Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) reported earnings on April 29. Management reaffirmed their commitment to the distribution, which has been increased for 21 consecutive years:  Finally, I'd like to iterate our financial objectives as to defend and maintain our distribution, our strong balance sheet, and our debt rating; maintain ample liquidity; and continue to high-grade and invest in projects underwritten by high credit quality customers, long-term fee-based contracts, and underpinned by solid long-term fundamentals.– Co-CEO Randy Fowler However, Enterprise's high yield reflects the uncertain environment facing midstream services providers in the months ahead. Low commodity prices, limited storage, and coronavirus-related demand headwinds have caused oil and gas production to begin falling.

Federal Realty (FRT), owner of grocery-anchored shopping centers, reported earnings on Wednesday and revealed that only 53% of April rent was collected. The REIT's properties have long been a stable source of rental income due to their location in large, affluent markets like Silicon Valley and New York. Investments over the past twenty years in nearby office and residential complexes have made Federal Realty's shopping centers even more attractive to tenants. Indeed, Federal Realty's 52-year streak of annual dividend increases is a testament to the robust performance of the company's portfolio of properties. But the coronavirus pandemic is test like none other on the resilience of the firm's portfolio and, subsequently, the dividend.

On Monday, Realty Income (O) released earnings and reported that 83% of rent was collected in April. Given the circumstances, April rent collection was better than expected and beat that of all other retail REITs we've studied. Source: Company Press Releases The top four industries in Realty Income's portfolio have fared well during coronavirus-related shutdowns so far. Convenience stores (11.9% of rent), drug stores (9.0%), dollar stores (8.0%), and grocery stores (7.7%) all remain open and provide essential goods at low price points to consumers.

Leggett & Platt (LEG) has weathered many challenges over its 137-year existence while managing to increase its dividend for nearly 50 consecutive years. But the coronavirus pandemic could be a perfect storm for the dividend. After digesting the company's earnings call on Tuesday, we believe there is elevated risk that management could cut the dividend, potentially as soon as this month. Based on our analysis below, we are downgrading Leggett & Platt's Dividend Safety Score to Unsafe. Leggett & Platt's revenue reached a low point in the first week of April, down 60% versus the weekly average. Trends have been recovering since then, but sales in the third week of April were still down 45% compared to the weekly average. For [...]