Kirby's Recovery Prospects No Longer Undervalued

As the inland barge business seems to be bottoming out and the company's diesel engine business benefits from the oil/gas recovery and M&A-boosted scale, Kirby (KEX) shares have continued to perform well. Up another 10%-plus since my last write-up in February, it's harder to argue that the company's prospects are now undervalued. While I wouldn't rule out the possibility of further upward estimate revisions on a stronger inland barge recovery and/or even stronger growth in the diesel engine business, it looks like Kirby is back to a more typical valuation.

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Kirby's Recovery Prospects No Longer Undervalued

Seeking Alpha: Oneok Partners Still Looking At Significant Growth Opportunities

Growth capex is one of the major trends in the energy MLP space, and ONEOK Partners, L.P. (OKS) is no exception. Already a top player in gas gathering and processing and NGL fractionation in the Mid-Continent and Rockies, ONEOK still has over $2.5 billion of growth projects on the docket as well as up to $4 billion in unannounced projects - much of which will go towards gathering and processing the growing output of the Williston and Powder River basins.

ONEOK Partners offers good distribution coverage and double-digit cash flow growth potential, though actual distribution growth is likely to be more in the mid-to-high single digits as the general partner ONEOK Inc (OKE) takes a sizable cut and the partnership issues additional units to fund its growth targets. ONEOK Partners still offers some upside in a somewhat expensive MLP space, but it's no longer notably cheap.

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Oneok Partners Still Looking At Significant Growth Opportunities

Investopedia: Can A Change In Priorities Drive Better Distributions From ETP?

A well-run energy MLP can be a beautiful thing for an investor whose inclinations run towards income. With the largest gas pipeline network in Texas and a growing focus on natural gas liquids (NGL), quality of assets is not an issue with Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE:ETP). The issue for shareholders, though, is whether this is the best play on these assets and whether the aggressive asset growth plans will translate into better distribution growth in the near future.

Q4 Results Not All That Great  
Although Energy Transfer Partners did report 17% year-on-year growth in EBITDA for the fourth quarter that was nevertheless about 4% below consensus expectations. That's admittedly not a big miss, but small percentages matter more with energy MLPs and investors' moods were not improved by the below-expectation distributions that the company announced. (For related reading, see EBITDA: Challenging The Calculation.)

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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/Can-A-Change-In-Priorities-Drive-Better-Distributions-From-ETP--ETP-ETE-APU-TGRP-EPD0321.aspx