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Globe and Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Where Will Energy Transfer Be in 5 Years?
Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) has changed a lot over the past five years. In 2020, the master limited partnership's (MLP) financial profile had weakened to the point that it needed to slash its distribution by 50% to retain additional cash to fund its expansion projects and repay debt. Fast-forward five years, and the midstream giant is in the best financial shape in its history. It reduced debt and increased its earnings by more than 50%. Its improving financial flexibility has enabled it to raise its cash distribution well past its prior peak. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » The MLP expects to continue growing over the next several years. Here's a look at where Energy Transfer is on track to be by 2030. The coming growth spurt Energy Transfer is currently investing heavily in expanding its energy midstream network. The company plans to invest $5 billion into capital projects this year, an increase from $3 billion last year. Fueling the higher spending level is a wave of expansion projects it has approved over the past few months. The biggest project is the Hugh Brinson Pipeline, which will transport natural gas from the Permian Basin to market hubs. The company has started work on the first phase of the 400-mile pipeline that will have the capacity to ship 1.5 billion cubic feet per day when it enters service at the end of next year. Energy Transfer is working on securing customers for phase two, which would increase its capacity to 2.2 billion cubic feet per day. The combined cost for both phases is $2.7 billion. Energy Transfer is also building more natural gas processing plants, expanding its Nederland Flexport terminal, and building another NGL fractionator. These and other projects have in-service dates from mid-2025 through the end of 2026. Given that time frame, "we continue to expect the majority of the earnings growth from these projects to significantly ramp up in 2026 and 2027," stated co-CEO Tom Long on the company's first-quarter earnings conference call. Because of that, Energy Transfer should have plenty of fuel to continue increasing its high-yielding distribution (currently over 7%) for at least the next several years. Multiple growth catalysts Energy Transfer's current backlog of expansion projects should all enter service by the end of next year. However, that doesn't mean the MLP is running low on fuel. It has a large pipeline of projects under development. The biggest is its long-delayed Lake Charles LNG export terminal. After encountering many roadblocks, Energy Transfer is getting close to finally making a final investment decision on this project. It has signed several commercial contracts backing the project. On top of that, it secured MidOcean Energy as a joint development partner (30% equity interest). Building Lake Charles LNG would enhance and extend Energy Transfer's growth outlook. It would earn incremental income from its retained stake in Lake Charles LNG. On top of that, it would benefit from increased volumes flowing through its natural gas pipeline network to Lake Charles, which would provide it with substantial incremental cash flows. Lake Charles is one of many expansion projects the company is currently developing. It sees three major catalysts fueling its growth over the next several years: Continued strong Permian Basin volume growth Increasing natural gas power demand Strong global demand for U.S. NGL production The company is seeing significant demand for natural gas from new and existing customers. It has requests to connect more than 60 power plants to its gas pipelines and over 200 data centers. It has already signed a contract to supply gas to CloudBurst's artificial intelligence (AI) data center in Texas. Energy Transfer is also exploring lower-carbon investment opportunities (carbon capture and sequestration and blue ammonia). In addition, the company has a long history of making accretive strategic acquisitions. It has made several deals over the past five years, including Enable Midstream (2021), Crestwood Equity Partners (2023), and WTG Midstream (2024). Given its financial strength, Energy Transfer has ample flexibility to continue making acquisitions over the next five years. A bigger company with an even higher distribution Energy Transfer will likely be a much bigger company in five years. It has several expansion projects under construction and more in development. It also has the financial flexibility to continue its strategy of consolidating the energy midstream sector. That growth should give the MLP more fuel to increase its high-yielding distribution. The MLP aims to raise its payout by 3% to 5% per year. Given what seems ahead, Energy Transfer will likely be a much bigger company with an even higher distribution payment in five years. That growth and income should give it the fuel to produce attractive total returns in the coming years, making it look like a compelling long-term investment opportunity. Should you invest $1,000 in Energy Transfer right now? Before you buy stock in Energy Transfer, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Energy Transfer wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $660,821!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $886,880!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is791% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to174%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Should You Buy Enterprise Products Partners While It's Below $33?
