WES Q2 2026 - Preliminary Earnings Alert

Event: Quartr Q2 2026 event Retrieved: 2026-08-05T23:35:00Z Comparison mode: maximal Scorecard contract: v1 Source status: release=available | financials=earnings release only | transcript=not yet available (call 2026-08-06 14:00Z)

Consensus scorecard

Metric / basis	Quartr actual	API Ninjas consensus	Beat/Miss	Beat/Miss %
Revenue / total revenues and other	$1,224.719m	$1,127.949m	Beat +$96.770m	+8.6%
EPS / GAAP diluted (per common unit)	$0.99	$0.907	Beat +$0.083	+9.2%

Reported results and guidance

Metric ($000 unless noted)	Q2 2026	Q2 2025	Change
Service revenues - fee based	$980,096	$851,419	+15.1%
Service revenues - product based	$112,641	$50,442	+123%
Product sales	$124,763	$40,280	+210%
Other revenue	$7,219	$181	+3,888%
Total revenues and other	$1,224,719	$942,322	+30.0%
Equity income, net - related parties	$21,536	$27,128	−20.6%
Cost of product	$117,440	$42,681	+175%
Operation and maintenance	$285,353	$224,629	+27.0%
General and administrative	$85,929	$66,146	+29.9%
Property and other taxes	$19,736	$17,805	+10.8%
Depreciation and amortization	$205,945	$172,113	+19.7%
Long-lived asset and other impairments	$551	$686	−19.7%
Total operating expenses	$714,954	$524,060	+36.4%
Gain (loss) on divestiture and other, net	$(4,598)	$(911)	loss grew $3,687
Operating income	$526,703	$444,479	+18.5%
Interest expense	$(108,984)	$(95,170)	+14.5%
Loss on early extinguishment of debt	$(150)	$—	new charge
Other income, net	$2,834	$3,692	−23.2%
Income before income taxes	$420,403	$353,001	+19.1%
Income tax expense	$5,152	$2,239	+130%
Net income	$415,251	$350,762	+18.4%
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	$11,699	$9,082	+28.8%
Net income attributable to Western Midstream Partners, LP	$403,552	$341,680	+18.1%
General partner interest in net income	$(8,668)	$(7,930)	+9.3%
Limited partners' interest in net income	$394,884	$333,750	+18.3%
Net income per common unit, basic	$0.99	$0.88	+12.5%
Net income per common unit, diluted	$0.99	$0.87	+13.8%
Weighted-average common units, basic (000)	398,043	381,328	+4.4%
Weighted-average common units, diluted (000)	399,381	382,326	+4.5%

Non-GAAP and cash measure	Q2 2026	Q1 2026	Change
Net income ($000)	$415,251	$359,032	+15.7%
Total revenues and other ($000)	$1,224,719	$1,123,579	+9.0%
Gross margin ($000)	$901,334	$820,269	+9.9%
Adjusted Gross Margin (non-GAAP, $000)	$1,074,521	$990,655	+8.5%
Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP, $000)	$736,532	$683,137	+7.8%
Net cash provided by operating activities ($000)	$534,736	$469,903	+13.8%
Distributions from equity investments ($000)	$24,630	$25,652	−4.0%
Non-cash equity-based compensation expense ($000)	$13,507	$10,854	+24.4%
Interest expense ($000)	$108,984	$113,390	−3.9%
Net cash used in investing activities ($000)	$(1,107,346)	$(234,877)	outflow grew $872,469
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities ($000)	$29,881	$(407,022)	to an inflow

Gross margin by asset ($000)	Q2 2026	Q1 2026	Change
Gross margin, natural-gas assets	$567,265	$533,518	+6.3%
Gross margin, crude-oil and NGLs assets	$116,084	$106,212	+9.3%
Gross margin, produced-water assets	$216,927	$187,779	+15.5%
Adjusted Gross Margin, natural-gas assets	$658,322	$618,809	+6.4%
Adjusted Gross Margin, crude-oil and NGLs assets	$153,071	$144,193	+6.2%
Adjusted Gross Margin, produced-water assets	$257,257	$227,190	+13.2%

