Updating our Income Stocks Buckeye Partners L.P., H.J. Heinz Co. and Windstream Corp.

Article Excerpt

BUCKEYE PARTNERS L.P. $43 earned $40.9 million in the second quarter of 2008, up 18.6% from $34.5 million a year earlier. Per-unit earnings were unchanged at $0.70 due to more units outstanding. Acquisitions pushed revenue up to $492.5 million from $125.0 million. Buckeye also increased its quarterly distribution by 1.5%. The new annual rate of $3.45 yields 8.0%. Buy. H.J. HEINZ CO. $52 reported higher earnings in its first fiscal quarter ended July 30, 2008, mostly due to strong sales in emerging markets such as India and Indonesia. Earnings in the quarter grew 14.3%, to $0.72 a share from $0.63 a year earlier. Sales rose 15.6%, to $2.6 billion from $2.25 billion. Buy. WINDSTREAM CORP. $12 continues to lose telephone customers to cable companies. However, the rate is slowing. Meanwhile, the company continues to sign up new high-speed Internet customers. Just 44% of its residential telephone customers have high-speed service, so there’s plenty of room to grow. The company also plans to…