Williams Turns the Page: Power Innovation Delivers, Momentum Deal Lifts the Growth Bar
Socrates comes online, a Blackstone JV reshapes the power financing model, and a $5.5B Momentum acquisition ups the long-term EBITDA CAGR target to 11%+.
WMB · Earnings Call · 2026-08-04
Williams' second quarter was not a routine beat — it was a strategic inflection. Three large moves landed at once: the first phase of its flagship Socrates power project reached in-service in under 18 months, the company closed a $5.34B power innovation joint venture with Blackstone (with Apollo and KKR alongside), and it announced a $5.5B acquisition of Momentum Midstream. Management followed by raising 2026 EBITDA guidance $200M at the midpoint and lifting the long-term EBITDA growth target from 10%-plus to 11%-plus CAGR through 2030.
A new business line, proven on time
The Power Innovation story has evolved from a slide deck into an operating business. Chad Zamarin framed the milestone bluntly:
We achieved in-service for Phase 1 of Socrates, delivering a utility scale 200 megawatts of power to our customer in under 18 months since commercialization. This is how America wins the race for the next generation of technology.
That pace is the speed to market thesis made concrete — a company-unique capability, not sector boilerplate. The financing structure John Porter described is equally distinctive: “$5.34 billion of committed capital, including $4.4 billion for 49% of the expected total growth capital expenditures plus $900 million of additional consideration to Williams” — John Porter, Chief Financial Officer · 2026-08-04, at a capped 6.35% cost of equity. This is financial engineering that recycles capital rather than diluting the platform.
The same theme surfaced in prior quarters. In May, Chad said “we've continued to see very strong interest in our projects” — Chad Zamarin, President and CEO · 2026-05-05; in November, “we continue to see very, very robust engagement and interest in both speed to market, but also just long-term need for power for data centers” — Chad Zamarin, President and Chief Executive Officer · 2025-11-04. What is genuinely new is the delivery and the financing — the Power Innovation and joint venture with Blackstone now top the company's keyword trajectory, both spiking to 200+ momentum in 2026Q3.
A Gulf Coast consolidation
The Momentum Midstream acquisition — at an attractive ~8.5x multiple — is the strategic backbone move. The deal extends the Haynesville footprint into the Shelby Trough and ties directly into Transco and the Gulf Coast storage system. Two new expansion projects, Shelby Connector and Delta Access, are layered on top, targeting LNG and power customers along the Louisiana Gulf Coast — a call amplified by the LNG export wave expected to roughly double by the end of the decade.
Capital expenditure is back on a rising slope — up 34% yoy and 146% over three years — as the power build-out and the Momentum integration feed the project pipeline.
The guidance math is transparent: full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA raised to $8.3–8.5B, with year-end leverage ~3.9x (3.75x on a run-rate basis), leaving more than $2B of dry powder against the internal 4x ceiling. John Porter put it squarely: “the accretive Momentum acquisition adds incremental EBITDA, taking the full year outlook to $8.3 billion to $8.5 billion” — John Porter, Chief Financial Officer · 2026-08-04 — and, more structurally, a step-change in the growth target.
The numbers confirm the story
The financials back the narrative. Revenue is up 13% yoy to $4.7B; net income is up 25% to $912M, and net margin holds at 19.3%, roughly two percentage points above year-ago levels. The long-term growth target move — from 10% to 11%+ CAGR — reflects not just the deal but a higher confidence in the data center pull-through and the build-out of Line 200, the 3.1 Bcf/d transmission artery for the Woodside LNG partnership.
The tape already discounts a fair amount of this. After peaking at $79.40 in mid-May, the stock sits 11.2% off the high over the last 90 days — the market chewing on a report that was rich with news yet light on incremental upside surprises beyond the headline. But the strategic repricing is far from complete: the JV structure and an 11%+ "floor" for EBITDA CAGR put Williams on a different growth trajectory than the midstream sector's typical 5–7% norm.
Prior CEO Alan Armstrong had pre-signaled this trajectory back in February: “we are very far along in the process and have full support from the counterparty for going ahead and acquiring the major equipment and long lead items” — Alan Armstrong, President and Chief Executive Officer · 2025-02-13. What was "far along" is now operational, and the Momentum acquisition upgrades the supply side of the Gulf Coast equation. Williams is firing on all cylinders — pipe, power, and now a growth target that finally catches up with its ambition. The question for investors is whether the 11% drawdown is a buying opportunity or the market's way of saying the good news is already priced in.