Jim (cont'd):     

It's called Energy Transfer Partners L.P. (ETP). This is one of those Master Limited Partnerships like Cramer-fave, KMP... companies that have to distribute the vast majority of their profits to shareholders in the form of a big, juicy dividend.

In the case of ETP, which is expected to pay out $3.76 (per share) next year, we are talking about a bountiful... a magnificent 11.8% yield! That's more than four times what you get from owning a 10-year (Treasury bond)...

If you're new to the show, ETP is all about Sir Mix A Lot's first corollary... You know what he says, Sir Mix A Lot... "I like big yields and I cannot lie"...

This company doesn't just have a big yield. It also looks like a safe one... ETP isn't one of those companies that gets its money from producing natural gas... and it's profits are only loosely tied to the price of the commodity...

ETP gets 90%... 90% of its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization... Anyway, the company gets its fees from moving a commodity, so the fact that gas prices have fallen off a cliff doesn't really matter to the earnings...

Now, we've got a few rules on this show when it comes to dividends...

Can the company afford to pay up?... Well, ETP's expected to generate $6.17 a share of cash flow next year... which isn't quite double the expected $3.76 (dividend) a share but, since the company's balance sheet is pretty clean, relative to its peers, I think that's enough cash flow to call the dividend distribution safe.

Next rule... the rule of 72... This is why we love stocks with high yields... especially in an environment where there isn't a lot of reason to expect upside from stocks...

ETP will pay you to own their stock... they will pay you a lot. At the current price, ETP yields 11.8% on next year's expected distribution. Now, how about this rule of 72? It tells you how long it'll take for you to double your money in an investment, as long as you reinvest the dividends... You divide 72 by the yield... 6.1. That means, if you buy ETP here, and the stock does nothing... nothing at all... As long as it maintains its dividend... just maintains it... and you reinvest the dividend in the stock... you'll double your money in a little more than six years. That's what I call better than a sharp stick right through my retina.

Why else do we like ETP?...

$500 million in cash, $600 million left untapped in its unfinished revolving credit agreement. The company's also working on a joint venture with OGE Energy Corp. (OGE). It's going to knock off $500 million worth of debt from its revolver too.

ETP's last quarter was nothing short of spectacular... and they were real.

The company earned 93 cents per share, while the Street was only expecting 44 cents. Then, you probably ask plaintively, why has it been going down? It's the usual suspects!... It's heavily owned by hedge funds gone wild... and, of course now, gone belly up...

ETP got a couple of big projects down the road that should make it possible to keep growing its dividend distribution... These are 50/50 deals with Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP), which I also love. Now, KMP is a better company, but it's got the lesser yield... evil of two lessers... One of these joint ventures is to build a pipeline to connect Fayetteville Shale, that should be up and running in 2010. And the other is a 500-mile pipeline between Oklahoma and Alabama, that should be online in the second quarter of 2009.

One more thing...

Insiders... buying back stock on the market... right in the open market... hand over fist... Now, remember, the only reason insiders buy is because they think that they will make money.

Here's the bottom line...

The Bottom Line!:     There aren't a lot of great stocks to own in this market... but, if you want to try to make some money, and have a lovey blanket to boot... Energy Transfer Partners L.P. (ETP), with its mighty 11.8% yield, will pay you a lot of money just to own the stock. This is the kind of name that should let you get through the day unscathed, and hopefully have more money in your pocket, and hopefully allow your money to come out its Stearns and Foster or Sealy or Duxiana (mattress) and make a lot more money than you would in your mattress.

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