Oneok Partners Profit Tops Estimates; Cuts FY Guidance

(RTTNews) - Natural gas company Oneok Partners L.P. (OKS) on Monday reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $168.7 million or $0.67 per unit compared with $155.5 million or $0.67 per unit last year.

Revenues for the quarter were $2.84 billion compared with $3.45 billion in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.63 per unit on revenues of $3.62 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Gross profit for the quarter improved to $563 million from about $441 million last year, the partnership said.

Oneok Partners cut its outlook for 2015, citing the current commodity price environment. It now expects net income of $845 million to $1.01 billion for the year compared with prior guidance of $1.12 billion to $1.28 billion.

The partnership's distributable cash flow is now expected in the range of $1.08 billion to $1.26 billion compared with prior guidance of $1.31 billion to $1.49 billion.

The updated guidance includes a projected 3 to 5 percent increase in unitholder distributions declared, compared with the prior guidance of an 8 percent increase.

Also Oneok Partners' 2015 capital expenditures are now expected in the range of $1 billion to $1.4 billion compared with prior guidance of $2.6 billion to $3.0 billion. The reduction reflects the suspension of certain capital projects and a slower production growth outlook by the partnership's producer customers than originally planned, the partnership said.