Williams lifts adjusted earnings 6% to $2.039 billion in third quarter

Key Facts

Williams reported adjusted EBITDA of $2.039 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up $119 million, or 6%, from the same period last year. The company said GAAP net income was $699 million, or $0.56 per diluted share. Net income rose 8% and earnings per share increased 6% year over year. Adjusted net income was $663 million, or $0.54 per share, up 10% from the third quarter of 2025. The results covered the three months ended September 30, as part of the company's report on performance for the three and nine months ended on that date.

Cash flow from operations rose to $1.505 billion, up $66 million, or 5%, compared with the corresponding quarter of 2025. Funds available for operations totaled $1.589 billion, an increase of $140 million, or 10%, according to the earnings release. Those funds covered distributions 2.42 times during the quarter, while the coverage ratio was 2.48 times for the nine months through the end of September, compared with 2.30 times in the year-earlier period. For the nine months, net income was $2.390 billion, compared with $1.882 billion in 2025. Adjusted EBITDA for the same period rose to $6.214 billion from $5.717 billion.

Williams attributed earnings growth in its Transmission, Power and Gulf segments to the start of service of the first phase of the Socrates project, higher storage revenue and transmission expansions. It also cited higher volumes in OVM, Marcellus South and Susquehanna. The company said higher service revenues reflected new revenue from power generation, the acquisition of Momentum, projects entering service and higher storage revenue. In the West segment, results were supported by higher volumes in Haynesville, LEG entering service and the impact of the Momentum acquisition. This was partly offset by lower volumes in Eagle Ford and DJ and the sale of Permian assets, according to the earnings presentation.

Williams completed its acquisition of Momentum Midstream on September 3, before announcing quarterly results, in a deal valued at about $5.5 billion. Consideration included about $3.5 billion in cash and debt and about $2 billion in Williams shares. The deal added more than 4,000 miles of pipelines, more than 1 million dedicated acres and gathering capacity of 6 billion cubic feet per day to the company's Haynesville platform. The assets also include three firm, take-or-pay transmission pipelines with capacity of 4.05 billion cubic feet per day. When the agreement was announced, Williams said the valuation equated to about 8.5 times expected 2027 adjusted EBITDA and that it expected the deal to increase funds available for operations and earnings per share.

Chief Executive Officer Chad Zamarin said at the deal's closing that Williams had established “a leading position in Haynesville that enhances our ability to meet rapidly growing LNG, power and industrial demand along the Gulf Coast.” The company links its infrastructure expansion to gas supplies for demand sectors along the Gulf Coast. On October 27, Williams announced it would keep its quarterly cash distribution at $0.525 per share. It set December 11 as the record date for eligible shareholders, with payment scheduled for December 28, 2026. The stock closed at $71.19 on November 2, according to EL7 data.

Williams maintained its 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance range at $8.3 billion to $8.5 billion and said it is tracking toward the upper half. It also forecast growth capital expenditures of between $7.3 billion and $7.9 billion. Among its projects, the company said Socrates' Plato North Power project remained on schedule to enter service by mid-November 2026. It announced a 9.4 billion cubic feet expansion of storage capacity at Clay Basin and the Transco Southeast Supply Enhancement II project, with capacity of more than 150 million cubic feet per day. It also increased the targeted capacity of the Garden Connector project by 84 million cubic feet per day. The earnings conference was scheduled for November 3, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time, with a replay available for at least 90 days.