MLPs: good choice for growth & income

Article Excerpt

Buckeye Partners and Cedar Fair are master limited partnerships (MLPs). Investors who hold their units have similar rights to ownership and dividends as common shareholders in regular corporations. MLPs pay out most of their income to investors. That lets them avoid federal and state income taxes. In Canada, MLPs are not eligible for RRSPs or RRIFs. So you’ll be subject to a 35% U.S. withholding tax on income from these investments. However, you can usually claim a non-refundable Canadian tax credit to offset that U.S. withholding tax. BUCKEYE PARTNERS L.P. $67 (New York symbol BPL; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Units outstanding: 51.6 million; Market cap: $3.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 5.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.buckeye.com) operates over 8,700 kilometres of pipelines in the northeastern and midwestern U.S. These lines pump gasoline, jet fuel and other petroleum products. Buckeye also owns oil and natural-gas storage terminals and other related businesses. In the three months ended September 30, 2010, Buckeye earned $0.93 a unit,…