EV Energy Partners: The Price Is Finally Right

EV Energy Partners (EVEP), an oil and gas MLP, has had a rocky road over the last year. After capitulating into the mid-40s last summer, as concerns over natural gas producers peaked, the units rocked back into the mid 60s by October as the optimism over their Ohio-Utica acreage soared. EVEP management added to the froth last year with hopes of $15,000 per acre and a deal in hand by year end. They own ~170k acres, mostly in the volatile-oil fairway, so this would have been a nice year-end bonus. When reality struck that a deal was not to be had so soon, management (and bullish investors) had to eat some humble pie with the realization that the...