Energy Transfer LP Unit (NYSE:ET): The Best Undervalued Energy Stock to Buy in 2024?

We recently published a list of 10 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire Leon Cooperman. Since Energy Transfer LP Unit (NYSE:ET) ranks 5th in the list, it deserves a deeper look.

Billionaire Leon Cooperman made headlines in April when he predicted during an interview with CNBC that the US is headed for a financial crisis. Cooperman, who calls himself a “capitalist with a heart,” said that the Federal Reserve kept interest rates near zero, but raised them dramatically in a period of 12 months. Still, the 81-year-old billionaire sees no signs that the economy is “restrictive,” as he pointed to stock market highs and speculation. The  Omega Family Office chairman and CEO expects “one or two” rate cuts this year. He emphasized that the market remains overvalued.

This isn’t the first time Cooperman warned the market about recession. In February last year, the billionaire said that the market was headed for a recession, and noted that the S&P 500 high of about 4,800 recorded in 2022 could “stand for some time.” In July 2022, while talking to Bloomberg, Cooperman said that he was “shocked” that interest rates were so low.

“I am of the view that equities are the best house in the financial asset in the neighborhood, but I don’t like the neighborhood, for a lot of reasons.”

Cooperman in the Bloomberg interview in 2022 had categorically said that sooner or later the strong dollar, prices of oil and the Fed would “lead us into a recession.” He went on to add that recession would be a “2023 event” and predicted that the market would bottom somewhere near 35% to 45% below its peak of 4800.

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The billionaire had said that he would be “very surprised” if we were to see another bull market anytime soon, given his view that we’ve had one of the biggest bull runs driven by FAANG, SPACs, and speculation. The AI revolution that started in 2023 was indeed a shocker for Cooperman as his recession predictions were proven wrong.

For this article, we scanned billionaire Cooperman’s Q1’2024 portfolio and chose his top 10 dividend stock picks. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Energy Transfer LP Unit (NYSE:ET)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 32

Billionaire Leon Cooperman’s Stake: $189,708,519

Billionaire Leon Cooperman bought a stake in Energy Transfer LP Unit (NYSE:ET) back in the second quarter of 2017. Since then the billionaire has added to his position in Energy Transfer LP Unit (NYSE:ET), ending the March 2024 quarter with a $190 million stake. Energy Transfer LP Unit (NYSE:ET) accounts for about 7% of Omega Advisors’ Q2 portfolio.

Last month, Bank of America published a list of stocks poised to benefit from the electrification theme of future technology, driven by AI, data centers and push for electrification. BofA picked Energy Transfer LP Unit (NYSE:ET) for this theme under the oil and gas category.

Energy Transfer LP Unit (NYSE:ET) remains one of the most notable players in the industry. During the March quarter, all segments of Energy Transfer grew, with net income and adjusted EBITDA increasing by 11% and 13% on a YoY basis, respectively.  The company saw record volumes in its crude pipeline segment.

Energy Transfer LP Unit (NYSE:ET) bulls also argue that just 10% of the company’s business is exposed to the volatile commodities sector.  The company has also raised its full-year 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance. The company expects the metric to total in the range of $15.0 billion and $15.3 billion, compared to the previous range of between $14.5 billion and $14.8 billion.

Energy Transfer’s earnings are expected to grow 13% next year and 15% over the next five years on a per-annum basis. The stock’s forward P/E of 9.42 is still lower than the industry median 11.88, which makes the stock undervalued given ET’s growth projections.

Silver Beech Capital made the following regarding Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) owns and operates the largest and most balanced collection of energy infrastructure assets in the United States. ET’s assets include 125,000 miles of oil and natural gas pipelines, export facilities on both the Gulf Coast and East Coast, and more than 1 million barrels per day of natural gas liquid fractionation capacity. ET accounts for 20% of worldwide natural gas liquid exports. Further, ET is uniquely connected to every major hydrocarbon basin in the United States.

By assembling energy infrastructure to gather, process, transport, and store hydrocarbons, ET connects exploration and production companies (“E&Ps”) with downstream end users such as gas stations, utilities, and export facilities. As an end-to-end midstream solution, ET enables its customers to focus on their portion of the value chain without the burden of significant but essential midstream logistics. ET’s services thus add tremendous value to all constituents of the energy marketplace.

Though natural gas is a relatively clean source of fuel, restrictive federal and state regulations and other permissions severely restrict the building of natural gas pipelines and other infrastructure in North America that would help facilitate abundant hydrocarbon production. Pipelines are by far the cheapest and greenest method of transporting hydrocarbons; pipelines reduce emissions from truck transport and reduce congestion on highways, rail, and shipping routes…” (Click here to read the full text)

Overall, Energy Transfer LP Unit (NYSE:ET) ranks 5th in Insider Monkey’s list of the 10 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire Leon Cooperman. You can visit the 10 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy According to Billionaire Leon Cooperman to see the other Billionaire Leon Cooperman's 2024 stocks that are on his radar. While we acknowledge the potential of Energy Transfer LP Unit (NYSE:ET), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than Energy Transfer LP Unit (NYSE:ET) but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.