Headline quarterly measure	Q2 2026	Detail
Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP)	$736.5m	record; +19% year over year, +8% sequentially
Distributable Cash Flow (non-GAAP)	$537.2m	—
Free Cash Flow (non-GAAP)	$263.6m	—
Free Cash Flow after distributions (non-GAAP)	$(111.0)m	attributed to organic growth capital expenditures
Cash flows provided by operating activities	$534.7m	—
Capital expenditures	$308.3m	—
Distribution per unit	$0.930	unchanged sequentially; $3.72 annualized; payable 14 August 2026

Throughput	Q2 2026	Sequential change
Total natural-gas throughput	5.3 Bcf/d	+3%
Total crude-oil and NGLs throughput	523 MBbls/d	slight increase
Total produced-water throughput	2,939 MBbls/d	+5%
Delaware Basin natural-gas throughput	2,140 MMcf/d	+5%, record
Delaware Basin produced-water throughput	2,993 MBbls/d	+5%, record
DJ Basin natural-gas throughput	1,547 MMcf/d	+2%, record

Six-month cash flow item ($000)	6M 2026	6M 2025	Change
Net income	$774,283	$667,314	+16.0%
Depreciation and amortization	$406,371	$342,573	+18.6%
Change in other items, net	$(188,289)	$78,616	to an outflow
Net cash provided by operating activities	$1,004,639	$1,094,770	−8.2%
Capital expenditures	$(506,065)	$(321,025)	+57.6%
Acquisitions from third parties	$(818,723)	$—	new outflow
Net cash used in investing activities	$(1,342,223)	$(314,764)	outflow grew $1,027,459
Borrowings, net of debt issuance costs	$1,052,642	$(1,171)	to an inflow
Repayments of debt	$(800,505)	$(1,000,589)	−20.0%
Commercial paper borrowings, net	$162,905	$—	new inflow
Distributions to Partnership unitholders	$(754,318)	$(696,249)	+8.3%
Net cash used in financing activities	$(377,141)	$(1,740,738)	outflow narrowed $1,363,597
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents	$(714,725)	$(960,732)	decrease narrowed $246,007
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period	$104,766	$129,732	−19.2%

Balance sheet item ($000)	30 Jun 2026	31 Dec 2025	Change
Total current assets	$1,138,574	$1,656,941	−31.3%
Net property, plant, and equipment	$12,542,083	$11,220,908	+11.8%
Other assets	$2,637,150	$2,120,571	+24.4%
Total assets	$16,317,807	$14,998,420	+8.8%
Total current liabilities	$1,249,150	$1,236,484	+1.0%
Long-term debt	$8,884,977	$8,195,170	+8.4%
Asset retirement obligations	$471,748	$427,858	+10.3%
Other liabilities	$1,309,782	$975,786	+34.2%
Total liabilities	$11,915,657	$10,835,298	+10.0%
Common units	$4,253,799	$4,016,606	+5.9%
General partner units	$4,507	$4,624	−2.5%
Noncontrolling interests	$143,844	$141,892	+1.4%
Common units issued and outstanding	413,172,388	408,141,366	+1.2%

Guidance (full-year 2026, revised upward; the company states the original guidance midpoints):

Metric	Revised FY2026 guide	Revised midpoint	Change vs original midpoint
Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP)	$2.750bn - $2.950bn	$2.850bn	+$250m, +10%; +15% vs FY2025 Adjusted EBITDA
Distributable Cash Flow (non-GAAP)	$2.050bn - $2.250bn ($4.94 - $5.42 per unit)	$2.150bn	+$200m, +10%
Free Cash Flow (non-GAAP)	$1.100bn - $1.300bn	$1.200bn	+$200m, +20%
Total capital expenditures	$850.0m - $1.000bn	not stated	reaffirmed; expected toward the high end
Distribution per unit	at least $3.70	not applicable	reiterated; current annualized run rate $3.72
Natural-gas throughput growth	mid-single digits average year over year	not applicable	new disclosure this quarter