Enterprise Products Partners is a large North American midstream operator. The master limited partnership's unit price has been on the rise for several years. Enterprise's distribution has been heading steadily higher for decades. 10 stocks we like better than Enterprise Products Partners › Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) is offering investors an attractive 6.7% distribution yield. That compares to the tiny 1.2% yield for the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) and a 3.5% or so average yield in the broader energy sector. The big draw here is, obviously, the yield. But is that enough to make Enterprise a buy while it's trading below $33 a unit? Here's what you need to know. Enterprise Products Partners is a fairly boring business, which is a bit unusual in the energy sector. Upstream companies, which produce oil and natural gas, have volatile earnings because oil and natural gas prices dictate their top- and bottom-line results. Downstream companies, which make chemicals and refined products like gasoline, have volatile earnings because volatile oil and natural gas are key inputs, and the products they make are often volatile commodities, too. But midstream businesses like Enterprise are just toll takers. Midstream operators own energy infrastructure like pipelines, storage, processing, and transportation assets. They charge upstream and downstream companies fees for the use of these assets. Demand for energy is far more important to the top and bottom lines of a midstream business like Enterprise than the price of the commodities being moved. Energy is so vital to the global economy that demand tends to remain robust throughout the energy cycle. And, thus, Enterprise's cash flows are fairly consistent over time. That is how it supports such a large distribution payment, and how Enterprise has managed to increase that distribution every single year for 26 consecutive years. If you are looking for an ultra-high yield that is actually sustainable, Enterprise Products Partners should be on your short list. Enterprise has been far more attractive in the past, noting that its yield was over 10% during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic and associated bear market. That said, the master limited partnership's (MLP's) units have rallied strongly since that point. With the yield at around 6.7%, however, it is still an attractive yield option. The key is the regular distribution increases. The last time Enterprise's unit price was in the $33 range, the yield was closer to 4%. Price alone isn't the key determinant here -- it is the combination of price and yield. And now that the distribution has had some time to grow, the price looks more attractive. But there's more to this story than just price and yield. Enterprise has an investment-grade-rated balance sheet, so it is on a sound financial footing. In 2024, the distribution was covered 1.7x by the MLP's distributable cash flow. It is also one of the largest players in the North American midstream sector. Put all of that together, and Enterprise is a very reliable income investment. The future is likely to look a lot like the past for Enterprise Products Partners. That basically means slow and steady growth of the business and the distribution. Right now, it has around $7.6 billion worth of capital investment projects in the works. That, plus regular price increases and the occasional acquisition, should keep the distribution growing for years to come. And that, in turn, should support further unit price gains. All in, Enterprise is still a solid income option at $33 and, perhaps, even a little higher. Before you buy stock in Enterprise Products Partners, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Enterprise Products Partners wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,702!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $870,207!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 988% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Should You Buy Enterprise Products Partners While It's Below $33? was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
5 Safe Dividend Stocks Yielding Over 5% You Can Buy Without Hesitation Right Now for Passive Income
These companies generate very stable cash flows to support their high-yielding dividends. They also have rock-solid balance sheets. Their strong financial profiles enable them to grow their businesses and increase their dividends. 10 stocks we like better than Enterprise Products Partners › Higher-yielding dividend stocks can produce a lot of passive income. However, one drawback is that a higher dividend yield can be a warning sign that the payout is at risk of a reduction. That's not always the case. Here are five low-risk dividend stocks with yields above 5%, which is more than triple the S&P 500's sub-1.5% dividend yield. Because of their lower risk profiles, you can confidently buy these higher-yielding dividend stocks for passive income right now. Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) currently yields 6.7%. The master limited partnership (MLP), which sends investors a Schedule K-1 Federal Tax Form each year, backs that payout with a very stable cash flow profile and strong balance sheet. The midstream energy company's integrated network of pipelines, processing plants, storage terminals, and export facilities generates predictable cash flow backed primarily by long-term, fixed-rate contracts and government-regulated rate structures. The company produced enough distributable cash flow to cover its high-yielding payout by a comfy 1.7 times in the first quarter. Enterprise also has the strongest balance sheet in the energy midstream sector. The MLP has proved the durability of its high-yielding distribution over the decades by increasing it for 26 straight years. That streak seems likely to continue. Enterprise currently has $7.6 billion of major capital projects on track to enter commercial service through the end of next year. The incremental free cash flow from those projects will give the company even more fuel to continue increasing its high-yielding payout. Enbridge (NYSE: ENB) currently yields 5.8%. The Canadian pipeline and utility company produces stable cash flow to backstop that payout. Predictable cost-of-service agreements and long-term, fixed-fee contracts lock in 98% of its annual earnings. Its earnings are so predictable that Enbridge has achieved its annual financial guidance for 19 years in a row. Enbridge pays out 60% to 70% of its stable cash flow in dividends, retaining the rest to help fund expansion projects. Enbridge also has a strong investment-grade balance sheet with a leverage ratio trending toward the lower end of its target range. That gives it the flexibility to invest billions of dollars every year into expanding its oil pipelines, natural gas pipelines, natural gas utilities, and renewable power businesses. This growth gives it the fuel to increase its dividend, which Enbridge has done for 30 straight years. NNN REIT (NYSE: NNN) has a 5.5% dividend yield. The REIT focuses on investing in single-tenant retail properties secured by long-term, triple-net (NNN) leases. Those leases provide it with stable cash flow to pay dividends because tenants cover all property operating expenses, including routine maintenance, real estate taxes, and building insurance. The REIT has a conservative dividend payout ratio and balance sheet. It expects to produce $200 million in post-dividend free cash flow this year and has a sector-leading 11.6-year weighted average debt maturity. Those features give it lots of capacity to invest in new income-generating retail properties. It primarily buys properties through sale-leaseback transactions with its existing tenants. This strategy has steadily grown its income, enabling NNN REIT to raise its dividend payment for 35 straight years. Only two other REITs and fewer than 80 publicly traded companies have reached that milestone. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has a 6.3% dividend yield. The mobile and broadband giant produces lots of recurring cash flow as customers pay their bills. Last year, Verizon generated $36.9 billion in cash flow from operations. That was enough money to cover its capital expenditures to maintain and expand its fiber and 5G networks, which accounted for $17.1 billion, and its dividend payment, accounting for $11.2 billion, leaving $8.6 billion in excess free cash flow to spare. That surplus enabled Verizon to strengthen its already rock-solid balance sheet. Verizon is also buying Frontier Communications in a $20 billion deal to bolster its fiber network, and its overall growth investments in 5G and fiber should support growing cash flows in the future. That should enable the company to continue increasing its high-yielding dividend. Last year, Verizon raised its payout for the 18th year in a row, the longest current streak in the U.S. telecom sector. Vici Properties (NYSE: VICI) has a 5.4% dividend yield. The REIT backs its payout with a high-quality real estate portfolio. Vici Properties invests in market-leading gaming, hospitality, wellness, entertainment, and leisure destinations. It leases these properties back to operating tenants under very long-term NNN leases, with a 40.4-year weighted average lease term remaining. The REIT pays out 75% of its stable income in dividends. It also has a rock-solid investment-grade balance sheet. These features give it the financial flexibility to invest in additional income-generating experiential real estate. Vici's growing portfolio has enabled it to steadily increase its dividend. It has raised its dividend in all seven years since its formation, growing its payout at a 7.4% compound annual rate, which leads its NNN lease peers. Enterprise Products Partners, Enbridge, NNN REIT, Verizon, and Vici Properties generate stable cash flow, which helps support their more than 5%-yielding payouts. These companies also have strong financial profiles, which allows them to invest in growing their businesses. That growth has supported steady dividend increases, which seems likely to continue. This combination of yield, financial strength, and growth is why you can buy any one of these high-yielding dividend stocks for passive income without hesitation right now. Before you buy stock in Enterprise Products Partners, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Enterprise Products Partners wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,702!