Get Energized With Enterprise

This column was originally published on RealMoney on Aug. 14 at 11:33 a.m. EDT. It's being republished as a bonus for TheStreet.com readers.

There are many ways to play the energy game: buy domestic oil and gas companies, buy foreign ones, focus on oil services companies. Enterprise GP Holdings LP (EPE Quote) could be another way to energize your portfolio.

Enterprise GP controls the general partner of Enterprise Products, which is a large, publicly traded master limited partnership, or MLP, that provides pipelines and services to producers and consumers of natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil.

Enterprise GP is on fire: Earnings per share for the second quarter were 25 cents vs. 14 cents a year ago, and for the first six months of this year, EPS nearly doubled to 51 cents.

Be aware that there are differences to investing in a limited partnership. You might not receive the K-1 tax form from the company until near the April 15 deadline; if you like to file early, this may stop you from doing so. Also, transferring the information from the K-1 to your personal tax return can be tricky, and you may want to hire the services of a tax preparer if you do not already use one.

My guru strategies based on the investing styles of Martin Zweig and William O'Neil give Enterprise GP high marks.

The Martin Zweig Strategy

One aspect of Enterprise GP that scores well with the Zweig strategy is that both revenue and profit are growing rapidly. For earnings to continue to grow, they must be supported by a comparable or better sales growth rate. The strategy also looks for EPS to be positive and to have increased when compared to the same quarter a year ago, which holds true for Enterprise GP.

The strategy has four tests that look at the rate of growth: EPS growth for the current quarter should be greater than that of the prior three quarters; EPS growth for the current quarter should be greater than the historical growth rate; earnings should have grown consistently for the past five years; and the long-term earnings growth rate (the average of the three-, four- and five-year rates) must be at least 15% a year. Enterprise GP passes all. Its long-term EPS growth rate is a blazing 65.4%.