I’ve finally got the chance to take a look at the Kinder Morgan consolidation, and am finally getting around to that promised post on the deal. The Kinder Morgan investments have fascinated me for awhile because it’s probably the highest-quality American firm that never quite reached blue-chip status in the eyes of the casual investing public. It’s always been seen as a few notches below Exxon, Chevron, and Conoco.
If I had to guess why that perception exists, my speculation would be that people think “Kinder came from Enron. Enron bad. Used to be friends with Ken Lay. Therefore, Kinder-Morgan will eventually blow up.” Even though most people would agree that guilt by association logic is bunk, it has probably crept into the analysis of Kinder Morgan (perhaps even non-deliberately).
For those of you who haven’t followed Kinder Morgan’s growth in the past two decades, the firm is often-cited as … Read the rest of this article!