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“The Biggest Back-up of Crude in North American History – Paying Out One of the Highest Dividends I’ve Ever Seen” (Keith Schaefer)

By Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe, December 5, 2012

Keith Schaefer got some attention from us a few weeks ago when he was teasing a play on natural gas liquids (NGLs), but we’re going back to the well here because we’ve gotten a bunch of questions about his latest tease … and because we’re curious ourselves about what this 33% dividend yield is that he’s pitching.

OK, so that’s the royal “We”. But still, I’m curious. And maybe the dog at my feet is curious too. So what’s Schaefer using as bait now as he fishes for new subscribers to his Oil and Gas Investments Bulletin?

Well, I’ll give you half the answer up front: It’s a refinery stock. And it’s apparently making a helluva lot of money because distillates and refined products are priced off of WTI, but they can buy heavy oil and North Dakota oil much cheaper than WTI because of where they’re located … presumably somewhere in the midwest. And frankly, he gives not so many really precise or helpful clues, so we might have to do some educated guessing to narrow down the Thinkolator’s results.

Here’s how he entices us:

“The Biggest Back-up of Crude in North American History

“It Has Created a Virtual ‘Cash Machine’ – Paying Out One of the Highest Dividends I’ve Ever Seen….

“North America is swimming in oil. Every day I read more stories about how the Shale Revolution is creating new oil plays.

“I live in Canada, and the oil sands production is also booming. Tens of billions in new spending is happening up there every year.

“So with all this new oil supply, simple economics says it should cost a lot less to fill up my tank now.

“Instead, gasoline costs almost as much now, with oil at $85-$90 per barrel, as it did in 2008 when oil was $147 a barrel!

“So I dug in and found out why that’s happening. And I realized this was one of the biggest, long-term trends I have ever seen in the energy patch…

“To the point where I immediately put a quarter million dollars of my own money into my new #1 pick. I even added another $20,000 a month later. I may add more yet.”

This is a story we’ve heard before in a few different ways — it’s basically about how the booming production from the Bakken and from Canada is largely landlocked, not easily connected to export markets or even to the big refining centers on the Gulf Coast. That’s part of the argument for the Keystone Pipeline extension, that we need new infrastructure to move the oil South so it can be refined and put into the pipelines or exported — the infrastructure is largely set up to move imports from Texas and Louisiana up to population centers, not to move it from North Dakota or Alberta down to Oklahoma and Texas.

So that gives pricing advantages to refiners who can buy in North Dakota, create value-added products in their refineries, and ship them to folks who base their pricing on seaborne oil prices. If you’re not familiar with the broader dynamic, West Texas Intermediate, WTI, is the price set on the US futures exchanges for delivery in Cushing, Oklahoma; Brent Crude is the price set on global exchanges for oil that’s tanker-ready, WTI used to trade at a premium when the US was importing more and more and more, now Brent trades at a premium as we need to import less and import demand is higher in Asia and elsewhere.

He’s teasing this refiner that’s in the crosshairs of Canadian heavy crude and Bakken crude, and can refine either and buy it cheap(er), and he says they pay an astounding dividend:

“I expect this company’s dividend to be the single most lucrative payout I’ve ever enjoyed.

“On top of that, a ‘normal’ yield would mean close to a double for the stock.

“You see, the stock now pays an astronomical yield: a staggering 33%. I was paid 8% in my first quarter.

“I figured out the yield – roughly – months ago… before the company released news.

“And – even with the yield this high, I consider this one of the safest—and most transparent – stocks I’ve ever invested in.”

OK, so … safe, transparent, and a 33% yield? Now you see why my dog was so curious.

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Here’s a bit more:

“Here are the 4 key facts I’ve learned so far in my research:

  • North America is producing so much oil that its benchmark price, WTI, now trades at a $10-$15 discount to international prices—called Brent.
  • But within North America, Bakken oil and Canadian heavy oil are even cheaper—sometimes it’s as little as half the Brent price!
  • The rest of the world is willing to pay Brent prices for our cheap energy. And we’re exporting lots of it—more and more every year.
  • That’s raising the price of U.S. distillates, forcing American consumers to pay higher prices to fill up our cars and heat our homes.

“These 4 big trends have me convinced one company will benefit as much or more than any other….

“This company doesn’t own and operate oil wells … they own and operate an oil refinery.

“A few special refineries are making money hand over fist.

“You see, the cheaper refineries can buy crude, and the more money they can sell their refined products for, the more profits they make.

“It’s a simple, age-old, common-sense formula for making money: ‘buy low, sell high.’

“Right now, this refinery company is buying crude at about the lowest prices you can get.

“That’s because of their location, which allows them to purchase and refine the cheapest crude oil in the world….

“It’s Where 2 Massive ‘Rivers of Oil’ Meet—Canadian Heavy Oil and Bakken Light Oil….

“This junction is the perfect place—the best spot in all of North America—for my high-yielding investment.

“Several refineries in this sector are unbelievable cash machines right now.”

