Western Midstream’s stock barely moved, up 0.1% to $46.71 at the latest close. The filing itself leads with a much livelier number: revenue rose 30.0% to $1.2 billion in the three months ended June 30, 2026.
That growth reached profit, but not at the same rate. Operating income rose 18.5% to $526.7 million, while operating margin fell from 47.2% to 43.0%. Cash also slipped to $104.8 million, down from $129.7 million a year earlier.
The awkward arithmetic is in the invoice pile. Accounts receivable grew 33.2% to $938.6 million, faster than revenue. That does not explain why customers paid more slowly, or whether they did. It does show more of the reported business sitting in receivables rather than cash at the period-end snapshot.
Management attributes the stronger Adjusted Gross Margin dollars to higher activity across several assets, including the DBM water systems, the Comanche complex, and higher throughput, prices, and volumes in parts of the DJ Basin, Powder River Basin, and Chipeta complexes.
"Adjusted Gross Margin increased by $83.9 million for the three months ended June 30, 2026, primarily due to (i) increased throughput and disposal-fee revenue at the DBM water systems, (ii) the acquisition of the Comanche complex, (iii) increased throughput, average prices, and volumes sold at the DJ Basin complex, and (iv) increased average prices and volumes sold at the Powder River Basin and Chipeta complexes."
Western Midstream, Form 10-Q, Aug. 5, 2026
The plain-English version: the business handled more volume, charged more in some places, and added an acquired complex. But operation and maintenance expenses rose $21.1 million, cost of product rose $14.2 million, and general and administrative expenses excluding noncash equity compensation rose $8.1 million. Growth came with more expense attached.
The cash question gets sharper in the six-month figures. Distributable Cash Flow decreased by $18.0 million, with the company pointing first to a $164.6 million increase in recognized service revenues above customer billings. Net interest expense also rose $31.6 million over six months, even though second-quarter interest expense fell after Western Midstream repaid its 4.650% senior notes due 2026.
"Free Cash Flow decreased by $281.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, primarily due to (i) a $185.0 million increase in capital expenditures and (ii) a $90.1 million decrease in net cash provided by operating activities."
Western Midstream, Form 10-Q, Aug. 5, 2026
That spending was not a rounding error. Capital expenditures increased by $185.0 million, including $146.6 million tied to the Pathfinder pipeline project and the Aris acquisition, plus $65.2 million of construction costs at West Texas’s North Loving Train II. The filing gives the uses of cash clearly; it does not turn them into a single neat explanation for the lower cash balance.
One counterparty detail adds a little texture to the collection issue without resolving it. Western Midstream identifies Occidental as a customer whose nonpayment or nonperformance could create credit risk, alongside other customers and counterparties. That is evidence of a disclosed commercial exposure, not a claim that Occidental caused the receivables increase.
The next reported number to carry forward is the $938.6 million accounts-receivable balance, alongside the cash balance in Western Midstream’s next quarterly report, because that is where the revenue surge meets the collection question.
Source: Western Midstream’s Form 10-Q filed Aug. 5, 2026, for the three months ended June 30, 2026.