GLP

Global Partners is a Northeast-anchored fuel logistics and retail MLP — 1,524 gasoline stations plus a Maine-to-Florida terminal network — that moved $18.0B of refined products in 2025. The model is a high-volume, razor-thin-margin passthrough: $8.71B revenue but only 12.2% gross margin, 2.7% operating margin and 1.1% net margin. The headline attraction is valuation: at $47.17 the units fetch just 0.2x sales and roughly 16x the $98M of net income, while FY2025 operating cash flow of $285M (up sharply off a depressed 2024) comfortably covered the $91.5M of capex. As an MLP this is fundamentally an income vehicle, and the durable terminal footprint plus the October 2025 Gulf Coast marine-fuel expansion give it a defensible, fee-and-spread-driven base.

The problem is the earnings trajectory and the balance sheet. Net income has fallen every year since the 2022 commodity boom — $362M (2022) → $153M → $110M → $98M (-11.2% YoY) — even as revenue flatlined at +0.3%, so this is margin/spread erosion, not growth. Leverage is heavy: $3.18B of liabilities against only ~$670M of implied equity and a razor-thin $12.2M cash balance, and the June 2025 refinancing swapped 7.00% 2027 notes for $450M of 7.125% notes due 2033 — locking in slightly higher interest cost. Management's own risk factors lead with the warning that it 'may not have sufficient cash from operations to... maintain distributions on our common units at current levels,' alongside preferred-unit obligations, covenant/borrowing-base limits and GP conflicts of interest.