It’s all a very nice story, but we don’t get many clues — there are, after all, quite a few refineries out there in the middle of the country or thereabouts. Can we glean enough data to feed to the Thinkolator?

Here’s a bit more:

“It Is a Free Cash Flow-Generating Machine….

“The stock is up 20% since I bought it a few weeks ago. But I think it has a LONG way to go….

“Now, The Street says refineries will become a lot less profitable as new pipelines are built to deliver all the new oil.

“They say all those new pipelines will relieve the pressure of the oil backup that is now happening at Cushing, Oklahoma—the largest oil storage hub of the US.

“But their predictions about oil prices have been less than accurate….

“The Street said the WTI-Brent spread would lessen when the Seaway — the 669-mile pipeline from the Gulf Coast to Cushing, carrying crude oil from South Texas — reversed the direction of its oil flow in early 2012.

“Instead, the spread got bigger….

“There isn’t a lot of refinery capacity for light oil. But my #1 refinery stock can handle it and heavy Canadian crude….

So … enough for the Thinkolator? I think so, but just barely — we have an answer, and I’m pretty sure it’s correct, but I can’t tell you that it’s 100% certain. Schaefer must be teasing … Northern Tier Energy Limited Partners (NTI), which is a newly public MLP.

And … I have to leave you with just a few thoughts on NTI for today, so you can do some cogitationizing on it for yourself. This is a venture-backed MLP that went public earlier this year at a price far below what they expected (around $14, they had been shooting for $20). They own a refinery and gas station/retail outlets — they own one refinery, in Minnesota, and a chain of convenience stores across Minnesota and Wisconsin. The convenience stores are almost immaterial at this point, but must provide some decent cash flow at times when refining is a lousy business (ie, when the crack spread is low). They have not guided on what their dividend will be going forward, but their first dividend, for the third quarter, was a massive one of $1.48 — which does indeed annualize out to a huge yield of almost 25% now (it would have been 33% if Schaefer bought during the initial run up after the IPO, which he could certainly have done a few months ago). They seem to be paying out the cash as it comes in, not trying to annualize their expected cash flow, so it looks like most analysts must be expecting the full year dividend to be well below the $6 that the first payout would indicate — I guess Schaefer’s argument is probably that the crack spread for their product is so good, with their cheap oil input price, that they’ll maintain an extremely high payout to unitholders.

So there you have it — it’s an MLP, which creates its own issues when it comes to taxation and regulation, which we’ve talked about before, and requires some additional recordkeeping, and it pays out a lot of cash. The big picture argument, that some midwestern refiners are generating huge profit margins (big “crack spreads”, as they say) is a reasonable one, but I don’t know much about this new venture-controlled MLP. They are very small, with the one refinery generating essentially all of their cash, they are controlled by TPG (the venture fund that bought the refinery and other assets from Marathon Oil a couple years ago), the cash from the IPO did not go to the company to fund growth or acquisitions (it looks like it went to cover derivative losses and debt), so I don’t imagine they’ll be making big moves in the near future to change the business, and I have no idea how much the company should be worth. TPG apparently paid much less than a billion for the assets in 2010 and the MLP is now valued at over $2 billion, but those may not be like-for-like comparisons. Indications are that other analysts expect substantially lower payouts in future quarters, but even a much lower payout could easily provide a 10-12% yield, which might be enough to get investors interested in this yield-starved climate.

I’m going to try to take a deeper look at this one, since I haven’t looked very closely at the recent crop of “riskier” MLP IPOs and there’s probably some interesting stuff in there, but that’s all I know on this one so far.

So whaddya think? Want to buy and hope that their yield stays huge on the back of their refining margins? Let us know with a comment below.

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Andy Zito
Member
Andy Zito
December 5, 2012 4:35 pm

I would like to suggest that you also see this article:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1039431-my-must-own-17-dividend-yield-equity

Todd Johnson does and excellent breakdown of this promising equity.

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Anna Duguid
Member
December 5, 2012 4:35 pm

MLPs sound terrific however, not familiar with the withholding tax and recooperation – if any. I have an MLP in my rrsp account and have a hefty 40%(almost) withholding and understand I cannot receive any back. Any comments.

george.h
george.h
December 5, 2012 4:40 pm

The royal “we”? No, not for you, Mr. Gumshoe. Mark Twain said, “‘We’ is for kings, for editors, and for people with tape worms.” That’s it.
george

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Rori
Member
Rori
December 5, 2012 4:53 pm

This yield mentioned has been taken by multiplying 1 qtr dividend by 4. This is a one refinery company earning on the Crack spread, pays out most if not all earnings, and does not guarantee any level of dividend with will vary wildly along with its profitability as the industry spreads change. With these looking firm as we go into Q4 there is maybe a decent Q4 dividend, giving a decent yield but maybe as much as half that suggested over all. The main point is that the dividend is variable, so if debt needs repaying, the management want to invest etc, the payout will also be far less than suggested. This is a long way from a transparent 33% yield. Take care

Rori
Member
Rori
December 5, 2012 4:57 pm

Even better! – I see above Andy Zito has posted a link to an excellent article with good analysis on this

Judy Appleton
Guest
Judy Appleton
December 5, 2012 5:05 pm

If we go off the fiscal cliff, dividends could go to 25% tax, Capital gains cold go to 44.3%, there it is suggested we buy MLPs, they do not go through the IRS. You just need to keep records on them for taxes, if necessary. I have a Roth, so I do not bother anymore. MLP Piplines, timberland, partnerships.

