Faerbertom;
You are missing a whole lot. Marklibera's post is a great place to start to understand what kind of an investment NRGY is. The basic business model of a Master Limited Partnership, and the accounting methods, are fundamentally different than a publicly traded stock corporation. I suggest you read one of the great primers available on "what is an MLP" to get some background, and then come back and look at NRGY with an improved set of analytical tools.
The industry group (National Association of Publicly Traded Partnerships...NAPTP) has a couple of primers available on their website under "PTP 101" (the Wachovia Ver III is a great place to start):
http://www.naptp.org/Navigation/PTP101/P...

The most relevant single performance metric for an MLP is the DCF/distribution ratio, known as the coverage ratio. The coverage ratio is a short hand metric that is viewed as serving the same purpose as a P/E ratio. With the latest distribution announcement, NRGY is at 1.0x (DCF = $2.72, dist = .675/quarter, or $2.70 indicated annually). These are the #s to consider when worrying about whether they are paying out more than they are making (which the distribution/earnings comparison you made would make you wonder about). And never loose sight of the history of increasing distributions, with an expectation of continuation of that. In the past year the NRGY dist. went up by 6,3%, and Wells Fargo forecasts it will go up an average of 6.7%/year over the next 3 years (i.e., a 3-yr CAGR = 6.7%). A coverage ratio > 1.0x, and forecasted dist. increases are the lifeblood of an MLP.

IMHO the general partner of NRGY, traded as NRGP, is even a more attractive investment, but there is no free lunch. NRGP thrives if NRGY thrives, but will suffer more if NRGY falters. Disclosure: I own a wee piece of NRGP, but not NRGY.