Scorecard recap: total revenues and other of $1,224.7m beat consensus by 8.6% and diluted net income per common unit of $0.99 beat the $0.907 estimate by 9.2%.
Adjusted EBITDA of $736.5m was a company record, up 19% year over year and 8% sequentially, which the company attributes to record produced-water throughput, a partial-month contribution from the Brazos Delaware acquisition, and fixed-recovery natural-gas processing contracts benefiting from higher commodity pricing.
The Brazos Delaware acquisition closed in mid-June 2026, adding approximately 460 MMcf/d of natural-gas processing capacity; it contributed roughly two and a half weeks in the quarter.
WES issued $700 million of senior notes due 2036 to refinance commercial paper and revolver borrowings related to the Brazos Delaware acquisition.
Two new long-term gathering and processing agreements were executed in the Powder River Basin with two of the basin's most active producers, adding approximately 270,000 dedicated acres, backed by minimum-volume commitments, with development beginning in the second half of 2026.
Excluding the Aris acquisition, operation and maintenance expense fell 2% versus Q2 2025 despite year-over-year throughput growth of 1.5% for natural gas and 10% for produced water.
The Pathfinder produced-water pipeline and the North Loving II natural-gas processing train are described as on schedule and under budget, with in-service dates in Q1 2027 and Q2 2027 respectively.
The JIP 2 produced-water treatment demonstration facility in Reeves County, Texas was placed in service during the quarter and is delivering approximately 1,000 barrels per day of reclaimed fresh water, ten times JIP 1.

Key bullish aspects

Both scorecard metrics beat, and full-year guidance was raised across all three non-GAAP cash measures: Adjusted EBITDA and Distributable Cash Flow midpoints each +10%, and the Free Cash Flow midpoint +20%.
Adjusted EBITDA of $736.5m was a record, up 19% year over year and 7.8% sequentially, and the revised full-year midpoint of $2.850bn implies 15% growth over full-year 2025.
Total revenues and other grew 30.0% year over year to $1,224.7m and 9.0% sequentially.
Produced-water is the fastest-growing business: gross margin for produced-water assets rose 15.5% sequentially to $216.9m and Adjusted Gross Margin rose 13.2% to $257.3m, both faster than natural gas or crude and NGLs.
Records were set in three separate throughput measures — Delaware Basin natural gas at 2,140 MMcf/d (+5% sequentially), Delaware Basin produced water at 2,993 MBbls/d (+5%), and DJ Basin natural gas at 1,547 MMcf/d (+2%).
Operating cost discipline held: excluding the Aris acquisition, operation and maintenance expense fell 2% year over year while natural-gas throughput grew 1.5% and produced-water throughput grew 10%.
Operating income rose 18.5% to $526.7m and net income rose 18.4% to $415.3m.
The Powder River Basin agreements add approximately 270,000 dedicated acres with minimum-volume commitments and are expected to be meaningful contributors to 2027 throughput growth.
Management says higher commodity prices have incentivized Delaware Basin customers to raise activity in the second half of 2026, positioning WES for stronger 2027 throughput growth.
Both major growth projects, Pathfinder and North Loving II, are described as on schedule and under budget with 2027 in-service dates.
The distribution of $0.930 per unit was maintained, and full-year distribution guidance of at least $3.70 per unit was reiterated.
Interest expense fell 3.9% sequentially to $109.0m despite the debt-funded acquisition, reflecting the $700m note issuance replacing higher-cost short-term borrowings.
Adjusted Gross Margin rose 8.5% sequentially to $1,074.5m, faster than the 8.5% sequential revenue-and-other growth of 9.0%, indicating margin held through the acquisition.
Natural-gas throughput guidance was introduced at mid-single-digit average year-over-year growth for 2026.

