Kimbell (KRP) Q1 2026 Earnings Transcript

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Date

Thursday, May 7, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. ET

Call participants

• Chairman and Chief Executive Officer — Bob Ravnaas
• President and Chief Financial Officer — Davis Ravnaas
• Chief Operating Officer — Matthew S. Daly
• Controller — Blaine Rinesberger

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Takeaways

• Oil, Natural Gas, and NGL Revenue -- $82.9 million was reported for the quarter, reflecting core operating results.
• Run-rate Production -- 25,522 BOE per day exceeded the midpoint of company guidance, signaling operational outperformance.
• Distribution per Common Unit -- $0.41 was declared, representing an 11% increase from Q4 2025 and providing a tax-advantaged annualized yield near 11%.
• Adjusted EBITDA -- $68 million in consolidated adjusted EBITDA was stated for the quarter.
• General and Administrative Expenses -- $9.4 million total, with $5.3 million in cash G&A ($2.31 per BOE) reported, coming in below internal expectations.
• Net Debt -- $440.9 million outstanding as of March 31, with a net debt to trailing twelve-month consolidated adjusted EBITDA ratio of approximately 1.6 times.
• Unit Repurchases -- 500,000 common units were bought and canceled for a total of $7.3 million at an average of $14.60 per unit.
• Distribution Payout -- The $0.41/unit distribution equates to 75% of cash available for distribution; 25% was allocated toward debt paydown.
• Tax Composition -- Approximately 72% of the distribution is designated as return of capital and not subject to dividend taxes.
• Active Rig Count -- 85 rigs were reported drilling across company acreage, accounting for a 16% market share of total U.S. land rigs.
• Undrawn Credit Capacity -- $184.1 million remained available on the secured revolving credit facility as of quarter-end.
• Guidance -- Full-year 2026 financial and operational guidance was affirmed with no changes announced.
• M&A Environment Commentary -- Davis Ravnaas said, "There are a couple of packages in the market now. We try to look at everything that we can. We would like to believe that we get a look at pretty much every sizable acquisition out there. Nothing imminent to report, but we are actively evaluating opportunities."
• Repurchase Strategy -- Davis Ravnaas said, "we do not intend to divert the 75% payout to our dividends for repurchases. It would be a trade-off between debt paydown and repurchases of our stock with the 25% component of our free cash."
• Basin Activity -- Management reported activity increases in the Bakken and Eagle Ford, with the Mid-Con highlighted as a growing contributor. Majority of increased activity still expected in the Permian.
• DUC Conversion Cycle -- Davis Ravnaas said, "Historically, we have seen DUCs come online on average within six months, and permits up to a year on an average basis."

Summary

Kimbell Royalty Partners (NYSE:KRP) highlighted ongoing confidence in sector consolidation, with management affirming the company's financial and operational guidance for 2026. Debt repayment progress was reinforced by allocating 25% of cash available for distribution to reduce borrowings on the secured revolving credit facility. Basin-level commentary identified new drilling upticks beyond the Permian, particularly in the Bakken, Eagle Ford, and Mid-Con, suggesting broader geographic activity momentum. Management discussed that "private operators that they are going to be more aggressive than the public operators," potentially impacting development pace and activity mix in upcoming quarters. Active review of acquisition opportunities was noted, though management emphasized that M&A volume may remain limited until commodity price volatility decreases and valuation consensus emerges between buyers and sellers.

• Line-of-sight wells now exceed the count needed for production maintenance, suggesting potential for growth in output.
• Davis Ravnaas stated Kimbell's DUC and permit inventory may understate actual opportunity, as it excludes minor properties that could expand inventory by 20%.
• Management emphasized that rising oil prices have led to more rapid permitting activity and the possibility of accelerating DUC completions.
• Senior leadership reiterated commitment to "opportunistic" buybacks without altering dividend policy, focusing excess cash allocation between debt reduction and share repurchases.
• Basin portfolio diversification provides Kimbell with flexibility to respond to commodity price signals and development opportunities as market conditions evolve.

Industry glossary

• DUC: Drilled but Uncompleted well—a well that has been drilled to depth but not yet completed to begin production.
• BOE: Barrel of Oil Equivalent—a unit of energy based on the approximate energy released by burning one barrel of crude oil, used to aggregate oil, gas, and NGL volumes.
• Return of Capital: Portion of distribution to unitholders that is not taxed as income but instead reduces the owner's cost basis in the investment.
• Permian, Bakken, Eagle Ford, Mid-Con: Major U.S. oil and gas producing basins/regions noted for distinct production profiles and operator dynamics.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Rick Black: Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP conference call to review financial and operational results for the first quarter, which ended 03/31/2026. This call is also being webcast and can be accessed through the audio link on the events and presentations page of the IR section of kimbellrp.com. Information recorded on this call speaks only as of today, 05/07/2026, so please be advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the date of any replay listening or transcript reading.

