Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. earnings: third quarter 2026

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., which carries and trades crude oil across North America, made more from running its pipelines in the third quarter of 2026. Its cash covered the payout to its owners with room to spare, and it carries less debt. But a $358 million charge for buying back a class of preferred units, a type of security that ranks ahead of ordinary owners, turned profit per ordinary unit (the partnership's version of a share) into a small loss. ¹

Against what analysts expected

Analysts expected profit of $0.40 per unit (Nasdaq's earnings calendar). The company reported a loss of $0.06 per unit, and its own adjusted figure was a loss of $0.04. Set against that adjusted figure, it fell $0.44, or about 110%, short. The shortfall comes from the $358 million charge for buying back the preferred units, which even the adjusted figure keeps in. ¹²

The strong points

• Its core operating earnings rose 6% to $711 million, and by about 21% if you leave out the Canadian business it sold in May. ¹
• After investing and paying its owners, it had $81 million of cash left over, against a shortfall a year ago. ¹
• Total debt fell to $9,920 million from $11,262 million at the end of 2025, as money from the Canadian sale paid it down. ¹

The weak points

• Cash coming in from running the business fell 18% to $669 million from a year earlier. ¹
• Sales jumped about 31%, but operating profit, the profit from running the business, rose only to $516 million from $484 million. ¹

What the company expects

• For the whole of 2026 the company says it is on track for core operating earnings of $2.880 billion, give or take $50 million. ¹
• The company expects its recent refinancing to add about $60 million a year to the cash available to ordinary unitholders, which it puts at $0.09 per unit. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A mixed report. The business underneath grew, paid its distribution from its own cash and cut its debt, but profit per unit came in far below what analysts expected because a buyback charge turned it into a loss.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)
• The previous results, for what it forecast then

Notes

1. Plains All American Pipeline, L.P.'s results release, 6 November 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 6 November 2026. ↩