AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL) boosted its dividend after beating earnings estimates.  The payout went up by 10% to $0.33 EPS. The prior payout was $0.30.

Atlas Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: APL) came in for the MLP lovers.  It jacked its quarterly distribution by 15% to $0.54 per quarter from $0.47 per quarter.

Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX) is loving high gold prices… It turned in a 25% hike to its dividend to $0.15 per quarter.  This is still only a 1.25% dividend yield.

Holly Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: HEP) came through for the MLP faithful.  The company slightly boosted its quarterly distribution payout to $0.875 per quarter.  This may only be a penny per quarter per share but it is a continuous distribution hike with 28 straight hikes.

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) may be in the defense sector and tied to the age of austerity, but it sees enough earnings ahead to boost its payout: its dividend was jacked up by 33% to $1.00 per share for a yield of 5.2%.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: MPC) had a huge day with a 5.3% gain after it jacked up its dividend to $0.25 per quarter from $0.20 per quarter and even after the price jump its new dividend yield is almost 2.9%.

Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM) came through with its higher payout due to gold prices.  The gold leader hiked its dividend by 17% to $0.35 per share, which is more than double that of a year ago.  The yield went from about 1.9% to 2.12%.  That might not sound like much, but it is almost as high as the 10-year Treasury note.

NIC Inc. (NASDAQ: EGOV) has only paid special dividends if we look back at the payout history over the last few years.  The company declared a special dividend of $0.25 for its shareholders.  Since it is special, we are not tallying up an implied yield.

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Atlas Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE: APL) is the top NYSE winner after announcing the sale of its Elk City facilities to Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: EEP) for $682 million in cash: Atlas Pipeline will pay-off its $422 million secured term loan and repay about $250 million of its revolving credit facility, and that leaves about $340 million of liquidity under its credit line and an outstanding balance of about $40 million.  Atlas shares are up almost 30% at $16.00 on 175,000 shares.  That is a new 52-week high as the prior range was $5.43 to $14.99.

Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) is burning the mouths of the bears this morning with hot sauce.  Shares are up after it beat earnings due to cost cuts and also because of the World Cup.  Keep in mind that had recently seen a large cut after guidance in a prior report.  Shares are up 7.2% at $43.80 on about 30,000 shares,  Average volume is only 535,000 shares and the 52-week range is $34.33 to $52.99.

DJSP Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: DJSP) is the biggest loser this morning.  The company reported an increase in file volumes but it is indefinitely suspending providing financial guidance and withdrew its previous guidance for 2010.  Shares are down 16.3% at $4.00, a new 52-week low under the prior 52-week range of $4.66 to $13.65.  Average volume is only about 275,000 shares.

DryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) is also slightly  up on the move on volume ahead of today’s earnings report.

Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) posted a narrower loss, but not by enough.  The loss was -$0.51 EPS vs. -$0.32 estimates and the revenue fell by another 11% to $1.56 billion versus estimates of $1.67 billion.  Shares are down 6.5% at $4.61 on about 30,000 shares.  Average volume is 9 million shares and the 52-week range is $2.87 to $9.08.

Health Grades Inc. (NASDAQ: HGRD) is surging on being acquired by Vestar Capital Partners’ affiliates for $8.20 per share. Shares are up 28.5% at $8.15 on 70,000 shares versus a 52-week range of $3.99 to $7.89.

Silicon Image Inc. (NASDAQ: SIMG) is the big winner so far this morning.  The company had a surprise profit as its second quarter revenue and earnings blew past estimates.  Shares are up 15% at $3.86 on relatively thin volume of about 10,000 shares.  The 52-week range is $2.06 to $4.06 and average volume is about 685,000 shares.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is on the move after it managed to beat earnings but the troubled wireless laggard is still losing money.  Q2 earnings were -$0.15 EPS vs. -$0.20 estimates from Thomson Reuters.  Revenue was also down over 1% at $8.02 billion, which is in-line with expectations.  Based on its outlook, shares are up 8.9% at $5.26 on 13 million shares.  Keep in mind that Sprint Nextel is now actually very close to a 52-week high as the 52-week range is $2.78 to $5.31.

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JON C. OGG

Shedding assets to pay off debt is nothing particularly new, but in the pipeline business it is fairly unusual. Selling off bits of pipeline assets reduces the the amount of cash a company can generate and spread around among its limited partners.

Atlas is the junior partner in the deal with Williams, with Williams holding the majority interest and being the operator of the Laurel Mountain system. What Atlas got was cash in exchange for the assets it put into the joint venture. Now, Atlas is selling its highest throughput system, Ozark Gas Transmission, which is part of NOARK. That’s more than 442 million cubic feet per day of throughput, much of it at FERC-regulated rates. Atlas has had to sell one of its crown jewels.

Pre-open trading shows Atlas up nearly 9% on news of the sale.

Paul Ausick
April 8, 2009

• DJIA          8,468.48 (+48.99; +0.58%)
• NASDAQ   1,524.90 (+3.36; +0.22%)
• S&P500     868.15 (+4.99; +0.58%)

Here are some of today’s 52-week low stocks and brief comments:

STOCK (TICKER)                                    Low      Prev.Low
Atlas Pipeline Partners (APL)                   $5.00     $5.39

• Just do not look at the dividend, it is not one you can trust.

4 Kids Entertain. (KDE)                            $1.97      $2.01

• At least it is close to book, or before you start factoring for losses and settlements.