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $870,207!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 988% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 Matt DiLallo has positions in Enbridge, Enterprise Products Partners, Verizon Communications, and Vici Properties. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Enbridge. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners, Verizon Communications, and Vici Properties. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 5 Safe Dividend Stocks Yielding Over 5% You Can Buy Without Hesitation Right Now for Passive Income was originally published by The Motley Fool
Forbes
4 days ago
- Sport
- Forbes
Major League Pickleball Mid-Season Power Rankings
In honor of the New Jersey 5's Clown mascot, I have chosen Comic Sans for the font in this image. The Major League Pickleball (MLP) season is now halfway done, believe it or not. We've now held 5 of the planned 10 regular season events, with stops in Orlando, Columbus, Austin, Phoenix, and Daytona Beach. While the 16 Premier teams have all played different numbers of matches (ranging between 11 and 15 each), we've had more than enough match history to update our power rankings and to talk about how things may play out the rest of the way. Along the way, I'll post my pre-season ranking for each team and I'll talk about why they may have changed. Other useful reference data for this story includes the MLP Standings and Eric Tice's detailed Public MLP data. All stats, records, and standings data in this article are courtesy of these links and is as of 6/15/25). (note: PPM below means Points Per Match. Since there's an unbalanced schedule, the best way to rank teams is by PPM at any given point. Teams get 3 points for a regulation win, 2 for a DreamBreaker win, 1 for a DreamBreaker loss, and 0 for a regulation loss, so the best a team can do is to win every match in regulation for a perfect 3.00 PPM pace). I had them No. 1 after the draft and they remain No. 1 now. If anything, I think they're actually better than I thought they'd be. They've played 14 and won 14, 12 of them in regulation. The only two teams to even stretch Dallas to the DreamBreaker were an Texas (Dallas won 22-20) and New Jersey (21-11), both at the power-packed Austin event. Why is Dallas even better than expected? Jorja Johnson. She's won 26 of 28 games this year to lead the league, and sits at 73% points won, also leading the league. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the No. 2 ranked player by points won this season so far is also on Dallas, that being Hurricane Tyra Black. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Can Dallas finish the year undefeated? No, I think they'll drop one to either St Louis or New Jersey along the way on an off-day for someone. But they're well on their way to the regular season title. The Shock, like the Flash, returned their 2024 team intact and is the current favorite to join Dallas in the eventual MLP championship match. They suffered a shock loss in Daytona Beach to a spirited LA Mad Drops team, the only blemish to their record. They took out New Jersey in the season's first event in a rather 'spirited' match to put themselves firmly ahead of the 5's at the moment. We still have not seen Dallas and St. Louis play this season. New Jersey has shown some chinks in the armor this year, taking losses to the two teams above them, but then taking a shock loss to mid-table Utah. They've had some ups and downs: New Jersey gave Jorja Johnson her sole Mixed Doubles loss for the season in their Austin matchup, but still ended up losing the DreamBreaker. Anna Leigh Waters went 44-3 in games last season; she's already lost more games this year and we're only halfway through the season. She's still a glittering 13-2 in Mixed and 12-3 in Gender doubles so far, but the step-down from Humberg to Dizon is telling for the 2025 iteration of the 5's. Navratil and Dizon have a losing record in Mixed right now, which puts added pressure on the rest of the team to compete. And they're not unbeatable in DreamBreakers, as both Dallas and Utah have proven. They're still the 3rd team of the big-3 but I don't see them getting past St. Louis this year. The Mad Drops are the team everyone got wrong for 2025. I thought they were bad enough constructed as to outright miss the playoffs. Then, they suffered from personnel absences in their first two events and had to scramble along just to compete. Three of their four losses came when either Hunter Johnson or Quang Duong was missing, and one could make a credible argument they would have won at least two of them. Finally at full strength in Daytona Beach, they destroyed the competition, becoming the first team to top St. Louis this year and finishing the event 5-0. Jade and Catherine have been unstoppable, going 12-2 in Gender Doubles. They're a nightmare to play in a DreamBreaker: Duong has won 70% of his DreamBreaker points. This team could make some noise in