I would also like to remind you that the statements made in today's discussion are not historical facts, including statements of operational expectations or future events, or future financial performance, and are considered forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We will be making forward-looking statements as part of today's call, which by their nature are uncertain and outside of the company's control. Actual results may differ materially. Please refer to today's earnings press release for our disclosure on forward-looking statements. These factors and other risks and uncertainties are described in detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Management will also refer to non-GAAP measures, including adjusted EBITDA and cash available for distribution. Reconciliations to the nearest GAAP measures can be found at the end of today's earnings release. Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. I would now like to turn the call over to Bob Ravnaas, Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP Chairman and CEO.

Bob Ravnaas: Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us this morning. With me today are several members of our senior management team, including Davis Ravnaas, our President and Chief Financial Officer; Matthew S. Daly, our Chief Operating Officer; and Blaine Rinesberger, our Controller. To start off, we are pleased to report strong first quarter results and robust drilling activity across our acreage. Our production exceeded the midpoint of our guidance, demonstrating once again the resilience of our high-quality, diversified, and low-decline production base. Our active rig count remains strong with 85 rigs drilling across our acreage, representing a market share of U.S. land rigs at 16%.

This favorable first quarter performance allowed us to declare a Q1 2026 distribution of $0.41 per common unit, up 11% from Q4 2025, as we continue to focus on returning value to unitholders. This distribution reflects an annualized tax-advantaged yield of approximately 11% based on yesterday's closing price. As we look to the remainder of 2026, higher oil prices should support a modest uptick in activity across our oil-weighted basins. Many operators are likely to accelerate the completion of DUCs to capture improved pricing while gradually increasing rig counts over time.

While oil prices have been volatile in recent weeks due to macro uncertainty stemming from the Middle East conflict, they remain elevated when compared to historical levels, and we believe the current forward strip is conducive to incremental activity. We remain bullish about the U.S. oil and natural gas royalty industry and our role as a leading consolidator in the sector. We are encouraged by the opportunities in front of us and look forward to continuing our growth as we strive to expand our industry-leading portfolio of assets.

I would like to thank all of our employees for their hard work and dedication in driving Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP forward and for their role in helping to generate long-term unitholder value. I will now turn the call over to Davis.

Davis Ravnaas: Thanks, Bob. Good morning, everyone. As Bob mentioned, this is another strong quarter for Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP. I will now start by reviewing our financial results for the first quarter. Oil, natural gas, and NGL revenues totaled $82.9 million during the first quarter, and run-rate production was 25,522 BOE per day, which exceeded the midpoint of our guidance. On the expense side, first quarter general and administrative expenses were $9.4 million, $5.3 million of which was cash G&A expense, or $2.31 per BOE, well below our guidance range, a reflection of our continued operational discipline and positive operating leverage. Total first quarter consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $68 million.

You will find a reconciliation of consolidated adjusted EBITDA and cash available for distribution at the end of our news release. This morning, we announced a cash distribution of $0.41 per common unit for 2026. We estimate that approximately 72% of this distribution is expected to be return of capital and not subject to dividend taxes, further enhancing the after-tax return to our common unitholders. This represents a cash distribution payment to common unitholders that equates to 75% of cash available for distribution, and the remaining 25% will be used to pay down a portion of the outstanding borrowings under Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP's secured revolving credit facility.

I would also like to point out that during the first quarter, we repurchased and canceled 500 thousand units of the company's common stock for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $7.3 million at an average price of $14.60 per unit. This reflects our confidence in the underlying strength of the business and our view that the shares were trading below intrinsic value, making the repurchase an efficient use of capital while maintaining balance sheet discipline. Moving now to our balance sheet and liquidity. At 03/31/2026, we had approximately $440.9 million in debt outstanding under our secured revolving credit facility, which represented a net debt to trailing twelve-month consolidated adjusted EBITDA of approximately 1.6 times.

We also had approximately $184.1 million in undrawn capacity under the secured revolving credit facility as of 03/31/2026. We continue to maintain a conservative balance sheet and remain very comfortable with our strong financial position and enhanced flexibility. Today, we are also affirming our financial and operational guidance ranges for 2026. As a reminder, 2026 guidance outlook was included in the Q4 2025 earnings release. We remain confident about the prospects for continued development in 2026 given the number of rigs actively drilling on our acreage, especially in the Permian, as well as our line of sight wells exceeding our maintenance well count.

In closing, we are excited about our position as a leading consolidator in the highly fragmented U.S. oil and natural gas royalty sector, which we estimate exceeds $850 billion in size. Long-term demand for U.S. energy is expected to continue to grow, and we are well positioned to benefit through our diversified portfolio of high-quality royalty assets across the leading U.S. basins. With that, operator, we are now ready for questions.

