Viewpoint

Where We Stand

Your only protection as an investor is to make sure of the underlying businesses of the MLPs you own. If the business is sound and growing, the unit price is going to go higher over time, even as it pays you a rising stream of distributions. If it’s not, the distribution will stagnate, at best.

Questions and Answers

This week my MLP Profits co-editor Elliott Gue and I addressed the Orlando MoneyShow. This year’s event was bigger than most, and there was, not surprisingly, a great deal of interest in MLPs. Here are the highlights of questions we answered at the show.

Balancing Yield and Risk

Hefty yields aside, units of some MLPs just aren't worth the risk.

Valuations, Interest Rates and Taxes

It’s official: The benchmark Alerian MLP Index logged the best one-year gain in its 14-year history in 2009, a 77 percent total return. After a rally of that magnitude, it’s only logical for investors to wonder if it’s too late to jump aboard.

Faster Growing Income

Publicly traded general partners offer investors a compelling way to leverage their returns in certain MLPs.

High Yields, Big Gains and Reasonable Valuations

MLPs with sustainable yields and the potential for growth remain a good value.

The Strong Feed on the Weak

As always, quality counts: The best-positioned, best-capitalized MLPs can raise money at favorable rates and grab assets from weaker, undercapitalized partnerships at attractive prices.

MLP Q & A

Last week Roger Conrad and I gave several presentations and participated in a number of panel discussions at the San Francisco Money Show. Not surprisingly, Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) and MLP Profits were popular topics of discussion. Here’s a rundown of three of the most commonly posed questions and my answers to each.

MLPs Earning Their Keep

Of the 48 companies in the industry benchmark Alerian MLP Index, only three have cut their payouts over the past year. Even better, 37 stocks in the index have boosted distributions over the past year, and 20 hiked payouts in the second quarter.

Rising Income

High, tax-advantaged yields are the prime attraction for most investors in master limited partnerships (MLP). And there’s good reason for that: The average MLP in the industry benchmark Alerian MLP Index yields nearly 9 percent, far higher than the 4.3 percent yield available in US Treasury bonds, the 7.2 percent yield on BBB-rated corporate bonds and the 7.8 percent average yield on the Bloomberg REIT Index.

Quick Search

Advanced Search
Symbol Search

Featured MLP Video

What's going on with the MLPs - why are they falling?

E-Letters

Editors

Elliott Gue ELLIOTT GUE
Editor: Personal Finance, The Energy Strategist, The Energy Letter
Roger Conrad ROGER CONRAD
Editor: Canadian Edge, Utility Forecaster, Maple Leaf Memo, Utility & Income

Most Popular Articles