- Kinder Morgan's (NYSE:KMI) Q1 earnings fell 1.7% and missed estimates, while Q1 earnings at its Kinder Morgan Partners (NYSE:KMP) affiliate slipped 5% and El Paso Partners (NYSE:EPB) also posted a Y/Y decline.
- KMP, which holds the majority of KMI's assets, had reported strong profit growth in recent quarters; KMP's earnings more than doubled in 2013, while KMI enjoyed a sixfold increase in net income last year.
- But "we had a very good quarter," Chairman/CEO Richard Kinder said in the earnings call, as the company highlighted the success of its natural gas pipelines segment, which saw earnings grow more than 40% to $564M.
- Kinder said analysts’ projections that U.S. demand for natural gas could rise by a third by 2024 as “a little understated," touting demand for gas for LNG exports, electric generation, industrial use and shipment to Mexico as factors that bode well for the company’s future.