TC Pipelines Rises and EnLink Midstream Falls on June 30
Top gainers
TC Pipelines (TCP) was the top gainer among midstream MLPs (master limited partnerships) at the end of trading on Tuesday, June 30. TC Pipelines rose 2.48% yesterday. It’s mainly involved in natural gas transportation.
TC Pipelines
TC Pipelines has returned -19.97% YTD (year-to-date). One of the major reasons for this poor market performance could be its flat distributions in the last four quarters. It isn’t able to grow its distributable cash flows sufficiently to maintain a target distribution coverage ratio and grow its distributions at the same time.
Sunoco Logistics Partners
Sunoco Logistics Partners (SXL) is next in the list of midstream MLP gainers. It rose 1.41% yesterday. However, the stock is close to its 52-week low of $35.61. It has fallen 8.98% YTD. For an in-depth analysis of Sunoco Logistic’s recent operating performance, read Sunoco Logistics Posts 1Q15 Earnings: Distributions Grow for 40th Consecutive Quarter.
Other gainers
The next three gainers in our list of midstream MLPs include Spectra Energy Partners (SEP), Phillips 66 Partners (PSXP), and Energy Transfer Partners (ETP). Yesterday, they rose 0.72%, 0.50%, and 0.44%, respectively. They’ve returned -19.08%, 4.45%, and -19.69% YTD, respectively.
Phillips 66 Partners has done quite well YTD, despite the weakness in energy prices. It owns and operates primarily fee-based crude oil, refined petroleum product, NGL (natural gas liquid) pipelines and terminals, and other midstream assets.
The Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP) fell 0.45% yesterday. Together, TC Pipelines, Sunoco Logistics, Spectra Energy Partners, and Energy Transfer Partners account for ~16.61% of AMLP. For context, the upstream energy company heavy SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP) rose 0.5% yesterday.
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