Buckeye Partners L.P. Stock Downgraded (BPL)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Buckeye Partners L.P (NYSE:BPL) has been downgraded by TheStreet Ratings from buy to hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth and good cash flow from operations. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, deteriorating net income and disappointing return on equity.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• BPL's revenue growth trails the industry average of 12.0%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 0.6%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share.
• Net operating cash flow has increased to $181.60 million or 16.12% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, BUCKEYE PARTNERS LP has also modestly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of 12.26%.
• BUCKEYE PARTNERS LP's earnings per share declined by 31.6% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has reported a trend of declining earnings per share over the past two years. However, the consensus estimate suggests that this trend should reverse in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, BUCKEYE PARTNERS LP reported lower earnings of $1.25 versus $1.93 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.83 versus $1.25).
• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and greatly underperformed compared to the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry average. The net income has decreased by 21.9% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, dropping from $66.49 million to $51.96 million.
• The share price of BUCKEYE PARTNERS LP has not done very well: it is down 19.28% and has underperformed the S&P 500, in part reflecting the company's sharply declining earnings per share when compared to the year-earlier quarter. Looking ahead, we do not see anything in this company's numbers that would change the one-year trend. It was down over the last twelve months; and it could be down again in the next twelve. Naturally, a bull or bear market could sway the movement of this stock.

Buckeye Partners, L.P. owns and operates refined petroleum products pipeline systems in the United States. Its Pipelines and Terminals segment transports refined petroleum products and provides bulk storage and terminal throughput services in the continental United States. The company has a P/E ratio of 51.6, above the average energy industry P/E ratio of 48 and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Buckeye Partners L.P has a market cap of $4.43 billion and is part of the basic materials sector and energy industry. Shares are down 23.4% year to date as of the close of trading on Monday.

You can view the full Buckeye Partners L.P 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.

 

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