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tim
Member
tim
December 9, 2012 8:47 pm
Reply to  Judy Appleton

I DONT ALSO !!!!!!!!!!

Lawson Broadeick
Member
Lawson Broadeick
December 5, 2012 5:15 pm

The 33% dividend sure got my attention if it is true.

tim
Member
tim
December 9, 2012 8:49 pm

Look at ADVDX..it has a 33% Div to but it went from $9 a share to $4 now NOT GOOD

Sharon Logue
Member
Sharon Logue
December 5, 2012 5:35 pm

I read the Todd Johnson article, and the option activity is interesting. There’s high volume open interest on the December 22 Strike 22.5 calls, (1,438 December 22, strike 25 -1,156 calls) as well as higher open interest on the December 22.5, 20, 17.5 strike puts. Option traders are are looking for a short term pop, followed by a drop, or an opportunity to buy this stock at the 20 strike sold put or maybe the 17.5 strike in January. March 13 22.5 Strike calls have double the open interest- 2,262 open interest,which is probable covered calls. Chaiken Money Flow has been negative from October 15, till the present. NTI looks well hedged in a tight range. June 13 calls are 452 open interest on the 25 strike., probable covered calls, paying $120- $180/ contract. There’s 5 bullish indicators since 11/29.
Right now, it looks like an option play, with seasonal run -up toward the dividend.

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DP
Guest
DP
December 5, 2012 9:31 pm

I got an email from this guy today talking about a canadian company that he had put a 160k in. A natural gas company, that had wet gas and C-5. Does anyone know what company he is talking about?

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DP
Guest
DP
December 5, 2012 9:34 pm

This was the title of the article.

What a Billionaire Oilman Just Bought Into

Patty
Member
Patty
December 5, 2012 10:12 pm

Indeed, I just checked the Schwab site and NTI is paying a 37.94% dividend, a projected $1.35 quarterly dividend in Feb. And, it’s an MLP!! I take a look at my portfolio–could my guru have missed this? Nah–I already own 1000 shares. The guy always ahead of the curve. “If you’re reading about it, it’s old news”. I think I should buy some more.

Patty
Member
Patty
December 5, 2012 10:29 pm

If you’re interested, ‘N’s’ latest pic is Alon USA , an oil and gas consumables LP. No dividend yet. I also like CIM at over 13%. Wanta play–buy FTTN @ 1 and sell @ 7, or buy Aurcana (aunff) for under a buck and sell at 5.

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petergregg
petergregg
December 6, 2012 1:43 am

It was satisfying to see a stock I found last week getting pubicity this week. It means I am doing something right 🙂 I am new to the dividend type of investing but I found Ameritrade allows my dividends to automatically be turned over to stock with no commisions or charges.
I used the tool to search out stocks with Ameritrades new stock screener and that is how I found this stock.
It doesn’t give the information though to the frequancy or amount of dividens for next year or if they doubled up before 2012 is over. I bought some of it anyway as it at least holds some hope as a good one.

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Robert Fioravanti
Guest
Robert Fioravanti
December 6, 2012 8:39 am

Oil drillers are not languishing waiting for pipelines. They are using “unit trains” otherwise known as “railing” which can transport as much as 80K barrels per trip.

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Robert J. Schaefer
Member
Robert J. Schaefer
December 6, 2012 5:32 pm

Travis, “Stock Gumshoe”, is a great, informative source of info. have a great admiration of your opinions and writings. Accordingly, your review & opinion of an “issue” just released in THE DAILY RECKONING——-“The Fuse Is Lit”!!!!! Cheers, R.J.S.

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Thommo
Member
Thommo
December 7, 2012 12:36 pm

Hi Travis. I’m in Australia and unsure about the tax implications of an MLP but liked the story so I did a search on Canadian refineries and came up with Husky, T.HSU. It is more conventional with a nicely rising price. What would the mighty thinkolator think of that?

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Thommo
Member
Thommo
December 7, 2012 12:39 pm
Reply to  Thommo

That was T.HSE of course. Sorry.

don
Member
don
December 9, 2012 1:30 am

WITH AN IPO IN AUGUST & FIRST DIVIDEND IN NOVEMBER I’M GOING TO WATCH NTI FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS BEFORE I DIG IN.

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blufox
December 14, 2012 8:59 pm

I looked at this a couple of weeks ago when one of my scans via Worden brought it up. I decided having only one refinery is too much of a risk as refineries oftimes have problems and have to halt production. I currently own CLMT, PSX as well as some major oils.

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