Kinder Morgan Inc. Stock Sell Recommendation Reiterated (KMI)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) has been reitereated by TheStreet Ratings as a sell with a ratings score of D. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its unimpressive growth in net income, generally weak debt management and premium valuation.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 86.5% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $155.00 million to $21.00 million.
• The debt-to-equity ratio is very high at 5.57 and currently higher than the industry average, implying that there is very poor management of debt levels within the company. Along with this, the company manages to maintain a quick ratio of 0.35, which clearly demonstrates the inability to cover short-term cash needs.
• KMI, with its decline in revenue, underperformed when compared the industry average of 11.9%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 3.9%. The declining revenue has not hurt the company's bottom line, with increasing earnings per share.
• The company's current return on equity greatly increased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of significant strength within the corporation. Compared to other companies in the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry and the overall market on the basis of return on equity, KINDER MORGAN INC has underperformed in comparison with the industry average, but has exceeded that of the S&P 500.

Kinder Morgan, Inc. owns and operates energy transportation and storage assets in the United States and Canada. The company operates in six segments: Products Pipelines-KMP, Natural Gas Pipelines KMP, CO2 KMP, Terminals KMP, Kinder Morgan Canada KMP, and NGPL PipeCo LLC. The company has a P/E ratio of 40.4, below the average energy industry P/E ratio of 55.2and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Kinder Morgan has a market cap of $22.26 billion and is part of the basic materials sector and energy industry. Shares are up 2.6% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday.

You can view the full Kinder Morgan Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.

TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

For more information on Kinder Morgan Inc. click any of the following:

• Kinder Morgan Inc. Stock Price

• Kinder Morgan Inc. Analyst Ratings

• Kinder Morgan Inc. Key Stats & Profile

• Kinder Morgan Inc. Earnings

• Kinder Morgan Inc. Ratio Comparison

• Kinder Morgan Inc. Growth Rates

• Kinder Morgan Inc. Balance Sheet

• Kinder Morgan Inc. Cash Flow

• Kinder Morgan Inc. Income Statement