Buckeye Partners Misses on Q4 Earnings, but Raises Dividend

Shares of Buckeye Partners ended the day higher after the company released its Q4 and fiscal 2013 results. For the quarter, it brought in $1.66 billion in revenue, a notable improvement from the $1.12 billion in the same period last year. Attributable net swung to a loss, however, at $83 million ($0.73 per diluted unit) against the Q4 2012 profit of $35 million ($0.35). Analysts were expecting a per-unit profit of $0.84 on revenue of $1.2 billion.

Much of the Q4 2013 loss was due to a $169 million asset impairment. Factoring that out of results yields attributable income from continuing operations of $87 million ($0.75 per diluted unit), vastly higher than the year-ago quarter's $33 million ($0.32).

For the full year, top line was $5.05 billion, versus $4.29 billion in 2012. Attributable net fell to $160 million ($1.49 per diluted unit) from the year-ago tally of $226 million ($2.32).

The company also announced that its quarterly distribution has been raised by nearly 5% compared to the preceding payout. The new amount, $1.0875 per unit, will be paid on Feb. 25 to holders of record as of Feb. 18.

Following the announcement of the results and the higher dividend, Buckeye Partners' units advanced by 2%, or $1.15, to close the day at $73.03 per unit.