the playoffs even if they can't supplant all three teams above them in the standings by year's end. Brooklyn actually sits ahead of LA in the standings right now, but has played just 11 matches. They've beaten who they should have, and lost to who they should have. They took both St. Louis and New Jersey to DreamBreaker, but suffer from a roster makeup that's ill-suited for singles play (3 of their 4 starters do not play singles, ever) . They're being led by their two females (Rohrabacher and Jackie Kawamoto) dominating in Gender doubles: they're 9-2 so far this season. Newman has been a monster in mixed, but a liability in DreamBreakers (he's won just 25% of his DB points, as has Rachel). They need to finish off teams before they have to play singles to have a chance. Columbus has disappointed this season, from where I thought they'd be before they started to play the games. Part of that was out of their hands: they played their entire host event without CJ Klinger. Now, that being said three of their four losses are to Dallas, NJ, and STL, so I'm not sure how much better they could have done. I can see them rebounding in the coming events, but there's a bit of a gap between them and the teams in 4th/5th place. Texas started the season on fire, with a win over Brooklyn and then becoming the team that came closest to topping Dallas (they lost 3-2, 22-20 in the DreamBreaker in Austin). But they've drifted since then. They took a bad loss to Carolina at Daytona, then lost a 3-2 shootout against LA that was a statement match so far this season. Their off-season acquisition Eric Oncins has been their best player, which is to say that their three established stars (Alshon, Pisnik, and Tuionetoa) have not played up to lofty standards. They sit 6th in the standings but may be hard pressed to push any further. Orlando is a case-study in team building. They have, individually, two of the best male doubles players out there in Staksrud & Frazier, yet they're 'just' 11-4 together this season. Neither guy is particularly gelling with their mixed partners either (Schneemann & Parker), which has left them mid-table. Their sterling record 10-5 flatters them a bit: it includes an early win over Utah before they gelled, a win over an under-manned LA in the first event, and a 4-0 blowout of undermanned Columbus. Staksrud-led Orlando finished well out of the Playoffs last season, even while he was taking over the No. 1 ranking spot in both Singles and Doubles. Perhaps this is just not a good format for Fed? For the most part, the teams we thought were good have been good, and the teams we thought were going to be bad have been bad, and all the middle-ground teams have fallen in line. That's why, up until Daytona Beach, the top 8 teams were completely undefeated against the bottom 8 teams. Utah has done the most to break this mold, with three shocking wins in the last two events to launch themselves into playoff position. In Phoenix they beat fellow edge-of-the-playoff teams like Atlanta and Phoenix to start this run, then in Daytona a shocking win over New Jersey (perhaps one of the biggest upsets in MLP history) has put them well into playoff contention. How have they done this? Primarily by winning ugly: their best player by points won percentage is Garnett at just a hair over 50%; the rest are in the 40%. Their No. 2 female Genie Erokhina is just 8-22 in games this season, making it tough on Garnett & Jones to get the wins they need to move forward. Miami has clearly been the best of the promoted teams, with several wins over Premier teams (NY, Utah, Phoenix) while holding serve against their fellow promoted teams (just one loss against 2024 challenger teams, to Atlanta in a DreamBreaker). They knew what they wanted early, re-acquiring Noe Khlif to re-pair him with Millie Rane. Their No. 2 Female Mya Bui has struggled though, going just 10-20 overall and 4-11 in Mixed, with her veteran partner Devilliers unable to stem the tide. Their goal is to remain in 10th place and make the playoffs,. Chicago's made from scratch draft day team has not performed as I thought they would, going just 4-10 with a few bad losses to sit right outside of playoff contention. Their big acquisition of James Ignatowich hasn't paid off: he's just 10-18 in games overall, just 4-10 with his buddy Freeman in gender doubles. The team tried to mix things up, recently moving Vivienne David for Vivian Glozman. On the bright side, many of their losses to rivals were in the DreamBreaker, meaning they're not getting blown out when they shouldn't, but they'll look back on losses to SoCal and Phoenix in particular as missed opportunities. Atlanta has been a bit Jekyll and Hyde so far this season, with a couple of decent wins (Carolina and Miami) and a couple of bad losses (Phoenix and Utah, though that doesn't look so bad now), but mostly has underlined the difference between Premier-quality players and Challenger level players. Their two 'No. 2' players DiMuzio and Fought are near the bottom of the player rankings and are a miserable 1-11 and 1-14 respectively in Mixed matches this year. The team swapped Glozman for David but have not yet tested their