CVR Partners Units Trading at Highest Level in 3 Years
Strong financial results continue to help propel CVR Partners LP (NYSE:UAN) stock considerably higher, hitting a new 52-week high of $95.00 on August 8. I’ve actually profiled CVR Partners a couple of times already this year, but the partnership continues to go from strength to strength.
Back in April, UAN stock took an oversized hit on concerns of what a trade war could do to the economy. But, the stock quickly rebounded after investors came to their senses. After all, CVR Partners posted strong fourth-quarter and year-end results, strong first- and second-quarter 2025 results, and expected nitrogen fertilizer demand to remain strong throughout the year.
This has helped propel UAN stock significantly higher since early April. As of this September 2 writing, UAN units are up:
- 12% over the last three months
- 26% over the last six months
- 29% year to date
- 41.5% year over year
Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com
About CVR Partners LP
CVR Partners LP, America’s only petroleum coke-based nitrogen fertilizer producer, is a limited partnership formed by CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI) to own, operate and grow its nitrogen fertilizer business. (Source: “Who We Are,” CVR Partners LP, last accessed September 2, 2025.)
Its nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing facilities, which are responsible for producing ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) fertilizers, are located in Coffeyville, Kansas, and East Dubuque, Illinois.
CVR Partners’ Coffeyville plant is the only such operation in North America that uses the petroleum coke gasification process to make hydrogen, a key ingredient in its manufacturing process. Its East Dubuque nitrogen fertilizer plant uses natural gas as its feedstock to produce nitrogen fertilizer.
Fertilizer-makers like CVR Partners take nitrogen out of the air and combine it with hydrogen, usually from natural gas, in order to make the nitrogen compound ammonia. Ammonia is either applied directly in the soil as a nitrogen fertilizer or used as a building block to make other nitrogen fertilizers. This includes urea, ammonium sulphate, and other water-based liquid nitrogen fertilizers.
On the topic of farming, the demand for corn is high in the U.S. because, in addition to corn on the cob, the crop has a large number of uses, including feed grain and fuel (ethanol).
Another Solid Quarter
CVR Partners reported another solid quarter for the period ended June 30, 2025. For the second quarter, it announced that net sales grew 27% on an annual basis to $169.0 million. (Source: “CVR Partners Reports Second Quarter 2025 Results,” CVR Partners LP, July 30, 2025.)
The company’s operating income advanced 38% to $46.3 million. Net income jumped 50% to $39.0 million, or $3.67 per unit. CVR reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rallied 24% to $67.0 million.
Commenting on the results, Mark Pytosh, the company’s chief executive officer, said, “CVR Partners achieved solid operating results for the second quarter of 2025 driven by safe, reliable operations and a combined ammonia production rate of 91 percent.”
UAN Stock: Quarterly Payout Upped by 105%
CVR Partners is a great option for income investors. This cash cow’s stated goal is to distribute all of the available cash it generates each quarter. That means its payout will vary due to factors such as operating performance, fluctuations in the prices of finished products, and maintenance capital expenditures.
Right now, things are going exceptionally well for CVR Partners. For the second quarter, it declared a payout of $3.89 per unit. That represents a 105% increase from the $1.90 per unit the company paid out in August 2024 and a 72% increase from the $2.26 per unit it paid out this past May.
For UAN unitholders, this works out to an annual distribution of $9.09 per unit for a forward dividend yield of 10.2%. (Source: “Dividend History,” CVR Partners LP, last accessed September 2, 2025.)
The Lowdown on UAN Stock
Liquid fertilizer stinks but CVR Partners LP doesn’t. It has a strong balance sheet and continues to report solid financial results. And that momentum is expected to continue. Management said that supply and demand balances for nitrogen fertilizer products remain tight and prices have remained strong through the end of the planting season.
This positive outlook could help energize CVR Partners’ units and distribution payouts over the longer term.