Benzinga recently had the chance to speak with Dan Willard, executive director and portfolio manager at Pointe Capital Management, about MLPs.

The Alerian MLP AMLP 0.33%, which tracks the benchmark MLP index, is down 13.4 percent in 2015. Willard discussed whether the recent weakness in MLPs is a buying opportunity, what trends are currently happening in the MLP space and which MLPs have been outperforming their peers this year.

Time To Buy?

When Benzinga asked if the recent MLP weakness should be seen as a buying opportunity for investors, Willard pointed out just how much of an impact falling prices have had on MLP fundamentals.

“There’s currently a really good buying opportunity in MLPs, and if you look at the Alerian, we are currently at levels that haven’t been seen since 2010.”

He explained further, “During that same period, the distributions have increased by 58 percent.”

He added that this divergence between distribution levels and price has led to about a 30 percent reduction in the valuation multiples of MLPs.

Trends

Benzinga asked…

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