Key bearish aspects

Free Cash Flow after distributions was negative $111.0m in the quarter, so the distribution was not covered by free cash flow.
Six-month operating cash flow fell 8.2% to $1,004.6m despite 16.0% net income growth, because the change in other items swung to a $(188.3)m use of cash from a $78.6m source.
Cash and cash equivalents fell 87.2% over six months, from $819.5m to $104.8m, and total current assets fell 31.3% to $1,138.6m.
Long-term debt rose 8.4% over six months to $8,885.0m, and the company also carried commercial paper borrowings of $162.9m net over the period; total liabilities rose 10.0% to $11,915.7m.
Total operating expenses rose 36.4% year over year to $715.0m, faster than the 30.0% revenue growth.
Cost of product rose 175% to $117.4m and product sales rose 210% to $124.8m, so a growing share of the revenue increase is low-margin commodity throughput rather than fee revenue.
Fee-based service revenue — the most durable revenue line — grew 15.1%, half the 30.0% total revenue growth rate.
Operation and maintenance expense rose 27.0% and general and administrative expense rose 29.9% year over year on a reported basis; the 2% decline management cites is only after excluding the Aris acquisition.
Six-month capital expenditures rose 57.6% to $506.1m, and the company expects full-year capital expenditures toward the high end of the $850.0m-$1.000bn range.
Six-month investing outflow was $1,342.2m, including $818.7m of third-party acquisitions, against $314.8m a year ago.
Equity income from related parties fell 20.6% year over year to $21.5m.
Weighted-average diluted units rose 4.5% year over year to 399.4 million and common units outstanding rose 1.2% over six months, so per-unit growth lags absolute growth.
Non-cash equity-based compensation rose 24.4% sequentially to $13.5m.
The company recorded a $4.6m net loss on divestiture and other in the quarter against $0.9m a year ago, and a $0.15m loss on early extinguishment of debt.
Depreciation and amortization rose 19.7% year over year to $205.9m, ahead of the 18.5% operating income growth.

Key uncertainties

Adjusted EBITDA, Distributable Cash Flow, Free Cash Flow, and Adjusted Gross Margin are non-GAAP measures whose reconciliation tables for Distributable Cash Flow and Free Cash Flow were not read for this preliminary; only the Adjusted Gross Margin and Adjusted EBITDA reconciliations were verified here.
The release does not state prior-year quarterly Adjusted EBITDA, Distributable Cash Flow, or Free Cash Flow figures, so only the company's stated 19% year-over-year Adjusted EBITDA growth is available, not the underlying base.
Brazos Delaware contributed only about two and a half weeks of the quarter, and the release does not quantify its revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, or margin contribution, so the underlying organic performance of the quarter cannot be separated from the acquisition.
The guidance raise is attributed jointly to first-half strength, Brazos Delaware, and "continued elevated commodity prices"; the release does not split the $250m Adjusted EBITDA midpoint increase between acquisition and commodity price.
The fixed-recovery natural-gas processing contracts are cited as a driver of the quarter and the guidance raise, but their share of natural-gas Adjusted Gross Margin and their sensitivity to commodity price are not disclosed.
Product sales of $124.8m and cost of product of $117.4m imply a $7.3m gross contribution on that line, a 5.9% margin; the release does not indicate whether that spread is representative or whether it varies with commodity price.
Free Cash Flow after distributions was negative $111.0m this quarter while full-year Free Cash Flow guidance was raised to $1.100bn-$1.300bn; the release does not bridge the quarterly deficit to the annual guide.
The two Powder River Basin agreements are described only qualitatively — "substantial acreage dedications" and "minimum-volume commitments" — with no contract value, term, volume commitment, or associated capital requirement.
Development under the Powder River agreements begins in the second half of 2026 but the associated capital is not identified within the reaffirmed $850.0m-$1.000bn capital expenditure range.
Pathfinder and North Loving II are described as under budget without stated project costs or expected returns.
JIP 2 is a demonstration facility at approximately 1,000 barrels per day of reclaimed water; the company says it is "a critical step toward achieving FID for our first commercial-scale facility in the near future," but no commercial-scale scope, cost, or timeline is given.
The change in other items in the six-month cash flow statement swung $266.9m against the prior year to a $(188.3)m use of cash; the release does not itemize it.
Other liabilities rose 34.2% over six months to $1,309.8m and other assets rose 24.4% to $2,637.2m; neither line is broken out in the condensed balance sheet presented.
Noncontrolling interests comprise a 25% third-party interest in Chipeta and a limited partner interest in WES Operating held by an Occidental subsidiary, which fell to 1.8% at 30 June 2026 from 1.9% at 31 March 2026; the release does not explain the change.
Distribution coverage cannot be read directly from this release: the company states Distributable Cash Flow of $537.2m and a $0.930 per-unit distribution but does not print a coverage ratio.
The 10:00 a.m. Eastern call on 6 August 2026 has not occurred and no Quartr transcript exists, so management's account of the acquisition contribution, commodity sensitivity, and 2027 capital plan is not assessed at this stage.

