Oct 18 (Reuters) - Kinder Morgan’s deal to acquire El Paso will create the largest pipeline company in North America. The news sent a flurry of cash into smaller pipeline companies considered targets. But for most investors the natural gas sector is best looked at as an income source, not quick takeover profits, analysts say.Some may be lucky enough to cash in on stocks of unnoticed pipeline companies. But there are other options: Utilities and master limited partnerships (MLP) and ETFs that track them also could benefit from U.S. energy demand, analysts say.PIPELINE DEAL TARGETSAnalysts expect more deals among pipeline and natural gas companies, as well as utilities. Major oil companies producing shale gas and crude oil in areas with poor infrastructure need ways to get better access to consumer markets.”We’ve already seen a tremendous amount of M&A activity with both the Kinder Morgan announcement and … the Energy Transfer transaction as well,” said Dan Spears, partner at Swank Capital in Dallas. Energy Transfer Partners LP said Monday it would sell its propane operations to AmeriGas Partners LP for $2.8 billion.”It underscores the need for continued investment in the energy infrastructure sector,” Spears said.Companies with pipeline assets which also have significant yield include Atlas Pipeline Partners , up more than 30 percent so far in 2011 with a dividend yield of 5.82 percent.MLPs AND THEIR TRACKING ETFsMaster limited partnerships have been around for years but interest has grown in reliable yield, especially with other income products growing harder to find.The Kinder Morgan and El Paso deal underscores the solid income prospects for natural gas MLPs.The asset class is “a great source for companies investing in the energy infrastructure space” according to Swank Capital’s Spears.The fact that the assets underlying the business model are pipelines and storage facilities makes them a sound investment, he added.Jason Stevens, analyst at Morningstar in Columbus, Ohio, said MLPs, as a whole, are attractive “because of yield and growth and cash flow stability.”Underscoring their recent popularity, JPMorgan started coverage last Friday of U.S. MLPs with a positive view.MarkWest Energy Partners , up almost 8 percent this year and with a dividend yield at 6 percent, is one MLP that is already working for investors.Some analysts question whether it’s too late to jump in. But the dividends remain attractive and more deals could emerge, Stevens said.Another option: Exchange-traded funds tracking MLPs, including Alerian MLP ETF —with a projected yield above 6 percent according to Thomson Reuters data — and the Credit Suisse Cushing 30 MLP Index ETF .THE UTILITY ANGLEMany investors have been expecting further consolidation in utilities for years, or at least more sales of pipeline assets that utilities own.Think NiSource , a natural gas and energy utility with more than 15,000 miles of pipelines. It’s up almost 28 percent year-to-date and has a dividend yield above 4 percent.Another, Dominion Resources , is up more than 18 percent this year and offers a dividend yield of close to 4 percent.”For years midstream operators have been trying to buy up those assets but they’ve not come to market at a price that utilities are willing to part with them,” said Morningstar’s Stevens.Investors have the luxury of being paid a dividend while they wait to see if any value-enhancing takeovers take place.”Utility allocation makes all the sense in the world and it is one of the only places where you can also get yield,” said Christian Wagner, chief investment officer at Longview Capital Management in Wilmington, Delaware.He said a way to get dividend yield and capital appreciation is the Rydex S&P Equal Weight Utilities ETF . It’s up about 3 percent in value this year and has a projected yield of near 3.5 percent.”You get a lower dividend yield with RYU versus XLU (the utilities SPDR ETF ),” Wagner said. But,”the upside is better” for those seeking capital appreciation, he said.SERVICES COMPANIESThe fracking boom is another area to mine opportunity said Shawn Hackett, the president of Hackett advisors in Boynton Beach, Florida. The extraction method relies on hydraulics to reach hard-to-mine natural gas from pockets in the earth.His long-standing call: Water-services company Heckmann Corp . The water disposal company’s stock is up more than 14 percent this year.”If you’re going to be fracking you’re going to have to have a plan of how you’re going to dispose of the water,” Hackett said. He said authorities are concerned about the environmentally-safe handling of water used in the process.”If you don’t do that they’re not going to let you drill.”

* Financial adviser ranks up 475 to 16,722By Joseph A. GiannoneOct 18 (Reuters) - Volatile markets and souring mortgages slashed earnings by nearly a third at Bank of America’s wealth management businesses during the third quarter.BofA’s money management arm, which includes brokerage giant Merrill Lynch and private banking unit U.S. Trust, earned $347 million in the September quarter, down 31 percent from the second quarter, as potential mortgage losses prompted the bank to more than double the amount it set aside for possible future losses, to $162 million.Revenue from these businesses fell 5.8 percent to $4.23 billion in net revenue, reflecting what many strategists have called the most difficult market environment since 2008.The bank said customers withdrew a net $2.6 billion of “liquidity assets” such as money market funds during the quarter, but added $4.5 billion into stocks, bonds and other investments.Those in-flows helped propel asset management fees to a record $1.56 billion during the quarter.In its first earnings report after the abrupt departure of division president Sallie Krawcheck last month, BofA said Merrill Lynch third-quarter revenue slipped 1.9 percent from the second quarter, to $3.43 billion, while client balances fell 5.7 percent.Total client balances — brokerage assets, deposits and loans — at Merrill fell 6.3 percent to $2.06 trillion. mass-market audience.(To read about Bank of America’s company wide results, click on)BROKER RANKS RISEMerrill continued to make gains in recruiting. Its ranks of financial advisers rose by 475 to 16,722, second only to the roughly 17,800 advisers at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.Merrill’s adviser count includes trainees. It also includes the roughly 1,000 Merrill Edge associates who work in BofA branches and call centers targeting a less affluent, mass market audience.Per-adviser revenue production fell for a second straight quarter to an annualized $854,000, excluding Merrill Edge advisers. Merrill did not disclose the net addition or withdrawal of assets, a key measurement for brokerages.Compared with the year-earlier period, global wealth and investment management earnings rose 29 percent, and revenue rose 9 percent, on higher asset-management fees, interest income and commissions.U.S. stocks posted their worst quarter since 2008, hammered by Europe’s spreading debt crisis, a downgrade of the United States’ credit rating and a sluggish economy. The S&P 500 Index fell by more than 14 percent during the period.

* Stock dips after hours* Raises 2011 outlook (Adds details on results, stock move)Oct 17 (Reuters) - IBM’s third-quarter revenue met expectations as corporate spending on information technology held up in the face of economic worries, and the company bumped up its 2011 earnings outlook.U.S. economic concerns and a worsening European financial crisis have hurt consumer demand, but companies such as IBM which sell hardware and software for giant data centers powering the Internet have benefited from resilient enterprise spending.International Business Machines Corp said full-year diluted earnings would be at least $13.35 per share, up from its prior forecast of at least $13.25 in July.But the Armonk, New York-based company’s stock fell 2.46 percent to $182 in extended trade after closing down 2.07 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.Signings in the quarter were $12.3 billion, in line with some analysts’ expectations of $12 billion to $13 billion.Revenue rose 8 percent from a year earlier to $26.2 billion, in line with the average forecast of $26.26 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.IBM reported third-quarter profit, excluding items, of $3.28 per share, up 15 percent year over year.

Oct 12 (Reuters) - United Community Banks said it will record a special loan loss provision of $25 million in the third quarter, which will hurt its earnings for the period.The provision, which is related to the bank’s largest single loan relationship, will affect quarterly earnings by about 26 cents a share, the bank said in a statement.United Community now expects third-quarter earnings of 10 cents a share. Analysts on average were expecting the bank to earn 10 cents a share in the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.Shares of the company closed at $8.80 on Tuesday on Nasdaq.