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Why Hold Strategy is Apt for Enterprise Products (EPD) Now

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Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD - Free Report) is a leading midstream energy player with lower exposure to volume and price risks. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the partnership’s 2024 earnings per share has witnessed upward revisions in the past 30 days.

Factors Working in Favor

Enterprise Products, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), has a stable business model and is not significantly exposed to the volatility in oil and gas prices. It generates stable fee-based revenues from its extensive pipeline network that spreads across more than 50,000 miles, transporting natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil petrochemicals and refined products.

The midstream infrastructure provider has storage assets that can hold more than 260 million barrels of NGL, petrochemical, refined products and crude oil. These assets can store 14 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Enterprise Products has $6.8 billion of key approved projects under construction, which are likely to provide incremental fee-based revenues.

The partnership’s balance sheet has lower debt exposure than the composite stocks belonging to the industry. The liquidity profile of Enterprise Products is impressive, as it reported consolidated liquidity of $3.8 billion, which incorporates unrestricted cash and available borrowing capacity.

Risks

Enterprise Products has several assets that have been providing midstream services for many years. This has raised the possibility of investing massive capital in maintaining those infrastructures. Thus, in the future, Enterprise Products could witness an increase in maintenance or repair expenses.

A slowdown in drilling activities, as upstream players mainly focus on stockholder returns rather than boosting output, is hurting production. This is affecting the demand for transportation and storage to some extent. 

Stocks to Consider

Better-ranked players in the energy space include Matador Resources Company (MTDR - Free Report) and Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM - Free Report) . While ExxonMobil carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), Matador Resources sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.  

Matador Resources has a strong presence in the oil-rich core acres of the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring plays in the Delaware Basin. Promising oil price is likely to aid it in increasing production volumes. Matador acquired Advance Energy Partners Holdings, LLC, which comprises several oil and natural gas-producing properties and undeveloped acreage. MTDR expects the buyout to be accretive to important valuation and financial metrics.

In order to have a dominant presence in the Permian, ExxonMobil has entered into a staggering $59.5 billion all-stock deal to buy Pioneer Natural Resources . Pioneer Natural is one of the foremost oil producers operating in the Permian Basin, the most prolific basin in the industry.


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