborator, is developing two additional midscale trains, known as the CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project, with an anticipated total production capacity of approximately 3 mtpa of LNG. This expansion will be located adjacent to the CCL Stage 3 Project.

In March 2023, Cheniere’s certain subsidiaries submitted an application to the FERC for authorization to site, construct and operate the CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project. In April 2023, it also applied to the DOE for approval to export LNG to both FTA and non-FTA countries. In July 2023, the company received authorization from the DOE to export LNG to FTA countries. In March 2025, it received authorization from the FERC to site, construct and operate the CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project and also anticipates receiving all remaining necessary regulatory approvals in order to FID the project in 2025.

LNG currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
 

Important Energy Earnings

While we have discussed LNG’s first-quarter results in detail, let’s see how other energy companies have fared this earnings season.

The energy infrastructure provider 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.

TRP’s quarterly revenues of $2.5 billion also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by $18 million. The figure decreased 19.8% year over year.

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.

Oil and gas equipment and services provider TechnipFMC plc FTI reported first-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings of 33 cents per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 36 cents, primarily due to a 4.8% year-over-year increase in costs and expenses. However, the bottom line increased from the year-ago quarter’s reported profit of 22 cents, driven by improved performance in the Subsea segment.

The company’s revenues of $2.2 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.1%. However, the top line increased from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure of $2 billion.

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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