Market context

API Ninjas snapshot: WES $46.15 on NYSE, volume 837,471, quote timestamped 2026-08-05T22:43:40Z, retrieved 2026-08-05T23:35:00Z. The release was published after the U.S. close on 2026-08-05; this is a single quote of unstated session basis captured after the close, not a measured reaction to the release. At that price the $3.72 annualized distribution run rate implies an 8.1% yield.

Source limitations

Every actual above comes from the Quartr Q2 2026 earnings release document (3667813). Quartr standardized financials for this event are not yet populated, and the quarterly report (3667812) and slide deck (3969601) attached to this event were not read for this preliminary.
API Ninjas supplied no actual or difference fields for this event, so each beat/miss is calculated locally as Quartr actual minus API Ninjas estimate. The API row carried no fiscal year or quarter and is dated 2026-08-05 against the Quartr event date of 2026-08-06; the release itself published on 2026-08-05, and maximal mode accepts this one-day drift on an exact ticker match.
Western Midstream reports no adjusted or non-GAAP per-unit earnings figure, so GAAP diluted net income per common unit is the only per-share basis available for the scorecard. The company's non-GAAP measures are cash-flow and margin measures, not per-unit earnings.
Year-over-year and sequential percentage changes are calculated from the release's own statement columns; where the release prints a percentage itself, the calculated value agrees.
The extracted statements of operations, balance sheet, cash flow statement, and reconciliation tables lost column alignment in extraction. Every figure above was assigned to its period by reconciling each statement arithmetically — the four revenue components sum to total revenues and other in both periods, the six expense lines sum to total operating expenses, revenue plus equity income less operating expenses and the divestiture loss equals operating income, operating income less interest and the debt charge plus other income equals income before taxes, and each subsequent subtotal foots through to limited partners' interest in net income and the stated per-unit figures at the stated unit counts; the balance sheet foots to total assets and to total liabilities, equity and partners' capital in both periods; the cash flow statement foots to the stated period-end cash balance; and both the Adjusted Gross Margin and Adjusted EBITDA reconciliations foot to their stated results. All checks agree.
Adjusted Gross Margin, Adjusted EBITDA, Distributable Cash Flow, and Free Cash Flow are non-GAAP measures as defined by the company, with the definitions set out in the release. The company states they may not be comparable to similarly titled measures at other companies.
The Distributable Cash Flow and Free Cash Flow reconciliation tables, the detailed throughput and operating-statistics tables, and the guidance footnote detail were not read for this preliminary; the headline figures quoted for those measures come from the release narrative.
Sequential comparisons in the non-GAAP and gross-margin-by-asset tables are to 31 March 2026 because that is the comparative period the company presents in those tables; the statements of operations comparative is the prior-year quarter.
Balance sheet comparatives are to 31 December 2025, the fiscal year end, not to the prior-year quarter.
Cash flow figures in the six-month table are year-to-date totals from the condensed consolidated statements of cash flows; the quarter-only operating, investing, and financing cash flows shown in the non-GAAP table come from the Adjusted EBITDA reconciliation page.
Throughput figures are quarterly averages as the company reports them, with sequential changes as the company states them.
The product-sales margin of 5.9% and the distribution yield of 8.1% cited above are calculated from the release's own figures and the API Ninjas snapshot price; the company does not state either.
The condensed consolidated statements in this release are unaudited.
Full-year Adjusted EBITDA guidance is compared by the company to full-year 2025 Adjusted EBITDA, which is not restated in this release.

earnings-desk

WES — Western Midstream Partners