3 High-Yield Pipeline Stocks to Buy Now and Hold Forever

Midstream companies charge upstream extraction companies and downstream refining companies to deliver natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, and other refined products through their pipelines. By controlling that infrastructure, pipeline companies operate a simple "toll road" model that is well-insulated from volatile commodity prices. It also generates substantial cash flow, enabling it to pay higher yields than most conventional energy companies.

Let's review three high-yield pipeline stocks ideal for long-term investors: Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD), Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET), and Enbridge (NYSE: ENB).

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The MLPs: Enterprise Products and Energy Transfer

Enterprise Products and Energy Transfer are both master limited partnerships (MLPs) that mix a return of capital with their own income to pay tax-efficient distributions rather than conventional dividends. By investing in an MLP, you technically become a partner (who owns units) instead of a conventional shareholder (who holds shares). That key difference can reduce your taxes on the income you receive, but it must be reported separately on a K-1 form.

Enterprise Products operates over 50,000 miles of pipeline across 27 states. Energy Transfer, which expanded aggressively over the past few years by gobbling up smaller midstream players, operates more than 140,000 miles of pipeline across 44 states.

Enterprise Products pays a forward yield of 5.5%, while Energy Transfer pays an even higher 6.7% yield. As MLPs, both companies need to generate enough distributable cash flow (DCF) to cover their total distributions. In 2025, Enterprise Products generated an operational DCF of $7.9 billion, easily covering its $4.8 billion in distributions. Energy Transfer delivered a comparable "adjusted" DCF of $8.2 billion to cover its $4.6 billion in distributions.

In other words, they can afford to raise their distributions for the foreseeable future. Energy Transfer has only raised its distributions annually for five consecutive years, but Enterprise Products has increased its payout for 28 straight years.

Both companies are expanding in the Permian Basin and other resource-rich regions as they export more natural gas products overseas. Both stocks are also cheap relative to their earnings per unit (EPU). As of this writing, Enterprise Products and Energy Transfer trade at about 14 times and 13 times their current-year EPU estimates, respectively.

The non-MLP leader: Enbridge

If you don't want to deal with separate K-1 forms every year, Enbridge -- which operates as a standard Canadian corporation instead of an MLP -- might be the better investment. Enbridge's entire transmission network (including pipelines and smaller feeder lines) exceeds 70,000 miles across North America. It transports about 30% of the crude oil produced in North America and roughly 20% of all natural gas consumed in the United States.

Enbridge, like its MLP peers, is benefiting from the rapid expansion of the power-hungry cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI), and data center markets. It's securing more natural gas contracts, operating its oil pipelines at full capacity, and continues to expand by acquiring utility giants like Dominion Energy. Construction of Line 5 -- a controversial pipeline that faced persistent regulatory challenges in Michigan and Wisconsin -- also started recently after years of delays.

Enbridge offers an attractive forward dividend yield of 5.2% and has raised that payout for 31 consecutive years. In 2025, its total dividend payments only accounted for about two-thirds of its DCF of $12.5 billion (CAD). It still looks reasonably valued at 25 times this year's earnings, but it's not as undervalued as Enterprise Products or Energy Transfer. Its earnings and dividends might face some near-term pressure from a stronger dollar, but those headwinds should ease over the next few years as the macro environment stabilizes again.

Leo Sun has positions in Energy Transfer. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Enbridge. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.