October 25, 2010: Five Overlooked Dividend-Rich Stocks

Investors are generally a creative lot. We yearn for our inner voice to approvingly utter the classic Indiana Jones line when the old knight tells Indiana Jones, upon selecting the correct chalice from the many pretenders, "You Have Chosen Wisely". But there is more to the passion for many. I enjoy reading old predictions from the likes of Barrons, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal and Money print media - and in retrospect find humor in how most did not stand the test of time. I also enjoy a few bloggers and journalists such as Roger Nusbaum and Malcolm Berko, and brief moments of the talking heads on CNBC and the Fox Business Channel (much improved in recent months with the addition of Charles Gasparino). Financial opinions and chatter, for me, is therapeutic. Saturday,I read an article touting a long term retirement portfolio strategy. While I did not agree with the allocation and diversification model, five securities appealed to me for high income with growth potential. Perhaps you may find them worthwhile to explore. Here they are:

Copano Enerrgy LLC (CPNO):Yielding 8.10% and trading at $28.60, this $1.9b energy company provides a myriad of essential and value-added midstream services to natural gas producers. Copano's hard assets include 6,400 miles of natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines and seven natural gas processing plants. CPNO also operates over 300 miles of NGL and crude oil pipelines. The company operates in Oklahoma, Texas and the Rocky Mountain region.

Atlas Pipeline Partners LP (APL):Yielding 7% and trading at $20.07, this $1.1b energy company is a provider of natural gas gathering services in the Anadarko and Permian Basins. It owns and operates eight natural gas processing plants with a capacity of over 900 million cubic feet/day and a treating facility with approximately 200 million cubic feet/day. It partners with other companies such as Laurel Mountain to leverage interests.

TC Pipelines LP (TCLP):Yielding 6.20% and trading at $48.43, this $3.2b company was formed by TransCanada Corporation to manage energy infrastructure businesses in North America. TCLP earns revenue from the transportation of natural gas through investments in natural gas pipeline systems in the United States, Eastern Canada and Mexico. Partners include the aforementioned TransCanada and other such as ONEOK Partners and the Northern Border Pipeline Company. It owns Tuscora Gas Transmission Company and North Baja Pipeline.


Compass Diversified (CODI):Yielding 8.22% and trading at $16.55, this $691m company acquires controlling interests in businesses and actively manages them. CODI has six business segments, Compass AG Holdings, American Furniture Manufacturing, Fox Factory, Anodyne Medical Devices, HALO Branded Solutions, and CBS Personal Holdings.Recent acquisitions include Liberty Safe and Security Products and Circuit Express.

PennantPark (PNNT):Yielding 9.37% and trading at $11.10, this $351m company is a closed end, eternally managed non-diversified investment company. The investment objectives are to generate both current income and capital appreciation through debt and equity investments, primarily in the United States using such techniques as mezzanine debt, senior secured loans and equity investments.