Western Gas Partners Lp (NYSE:WES)

Natural Gas Play

Current Quarter vs. Prior Year: For the third quarter 2011, analysts estimate WES will earn $0.46 per share, an increase of 4.09% over the prior year third quarter results.
+43.6%Annualized 5 Year growth rate
Growth Rates
1 Yr 3 Yr 5 Yr
+28.1% -- +43.6%

Over $2M in director buying

Good growth and earnings.

MLP

It's a small company with plenty of room to grow. Low price and reasonable P/E. Already pays a good dividend. Insiders are buying

navallier:B, moneycentral:8 div>6%

The pitch for this stock can be found on The Stinky Feet discussion board at
http://boards.fool.com/Message.asp?mid=27469962&sort=collapsed

Stop by and let us know what you think of this pick.

A young company backed by a solid parent (Anadark; APC) company with contracts extending far into the future and paying a decent dividend. Since its inception about 10 months ago, it has outperformed the S&P almost consistently, and has not underperformed the S&P since October. There is no reason to believe this company will underperform and every reason to believe it will outperform over the next three years.

Good earnings ahead.

Not affected by commodity prices,good earnings and div.

I've noted the number of picks that have gone in unexpected directions despite my best efforts at doing the due diligence doo-doo. So, with WES I take a new approach.

I looked at the p/e of zero, at the five star CAPS rating, at the big, blue line sweeping upwards at the right side of the chart, the number of ravens sitting on my front yard when I took the Mrs. to work this morning, and the position of Venus relative to the moon.

Can't wait to see how this one turns out.

Right part of right sector at the right time.

Natural Gas is where it's at right now. Plus they were formed by Anadarko Petroleum and Jim Hackett, CEO of APC is a good guy and great manager.

I don't know why we haven't gone to nat. gas sooner.

A big change is going to occur soon if not already. Natural gas is the way to go to lessen our consumption of oil. Look at brazil, they already have natural gas stations to pump into their cars. Coming soon to the US.

Being the score leader I thought I should at least say a few things about why I chose this company. First off, the CEO bought 10,000 shares not too long ago. Insider holding is 21% and institutional holding is 45%. Operating margin is near 40% with a net profit margin of 21.6%. Its parent company, Andarko, is a solid company with a proven record. Sales growth (5Yr) 18.2%.

Now that I've hopefully laid a firm foundation let me talk about the two main selling points for me... First, in a sea of mediocre IPOs this one stands out like a sore thumb. The only IPOs I have liked so far this year (and I've looked at almost all of them) are Visa, Gushan, Titan Machinery, Energy Solutions, and Nanosphere. Out of those 3 are speculative (gu,es, and nsph), one has too large of a market cap (v), and only one is really solid (titn). I see this as another solid IPO. So, low supply of quality IPOs... high demand for those that actually will deliver and I firmly believe Titan and Western Gas will deliver. Second, I'm looking for natural gas stocks that haven't been bid up too much and don't have too high of a dividend. What better than a natural gas IPO? Natural gas is going to be huge because its "green" (burning natural gas produces about 30% less carbon dioxide than burning petroleum and about 45% less than burning coal) and it's a great substitute for oil being that it is cost effective ($8.70 per million BTU ($8.30/GJ) for natural gas, as compared to $18 per million BTU ($17/GJ) for fuel oil--- not sure of the date of these numbers, use strictly for comparison).

I think this company stands to benefit from the rise of natural gas and money driven into this "hot IPO" (it will be hot after the price goes up). Don't be left sitting on the sidelines. I'm going to wait for a dip and buy on the decline for my real account. This price is good enough for my CAPS though.

My other natural gas play is EVEP if you want to check that out too.

Master limited partnership with the natural gas distribution assests of Andarko Petroleum. It is a new issue and when it sets its distibution it should go to $20 to 22.50 to yield over 7%.

A recent IPO with a simple yet strong business plan and good assets as well as a main customer (its parent company). Strong BUY!