new-look lineup. They spent handsomely on DiMuzio in the draft at the expense of other, more veteran talent, and it has not yet paid off. They're a long-shot to get into playoff position. Much proverbial ink has been spilled on this team so far this year. It's kind of amazing that a team with the best player in the world, and a squad whose Men's doubles team won 35 gold medals together, is just 2-12 for the season. Ben and Collin are just 5-5 as a team; they should be closer to 9-1 frankly. Meanwhile, the mixed performance has been awful, and the energy level/effort level from the Johns brothers has been overtly awful. They've shown spurts of energy here and there, but the clear disgust they have for their ladies mixed partners shows out again and again. The league certainly has a problem here, when one of their marquee stars shows this little competitive fire for all the world to see; for example, how are they selling this to potential betting partners? I don't suspect we'll see much change between now and August and I'd be surprised if this team wins more than a handful more matches. Phoenix is a mess of their own doing. They managed to turn a decent 2024 team into a god-awful 2025 team. Lest we forget, they finished last year with Daescu, Frazier, Schneemann, and Christian. They managed to turn their best player (Daescu) into absolutely nothing; trading him straight up for Devilliers and then summarily waiving Jay. They spent $100k to acquire Jack Sock, who has more than demonstrated he's unable to carry a doubles team. Sock so far in 2025 is 7-21 overall, just 2-12 in Mixed, and even their three wins on the year were by the skin of their teeth (all three of their wins were in DreamBreakers). They purposely acquired Bouchard (giving away Dizon in the process), who is now 4-22 for the season, winning just 33% of her points and who is dead last amongst non-bench/non-subs in the league. I can't believe I thought they had a chance to compete before the season started (though to be fair that was pre Bouchard trade when I ranked them 8th). We knew NY was going to be bad, and they've lived up to their advance billing. At least they're trying, giving a ton of reps to their bench players in an attempt to compete. They've also struggled with injury, and have given onsite super sub AJ Koller 12 games out of their schedule. They've somehow got 3 wins; one over the all-sub Carolina team in the Columbus event and the other two against fellow bottom-dwellers NY and SoCal. A reminder: this (like with Phoenix) is self-inflicted; they had a playoff team last year (Sock, Klinger, Kawamoto, Jansen), most of whom they either traded away in exchange for cash before dropping their entire roster to remake out of the 2025 draft. Not a great look for a team owned by one of the MLP board members, especially when they didn't reinvest their gained cash. SoCal's plan for the year was to get the queen of MLP (Irina Tereschenko) back into action and hope for some luck. It hasn't happened: Tereschenko has struggled with injury and availability, and her sub Jalina Ingram has gone just 2-9 in her place. They've found gold in bench payer Blaine Hovenier, who's carried his mixed partner to a 7-7 record so far and has brought a ton of energy to the squad in a format where that stuff really matters. However, they have a serious roster problem. Judit Castillo and Ryan Fu are winless in mixed (0-14) and are a combined 7-48 for the season. I suspect SoCal may be looking to replace one or both to just try something new. As for the team, I honestly thought they had a chance to go 0-25 this season, but if they get even 2-3 more wins I think it'll be a surprise. There are several clear 'tiers' of teams so far, and some natural gaps have broken out in the PPM standings. Here they are: Title Contenders: Dallas, St. Louis Finals contender: New Jersey Wouldn't want to face them in the playoff quarters: Brooklyn, LA Mad Drops Lock for the Playoffs, not much else: Texas, Orlando, Columbus Stuck in-between good and bad: Utah Fighting it out for the last Playoff spot: Miami, Chicago, Atlanta Still trying to figure out what their GM was thinking: NY, Phoenix Trying not to finish last: Carolina, SoCal The Challenger teams have played just one event, and at that event the six teams played a pure round robin, so generating power rankings that differ from the current standings wouldn't really add much value. Las Vegas went undefeated and sits top of the table and probably could regularly beat at least three of the Premier teams as constructed. We'll know more after their next event. What do I expect from the 2nd half of the season? I think my big three predictions are: 1. Dallas does not go undefeated but finishes in 1st place. 2. Utah continues to improve and continues to get upsets. 3. Chicago gels and grabs the final playoff spot Next up for MLP? This week is the last remaining Waiver period for the league, so we plan on some moves being announced later this week. We'll have a recap of waiver picks, trades, and other transactions with analysis. San Clemente, Event No. 6 on the slate, follows next weekend after this weekend's PPA event at the same venue.