Hansen Medical, Inc. (HNSN)                   $6.16       $6.20

• So much for protection in medical devices, so much for "the next ISRG" as a stock.

IPC The Hospitalist Company, (IPCM)       $13.46   $13.50

• This was formerly one of the few post-IPO’s which was doinggreat. Physician practices are not immune to recessions, and futureoperations may not be as protected or profitable as in prior years witha new administration.

Lufkin Industries, Inc. (LUFK)                    $32.00   $32.02

• Oil field pump units and highway trailers deep in the heart of Texas, with those two downstream sectors in the tank.

Synaptics Incorporated (SYNA)                  $14.43   $14.69

• Buying fewer cellphones means less need for toughscreen phone technology.

Thor Industries (THO)                                $12.09     $12.32

• RV’ing stinks as a business in a recession, even if gas is finally affordable again.

Track Data Corporation (TRAC)                  $0.82    $0.85

• Great investment and news tools, but crummy market has more and more players hanging up their hats.

Transocean (RIG)                                      $41.95   $43.25

• Low oil prices, offshore drilling too expensive for new projects to be started now; shares down roughly 75%.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the 24/7 Wall St. team!!!!

This simple calculation, though, hides the financial power of theseoutfits. Let’s look at the Atlas companies as an example. AtlasPipeline reported a net loss of $279 million for the second quarter of2008. But, adjust the company’s revenues to eliminate an unrealizedloss on derivatives, and Atlas Pipeline earned a profit of nearly $30million on revenues of $457 million. The company distributed$0.96/common unit, an increase of more than 10% from the same period in2007.

That’s what investors look for in these limited partnerships–cashflow. As long as the pipeline companies throw off nice gobs of cash,everybody’s happy. However, in order to generate ever-increasingamounts of cash, the pipeline companies need to get bigger.Transportation rates are set by federal and state governments, and acompany’s profit is fixed by regulation. Pipeline companies use thisnice, steady, guaranteed income to grow.

In the last few years, low interest rates and easy credit have spurredinvestment in new and expansion pipeline systems. Now, however, tightercredit and higher interest rates could threaten some of the more highlyleveraged companies. Atlas Pipelines, for example, holds total debt ofnearly $1.3 billion, nearly equal to it’s market cap of $1.56 billion.The company’s current ratio is 0.76, not a confidence-building number.

There will come a point when financing becomes too costly, for pipelinecompanies like Atlas and others, and that will lead inevitably toconsolidation. The stronger companies, like Enterprise and KinderMorgan, could go on a shopping trip. Given the expected increasingstress on financial institutions in the next 12-18 months, pipelinecompanies with weak balance sheets could become an endangered species.

Paul Ausick
August 19, 2008

Here is today’s list on the 52-week lows:

• Allegheny Energy Inc. (NYSE: AYE)
• American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE: AXL)… gotta love those auto suppliers.
• Atlas Pipeline Partners (NYSE: APL)
• AU Optronics Corp. (NYSE: AUO) hit but didn’t stay under low
• Champion Enterprises (NYSE: CHB) again from yesterday
• Cumulus Media Inc. (NASDAQ: CMLS)
• Great Atlantic Pacific & Tea (NYSE: GAP)… who says food is safe???
• Macerich (NYSE: MAC) downgrade
• Mirant (NYSE: MIR)
• Reliant Energy Inc. (NYSE: RRI)
• Semgroup Energy (NASDAQ: SGLP) battered again after parent woes.
• Safeway Stores Inc. (NYSE: SWY)… who says food is safe???
• Virtusa Corp. (NASDAQ: VRTU) on downgrade

Jon C. Ogg
July 18, 2008

Atlas Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE:APL) announced yesterday that it would discontinue its current hedging strategy in favor of returning to a strategy it had followed until June 2007. The company had hedged about 86% of its natural gas liquids production using crude oil derivative contracts. Because crude oil prices are skyrocketing, the hedges have become "less effective." The terminated contracts run through the next six quarters. Atlas raised its guidance from $1.90-$2.00 per common unit to $2.00-$2.20. That’s the good news.

The not-so-good news is that Atlas will take a charge against earnings of about $10 million for the second quarter, with a total dollar loss on the derivative contracts of approximately $250 million. The stock price is up less than 0.1% in early trading.

Tesoro (NYSE:TSO), an independent refiner/marketer, has also closed its crude oil derivative positions and expects a charge against earnings this quarter of $125 million. The company also lowered guidance by $0.30-$0.50, blaming the change on high energy costs. The refining business is not getting any easier.

Finally today, Plains Exploration and Production (NYSE:PXP) announced that it had acquired crude oil puts on 40,000 b/d of production for 2009 and 2010. The average deferred premium plus interest on the 2009 contracts is $6.19 per barrel and the strike price is $106.16 per barrel. The 2010 contracts carry a strike price of $111.49 per barrel, and an averaged deferred premium plus interest of $12.08 per barrel. Plains also acquired $10-$20 collars on 150 million cubic feet of natural gas production for 2008 and 2009. The company plans to use marked-to-market accounting for these hedges.

There are a couple of morals to these stories. First, try not to be a refining/marketing company. That one’s pretty obvious. Second, crude oil derivative contracts are not effective hedges in the current market. Their cost is too high and the continuously rising cost of crude almost guarantees that the hedge will be ineffective. Expect more of this kind of news from almost every oil and gas company that hedges physical barrels.

Paul Ausick
June 17, 2008