Operator: Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. You may press 2 if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. The first question is from Timothy A. Rezvan from KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Timothy A. Rezvan: Good morning, folks. Thank you for taking our questions. I know about two thirds of your line-of-sight wells are in the Permian, and there is sort of a group think that will be the basin that would be the first mover, given the call for oil globally. I was curious what you are seeing elsewhere in your portfolio. Are you seeing any increases in other places such as the Mid-Con where there are less natural gas constraints?

Davis Ravnaas: Absolutely. We are seeing activity. Strangely enough, we are seeing an uptick in the Bakken for the first time in a while. We are seeing activity in the Eagle Ford. Yes, on the Mid-Con, which is, on a relative basis, a larger contributor to our overall portfolio. We would expect to see the preponderance of increased activity in the Permian.

Timothy A. Rezvan: Good to know. Thank you. When I last spoke with you all in March, you gave the comments that your peers have echoed that higher oil prices should bring sellers to the table and help with M&A. We saw a large peer announce a sizable transaction earlier this week. Can we get your lay of the land on the M&A front, what you are seeing, and what has you excited?

Davis Ravnaas: Great question. There are a couple of packages in the market now. We try to look at everything that we can. We would like to believe that we get a look at pretty much every sizable acquisition out there. Nothing imminent to report, but we are actively evaluating opportunities. I would say that the increase in oil price, to your point, makes sellers more willing to transact. At the same time, working against that to a certain extent is the volatility. We have seen a few groups walk away because they have a more bullish view on what oil prices are going to do versus others.

I think what we will see happen is once we reach some sort of minimized level of volatility and people have a little bit more of an agreement between the buy side and the sell side on where the new equilibrium is, that is when you will start seeing a larger volume of transactions occur.

Timothy A. Rezvan: That makes sense. If I could sneak one last one in: we noticed the repurchases in the first quarter. If we see where the stock is today, it has been a tough month for the industry. It is trading below the average of the first quarter repurchase price, and we also see WTI at $91 here. How are you thinking about repurchases versus debt paydown in the next couple of quarters?

Davis Ravnaas: Great question. We want to be opportunistic. We have seen periods of time where our stock has traded down for inexplicable reasons, and we had a conversation at the management and board level about putting a program in place. Obviously, we started with a relatively modest repurchase, but we do have the authorization to do something more meaningful. So we will be opportunistic over time, trying to take advantage of inefficiencies and dislocations in our stock price where we believe that our shareholders would benefit on a long-term basis from a repurchase. I will say that we do not intend to divert the 75% payout to our dividends for repurchases.

It would be a trade-off between debt paydown and repurchases of our stock with the 25% component of our free cash. That is what we are going to be weighing going forward.

Timothy A. Rezvan: Appreciate the answers. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. The next question is from Nicholas Armato from Texas Capital. Please go ahead.

Nicholas Armato: Good morning, all, and thanks for taking my questions. For my first one, on your outlook for the remainder of the year, you delivered a strong quarter on both the oil and gas side, which puts you roughly at the midpoint for the full-year guide. Do you think there is some upside to this given your strong performance in the first quarter and the stronger commodity environment that we are seeing?

Davis Ravnaas: I do. I would like to believe that you will see increased activity. We are certainly hearing from other operators in their comments this quarter that they expect some improvement in drilling rates over the course of this year. I think some are more in a wait-and-see approach, others are being a little bit more aggressive. We are hearing from private operators that they are going to be more aggressive than the public operators, which has traditionally been the case historically. So, yes, we try to be conservative when issuing guidance and when reaffirming it, but given the precipitous rise in oil prices this year, all things being equal, we could expect to see increased drilling activity across our portfolio.

Nicholas Armato: Perfect. Thanks for all the color. For my follow-up, how do you generally think about the cycle times for the conversion of DUCs to production and permits to DUCs? More specifically, do you think the stronger commodity environment will change those timelines versus maybe six months ago?

Davis Ravnaas: That is a great question. Historically, we have seen DUCs come online on average within six months, and permits up to a year on an average basis. In a higher price environment, at least in the past, we have seen those timelines accelerate. We have also seen more rapid permitting activity in higher-priced environments. Our net DUC and permit inventory, by the way, does not even include our minor properties, which may contribute up to an additional 20% to our inventory. So we feel very good about the near-term line of sight on development on the properties and feel even better in today’s higher oil price environment that those numbers could improve and that the timelines could accelerate.

But, Bob, anything you would add on development cadence in this environment?

Bob Ravnaas: I agree with everything you said.

Nicholas Armato: Perfect. Super helpful. Thanks for taking my questions. I will turn it back to the operator.

Operator: Thank you. This concludes the question and answer session. I would now like to turn the floor back over to Bob Ravnaas for closing comments.

Bob Ravnaas: We thank you all for joining us this morning, and we look forward to speaking with you again next quarter. This completes today’s call.

Operator: This concludes today’s teleconference. You may disconnect your lines.

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