FeedPosted Mar 10th 2011 8:50AM by Jason Raznick (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the Bell, International Markets, Starbucks (SBUX), Chevron Corp (CVX), Valero Energy (VLO)

U.S. stock futures are lower this morning, after the drop in Asian and European markets, due to worse-than-expected Chinese trade data. Futures on the
Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 47 points to 12,127.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index fell 7 points to 1,308.40. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 15 points to 2,295.50.
Overseas, negative sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.69%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 1.10%.
Continue reading Stock Futures Lower Following Asia and Europe Declines
Posted Feb 16th 2011 11:30AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), Best Buy (BBY), Family Dollar Stores (FDO), Research in Motion (RIMM), Gap Inc (GPS), Marriott Intl'A' (MAR), Analyst Initiations, Valero Energy (VLO), Eaton Corp (ETN)
Analyst Upgrades
- Research In Motion (RIMM) to buy from sell and Gap (GPS) to hold from sell at Citigroup.
- Archer Daniels (ADM) and Airgas (ARG) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
- NCR Corp. (NCR) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
- Valero Energy (VLO) to top pick from sector perform and Western Refining (WNR) to outperform from underperform at RBC Capital.
- Fred's (FRED) to overweight from neutral at JP Morgan.
- Marsh & McLennan (MMC), Willis Group (WSH) and Brown & Brown (BRO) to equal weight from underweight at Barclays.
- Host Hotels (HST) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
- La-Z-Boy (LZB) to strong buy from market perform at Raymond James.
Continue reading Analyst Calls: ADM, BBY, ETN, FDO, HNZ, GPS, MAR, NCR, RIMM, VLO ...
Posted Feb 1st 2011 12:00PM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Chesapeake Energy (CHK), Analyst Initiations, Valero Energy (VLO)
Analyst Upgrades
- Valero Energy (VLO) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
- Changyou.com (CYOU) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
- Albermarle (ALB) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
- ICU Medical (ICUI) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.
- Check Point (CHKP) to outperform from market perform at Bernstein.
- FMC Corporation (FMC) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
- Rangold Resources (GOLD) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
- Global Cash Access (GCA) to buy from hold at Duncan-Williams.
Continue reading Analyst Calls: CHK, CHKP, DISCA, FMC, GOLD, OC, PCL, RRC, SNI, VLO ...
Posted Nov 17th 2010 2:30PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Valero Energy (VLO), Stocks to Buy

Independent refiner Valero Energy (
VLO), first discussed here
on April 20, 2009 at a price of $20.08, has rebounded after coming very close to the $13 sell/stop loss.
As expected, refinery margins -- which were squeezed during 2008-2009, due to the loss of more than 8 million jobs from the U.S. economy (many of those being vehicle owners) -- continue to recover. Further, the market has not worked this new reality into Valero's stock price yet.
Longer-term, even though a global refinery capacity surplus is likely to continue through at least 2013, as U.S. fuel demand increases, crack spreads should improve as end market prices rise. Also, VLO's economies of scale and lower production cost status in the heavy/sour crude refining segment will help the firm reach earnings estimates.
Continue reading Valero Energy Recovers After Summer Swoon
Posted Aug 5th 2010 1:40PM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement, Valero Energy (VLO), Options, Technical Analysis

Bright and early this morning, Valero Energy (
VLO) was singled out for a bullish volatility play. Shortly before 10 a.m., a block of 7,500 contracts traded at the ask price at VLO's September 19 call, indicating they were purchased. Simultaneously, a matching block of 7,500 contracts changed hands on the oil refiner's September 17 put, with this transaction also taking place closer to the ask price. With VLO trading at $18.08 at the time of the trade, both strikes are out of the money.
Continue reading Options Player Strangles Valero Energy
Posted Jul 27th 2010 4:30PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), U.S. Steel (X), Valero Energy (VLO)