Globe and Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
This 6.7% Dividend Stock Looks Absurdly Good Today
I first initiated a position in Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) more than two years ago. How has that investment fared so far? Not bad. The midstream energy company has generated a total return of roughly 45%. Granted, that performance lags behind the S&P 500 's total return of 56% during the same period. However, one thing I could count on, rain or shine, with Enterprise Products Partners was (and is) its juicy distribution. How does the stock look today? Absurdly good, in my opinion. An income investor's dream stock First of all, Enterprise Products Partners is an income investor's dream stock. It currently offers a forward distribution yield of 6.7%. The master limited partnership (MLP) doesn't have to produce much in the way of unit price appreciation to deliver a solid total return. What's more, Enterprise boasts an outstanding track record of distribution hikes. The company has increased its distribution for 26 consecutive years. It has also paid $1.2 billion in "invisible" distributions since its initial public offering in 1998 via unit buybacks. Building this impressive record wasn't easy. Enterprise Products Partners faced multiple big challenges through the years, including the financial crisis of 2007 through 2009, the oil price collapse of 2015 through 2017, and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 through 2022. However, it was able to generate strong cash flow per unit to fund its distributions during every crisis. Some rivals were forced to resort to selling assets to cover their distributions during tough periods. Not Enterprise Products Partners. It's the only midstream energy company that has been able to grow its adjusted cash flow from operations (CFFO) per unit and reduce unit count without any material asset sales. Today, Enterprise Products Partners operates more than 50,000 miles of pipeline. It owns 43 natural gas processing trains and 26 fractionators, which separate the components of hydrocarbons. In addition, the MLP can store over 300 million barrels of liquids and has 20 deepwater docks. More to the story I mentioned earlier that Enterprise Products Partners' total return hasn't been as high as the S&P 500's since I bought it. If we looked back over the last five years, though, it would be a different story. Enterprise has also narrowly outperformed the S&P 500 in total return so far in 2025. The MLP's distribution isn't the only reason behind its market-beating total returns. The rising demand for U.S. hydrocarbons, especially natural gas liquids (NGLs), has played a key role as well. I think these demand trends will extend well into the future. Production of oil, NGLs, and natural gas is projected to increase steadily through the end of this decade. Artificial intelligence (AI) is an important driver behind the higher demand for natural gas. The data centers that host AI models require massive amounts of electricity, and natural gas is a good option to fuel the power plants that serve these data centers. In addition, LNG demand in Asia and Europe is expected to rise by roughly 30% by 2030. Enterprise is well positioned to capitalize on the demand growth. The MLP has $7.6 billion in major capital projects underway, with $6 billion of these projects projected to come online this year. It is also hitting the ground to create more opportunities: Enterprise's staff have visited over 20 international cities to boost export growth. An attractive valuation, too What more could investors want than an ultra-high-yield distribution and solid growth prospects? An attractive valuation. Enterprise Products Partners has that, too. The MLP's units trade at 11.2 times forward earnings. That's the lowest forward earnings multiple in its peer group. It's also well below the S&P 500 energy sector's forward price-to-earnings ratio of 15.9. I think Enterprise Products Partners easily qualifies as an absurdly good stock to buy right now. Should you invest $1,000 in Enterprise Products Partners right now? Before you buy stock in Enterprise Products Partners, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Enterprise Products Partners wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,702!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $870,207!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is988% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to172%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025
