UAN Units: Bullish 10%-Yielder Hikes Quarterly Payout by 237%
November 6, 2025
CVR Partners Crushing the S&P 500?
Thanks to continued strong financial results, CVR Partners LP (NYSE:UAN) units have continued to have a strong year, hitting a new 52-week high of $98.99 on August 8. UAN units continue to trade near that level, at around $94.85.
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for UAN units, or the broader markets in general, in 2025. In early April, UAN took a big hit on concerns about what a trade war could do to the economy. However, the units quickly rebounded after investors came to their senses.
CVR Partners posted strong fourth-quarter and year-end, first- and second-quarter 2025, and third-quarter results. Ammonia demand for fall application has been robust and nitrogen fertilizer demand is also expected to remain high for the remainder of the year.
This has helped propel UAN significantly higher since early April. As of October 31, UAN units are up:
- 28% over the last six months
- 36% year to date
- 60% year over year
Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com
About CVR Partners LP
CVR Partners LP (NYSE:UAN) is America’s only petroleum coke-based nitrogen fertilizer producer. It’s 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 October 30, 2025.)
CVR Partners’ 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.
Its Coffeyville plant is the only such operation in North America that uses petroleum coke gasification to make hydrogen, a key ingredient in its manufacturing process. The limited partnership’s 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 to the soil as a nitrogen fertilizer or used as a building block to make other 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).
Yet Another Strong Quarter
Shareholders have to be loving the kind of year that CVR Partners is having. In late October, the company continued its year-to-date trend of reporting strong financial results. This included net income of $43.0 million, or $4.08 per common unit, a significant improvement over the $4.0 million, or $0.36 per unit, it recorded in the same prior-year period. (Source: “CVR Partners Reports Third Quarter 2025 Results,” CVR Partners LP, October 29, 2025.)
CVR Partners reported third-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $71.0 million, almost double the $36.0 million it reported in the third quarter of 2024. Net sales, meanwhile, were up 31% at $164.0 million.
Commenting on the results, Mark Pytosh, the company’s chief executive officer, said, “CVR Partners achieved strong results for the third quarter of 2025 driven by safe, reliable operations and a combined ammonia production rate of 95 percent.”
UAN Units: Quarterly Payout Increased 237% to $4.02/Unit
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. After announcing a 105% increase in its second-quarter payout, it announced a 237% year-over-year increase in the third quarter.
Management declared a third-quarter cash distribution of $4.02 per share, up from $1.19 per share in the third quarter of last year. This works out to an annual distribution of $9.09 per unit, for a forward distribution of approximately 10%. (Source: “Dividend History,” CVR Partners LP, last accessed October 30, 2025.)
The cash distribution will be paid on November 17, 2025, to common unitholders of record as of November 10, 2025.
The Lowdown on UAN Units
I’ve looked at CVR Partners before this year, and find that the company continues to go from strength to strength. It’s a cash cow with a strong balance sheet and keeps reporting solid financial results.
That momentum is expected to carry on. The company’s 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 UAN units and distribution payouts over the longer term.
