ClearBridge Energy Midstream Opportunity Fund Inc (EMO)

I rate EMO a strong buy due to its focused exposure to booming natural gas exports and resilient midstream infrastructure, supporting both income and growth. The fund's concentrated portfolio targets fee-based energy infrastructure, offering stable cash flows and capital appreciation, while trading at a 4.4% NAV discount. Despite a lower yield than peers, EMO's lower adjusted expense ratio and strong historical performance make it attractive for long-term investors.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Category: Financials.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Category: Financials.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Category: Financials.

ClearBridge Energy Midstream Opportunity Fund offers high-yield exposure to both midstream corporations and MLPs, balancing income and capital appreciation. Recent political shifts and sector developments favor midstream growth, but falling oil prices and U.S. production cuts may limit near-term upside. The fund's portfolio now emphasizes natural gas-focused names, which should help offset oil-related headwinds and support distribution stability.

Midstream energy CEFs have underperformed expectations, due to global economic uncertainty, falling oil prices, and recent tariff concerns. Most funds (EMO, KYN, SRV) are rated Hold, due to narrowing discounts, declining NAVs, and ongoing volatility in energy demand. NML stands out with a wider-than-average discount and rebounding NAV, making it a potential Buy, but short-term risks remain.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Category: Distribution Related.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Category: Financials.

For income investors, closed-end funds remain an attractive investment class that covers various asset classes and promises high distributions and reasonable total returns. Closed-end funds, or CEFs, are generally characterized by higher volatility and deeper drawdowns than the broader market. For these reasons, they are not suited for everyone. In this monthly series, we highlight five CEFs with solid track records that pay high distributions and offer "excess" discounts. We try to separate the wheat from the chaff using our filtering process to select just five CEFs every month from around 500closed-end funds.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Category: Fund Announcement.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Category: Financials.

Midstream energy CEFs like KYN, NML, SRV, and EMO offer high yields, leverage benefits, and avoid K-1 tax issues, making them attractive for income-oriented investors. ClearBridge Energy Midstream Opportunity Fund — EMO — has shown significant NAV growth, but its market price remains discounted; it's best held in tax-deferred accounts due to its dividend income classification. The energy sector, particularly midstream companies, is set to benefit from rising natural gas demand and pro-oil policies, with strong prospects for continued growth in 2025.

The energy sector seems to be in constant boom or bust, resulting in wildly swinging performance from year to year relative to most other sectors. That said, energy is still essential for civilization to function and that requires ways to produce and move it. Today, we are comparing several closed-end funds in the energy infrastructure space, including a few that are more heavily focused on MLPs.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Category: Financials.

The energy sector, particularly midstream companies, is set to benefit from Trump's pro-oil and gas policies, boosting fossil fuel investments. Midstream companies like Energy Transfer are experiencing significant growth due to rising natural gas demand from power plants and data centers. Investing in CEFs holding midstream assets offers high yields, leverage benefits, and avoids K-1 tax issues, making them attractive for income-oriented investors.

The ClearBridge Energy Midstream Opportunity Fund is a very popular fund that helps investors get a very high yield without tax problems. The fund boasts a 9.24% yield at the current share price, which is higher than most of its peers. EMO makes no attempt to invest in the "energy transition" or "clean power," which is nice given the economic problems facing that sector.