Pembina Pipeline Corporation’s PBA stock has shown no substantial movement since second-quarter 2021 earnings announcement on Aug 5. The company’s lower-than-anticipated earnings due to increased operating expenses displeased investors. In fact, the firm’s shares failed to display an uptrend despite raised adjusted EBITDA guidance for the current year.Inside Pembina Pipeline’s EarningsThe company reported second-quarter 2021 earnings per share of 32 cents, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 16 cents. This underperformance was primarily due to higher operating expenses.However, Pembina Pipeline’s bottom line compared favorably with the year-earlier quarter's earnings of 28 cents on improved natural gas liquids, and crude oil prices and margins.Revenues of $1.59 billion improved 73.9% year over year.Operating cash flow fell 9% to C$584 million. Adjusted EBITDA of C$778 million was C$11 million lower than the figure registered for the second quarter of 2020.In the second quarter of 2021, Pembina Pipeline saw volumes of 3,500 thousand barrels of oil-equivalent per day (mboe/d), which compares favorably with 3,427mboe/d reported in the prior-year quarter.Segmental InformationPipelines: Adjusted EBITDA of C$522 million was down 3.33% from the year-ago quarter’s level. The downside was the outcome of reduced revenue contribution from the Edmonton South Rail Terminal and higher operating costs due to escalated power expenses and integrity spending. Year-over-year volume rose 2.8% to 2,627mboe/d.Facilities: Adjusted EBITDA of C$270 million improved from the year-ago quarter’s C$250 million. The upside was owing to contribution from Empress Infrastructure, Duvernay III and the Prince Rupert Terminal, all of which entered service during the quarter, combined with the start-up of the Veresen Midstream Hythe Developments. Volumes of 873 mboe/d were marginally up year over year.Marketing & New Ventures: Adjusted EBITDA of C$38 million compared favorably with C$29 million in the second quarter of 2020. The upside was attributable to a rise in net sales resulting from higher NGL and crude oil prices during the second quarter of 2021 in combination with expanded sold NGL volumes. The Marketing & New Ventures segment recorded volumes of 173 mboe/d, up 11% from the same-period level in the prior year.Pembina Pipeline Corp. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Pembina Pipeline Corp. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Pembina Pipeline Corp. QuoteCapital Expenditure & Balance SheetPembina Pipeline spent C$146 million as capital expenditures during the quarter under review compared with C$211 million a year ago. As of Jun 30, 2021, the company had cash and cash equivalents worth $57 million and $8.96 billion of long-term debt. Debt-to-capitalization was approximately 44.3%.Project UpdatesPembina Pipeline restarted Phase IX of Peace Pipeline Expansion during the quarter, which will enhance capacity on the northwest Alberta-to-Gordondale, Alberta route to handle the growing activity in the northeast British Columbia Montney play. With the inclusion of a Wapiti-to-Kakwa corridor pump station, the project's cost is anticipated at around $120 million. The in-service date for Phase IX is estimated in the second half of next year.Pembina Pipeline is still working on the Empress Cogeneration Facility. Natural gas will be used to generate up to 45 megawatts of electricity at the facility. The electricity will be utilized entirely on site, supplying around 90% of the site's power needs.According to the company, the initiative will help reduce yearly greenhouse gas emissions at the Empress NGL Extraction Facility. The project is riding on a $120-million capital budget and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022. Based on the current levels of energy use, Pembina Pipeline estimates a reduction of 90,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.Per management, the company signed an arrangement agreement with Inter Pipeline Ltd. (Inter Pipeline), under which it intended to purchase all the latter's issued and outstanding shares. On July 25, the deal was, however, cancelled and Pembina Pipeline was compensated with a $350-MILLION termination fee.GuidancePembina Pipeline raised its 2021 adjusted EBITDA projection to the $3.3-$3.4 billion range, based on year-to-date results and the outlook for the rest of the year. The updated expectation for the entire year is based on a stronger-than-projected fundamental marketing performance owing to considerably higher NGL pricing and marketed NGL volumes, partially offset by large realized hedging losses.Zacks Rank & Key PicksPembina Pipeline has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), currently. Some better-ranked players in the energy space are Devon Energy Corporation DVN, Matador Resources Company MTDR and Continental Resources, Inc. CLR, each presently flaunting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. 5 Stocks Set to Double Each was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2021. Previous recommendations have soared +143.0%, +175.9%, +498.3% and +673.0%. Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Devon Energy Corporation (DVN): Free Stock Analysis Report Continental Resources, Inc. (CLR): Free Stock Analysis Report Pembina Pipeline Corp. (PBA): Free Stock Analysis Report Matador Resources Company (MTDR): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research