Last week I was in Las Vegas for 48 hours attending a conference. Dear reader, before you smile at this lame attempt to disguise play as work, you should know that I don’t gamble, drink only moderately and do not enjoy loud rock music. Therefore, the sight of yours truly staying at the Hard Rock […]
Watching the Valeant (VRX) disaster unfold has, for those who are bystanders like us, resembled viewing an express train hurtling off an unfinished bridge into the ravine below, taking with it the reputations of some highly regarded investors. You’ll find no criticism here – professional humility has always been part of our DNA but if […]
For those who follow MLPs closely, one of the enduring mysteries must be the mindset of investors in the Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP). Investors who desire MLP exposure but don’t want K-1s have been attracted to AMLP and a whole host of other inefficient ETFs and mutual funds. As we’ve written before (see, for example, […]
It’ll be a while before Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) will fairly be described as no longer in a bear market. So far the low point was on February 11th, at which point the Alerian Index was 58.2% below its all-time high of August 2014. The following day, SEC filings revealed institutional purchases by Berkshire Hathaway […]
MLP managements have been verbose in the last couple of weeks. This is mostly due to the fact that it’s earnings season and conference calls provide an opportunity for investors to obtain additional color from senior executives. It’s the topic of our March newsletter which will be published on Tuesday, but there are many more […]
It was a busy week of news in Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs). Although there were several earnings announcements, perhaps most notable was the disclosure of new investments by Berkshire Hathaway (BRK), David Tepper’s hedge fund Appaloosa and George Soros in much maligned Kinder Morgan (KMI). Appaloosa also disclosed holdings in KMI warrants, which expire at […]
Around ten days ago Conoco Phillips (COP) and Magellan Midstream (MMP) both released their 4Q15 earnings, and held conference calls on February 4th to discuss them. This coincidence of reporting is about all they have in common, but it caused us to look a bit more closely at an energy company (COP) that truly has […]
We’ve been looking for examples of what happens to a pipeline contract when the Exploration & Production (E&P) company is under financial stress or files for bankruptcy. The question of what happens to long term contracts with Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) in such cases is becoming one of the more notable concerns, both for MLP […]
There may have been a time when the long view predominated among investors, but if it did it’s more likely to be a fable than an historical fact. We live in an age when far too many investors are necessarily familiar with the Vix index (an index of equity market volatility), and this makes the […]
Given the collapse in MLP prices over the last six months virtually any explanation is worth considering. Operating results continue to be unremarkable – Kinder Morgan (KMI) reported 4Q15 financials last week. Their full year 2015 results were 4% lower than their budget; two thirds of the miss was in their CO2 business which is sensitive […]
