Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) shares rose in premarket trading Thursday after the company posted better-than-expected third-quarter results after Wednesday's market close.

The energy infrastructure giant's revenue of $4.53 billion beat the $4.38 billion estimate, while adjusted earnings of 35 cents per share topped expectations of 32 cents.

On the company's earnings call, executives said strong customer demand is driving a record U.S. natural gas project backlog and creating additional expansion opportunities across Kinder Morgan's pipeline network.

Backlog Extends Growth Runway

Kinder Morgan's overall project backlog increased from $9.6 billion to $14.4 billion during the quarter after the company added $5.4 billion of new projects and placed $700 million into service.

Management said its U.S. natural gas project backlog reached an all-time high.

CEO Kim Dang said Southeast Connector and Permian Link are backed by at least 20-year take-or-pay contracts with creditworthy customers.

Permian Link is expected online in 2030, while Southeast Connector is scheduled to enter service across 2030 through 2032.

Dang said the company prefers projects driven by customer demand.

"All the projects we're sanctioning today are demand pull," she said, adding that such demand can remain in place for decades.

Signed Commitments Support Expansion

Dang said the Southeast Connector already has enough signed commitments to support a move toward a final investment decision.

"We have enough signed commitments today to support going forward and FIDing the project," she said.

Additional customers could still join and increase the project's scale. Management also sees further projects emerging from the current buildout.

Dang said adding large projects can create bottlenecks elsewhere in the system that Kinder Morgan will need to address, creating additional investment opportunities. She said a "substantial remaining shadow backlog" still exists.

Executive Chairman Richard Kinder described that pipeline of opportunities more colorfully.

"We've got a hell of a lot of those horses in the corral now with the saddles on, but we got more horses just outside the corral," Kinder said.

2027 Comparisons Could Get Tougher

Management cautioned that several items boosting 2026 results may not recur next year. These include weather benefits, a terminals contract buyout, a favorable FERC true-up and unusually favorable gas-price spreads.

Those items contributed about $225 million of 2026 outperformance, while commodity prices added another $175 million versus budget.

Dang said 2026 "is going to be a difficult year to replicate," but stressed that Kinder Morgan's underlying businesses remain strong and that its project backlog should support longer-term growth, even if growth varies from year to year.

The company also declared a quarterly dividend of 29.75 cents per share, payable Nov. 16 to shareholders of record Nov. 2.

KMI Price Action: Kinder Morgan shares were up 1.56% at $34.50 at last check Thursday, according to market data.