By Elias Schisgall

Kinder Morgan's profit rose in the fourth quarter on continuing strong demand for natural gas.

The Houston-based energy infrastructure company on Wednesday reported a profit of $996 million, or 45 cents a share, compared with a profit of $667 million, or 30 cents a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-time items, including a gain from an asset sale during the quarter, adjusted earnings were 39 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting 36 cents a share.

Revenue rose to $4.51 billion, up from $3.99 billion a year earlier, and ahead of analysts' expectations of $4.32 billion.

Executive Chairman Richard Kinder attributed the company's growth to demand for liquefied natural gas amid the war in Ukraine, adding that Kinder Morgan supplied more than 40% of natural gas feedstock to U.S. LNG facilities.

Natural gas demand is projected to grow by 17% through 2030, driven by population growth and rising power demand from data centers, Chief Executive Officer Kim Dang said.

Dang said the company had a backlog at the end of the fourth quarter of $10 billion, 90% of which came from natural gas projects.

For the current fiscal year, the company is projecting a profit of $3.1 billion, which would be flat compared with the previous year, and for adjusted earnings of $1.36 a share.

The company also raised its dividend 2% to about 29 cents a share. The new payout, equal to $1.17 annually, represents a 4.1% yield based on the company's Wednesday closing stock price of $28.58., to be paid on Feb. 17 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 2.

Kinder Morgan shares rose 1.4% to $28.99 in after-hours trading Wednesday.

Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 21, 2026 16:35 ET (21:35 GMT)

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