This was another day where the real closing verdict of red or black was unknown right up until the closing bell. The day looked very mixed from index to index and sector to sector. Consumer confidence came in weak again, and there is still mixed data on housing prices.
Here were today's closing bell levels:
Dow Jones 10,537.69 +12.26 (0.12%)
S&P 500 1,113.84 -1.17 (-0.10%)
Nasdaq 2,288.25 -8.18 (-0.36%)
Continue reading Closing Bell: Official Win, but Mixed Bag (BP, DPZ, X, VLO, RF, RMBS, NBG)
Posted Apr 15th 2010 11:20AM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Valero Energy (VLO), Stocks to Buy

I first discussed independent refiner Valero Energy (
VLO) on April 20, 2009, at a price of $20.08, saying at the time that investors
over-punished the stock due shrinking refinery margins. If felt the consternation of investors was too great, but really, it's more of a sector issue than a company issue.
Refinery margins shrunk as U.S. gasoline decreased during the 2007-2009 recession. Removing 8.4 million jobs from the workforce will tend to affect sales, even of gasoline. As we move into recovery mode, refinery margins should improve, and with it Valero's stock price.
Continue reading Valero Still Punished over Margins, Patience Required
Posted Mar 23rd 2010 12:00PM by Steven Halpern (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newsletters, Valero Energy (VLO), Commodities, Oil, Stocks to Buy

"Valero Energy Corp. (
VLO) is an $11 billion oil refining and marketing company based in San Antonio, Texas," notes technical expert
Melvin Pasternak.
The editor of
Double-Digit Trading adds, "If you've ever filled-up at an Ultramar, Beacon, or Diamond Shamrock station, you've helped pump up this company. The stock may return the favor if you go long on it.
"This Fortune 500 company operates 15 oil refineries throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Its refineries have a combined capacity of 2.8 million barrels per day, an amount equal to about 1% of the 400 million gallons of gas used daily in the United States.
Continue reading Valero Energy (VLO): Refined Potential
Posted Oct 27th 2009 7:45AM by Melly Alazraki (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the Bell, International Markets, Market Matters, BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), U.S. Steel (X), Valero Energy (VLO), Economic Data, Johnson Controls (JCI), Oil

U.S. stock futures drifted higher Tuesday morning, pointing to a somewhat flat beginning on Wall Street this morning after yet another sell-off day Monday despite a series of strong earnings releases. Investors await several economic releases due out this morning, including housing and consumer confidence, looking for direction.
Economic releases this morning include September durable goods orders at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, which is expected to have risen. At 9 a.m., the August Case-Shiller Home Price Index is due out. Prices are expected to have continued their slide. At the same time, October's Conference Board reading on consumer confidence will be released. Economists expect confidence has improved slightly.
Continue reading Before the bell: Futures waver ahead of economic reports, more earnings
Posted Aug 1st 2009 3:40PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Coach Inc (COH), Corning Inc (GLW), Alcatel-LucentADS (ALU), Valero Energy (VLO), Level 3 Communications (LVLT), Goodyear Tire and Rubber (GT), Taser Intl Inc (TASR), Visa Inc. (V), Waste Management Inc. (WMI)
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Coach, Corning, Goodyear, Visa, Waste Management ...
Posted Jul 30th 2009 10:00AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Market Matters, Chevron Corp (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Valero Energy (VLO), Oil, Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the stocks seem to move in lock step despite varying degrees of success. Oils are not equal, even though they trade together. This morning
Shell (NYSE:
RDS.A) (
Cramer's Take) reported profits down 67%, which is 15 points more than
BP (NYSE:
BP) (
Cramer's Take), and this matters.
Conoco (NYSE:
COP) (
Cramer's Take) was just disastrous, down 76%, with the worse combination of bad refining and horrid natural gas numbers. Yet they are all pretty much treated equally. Meanwhile,
Chevron (NYSE:
CVX) (
Cramer's Take) gave you a 4.6% increase in the dividend, something they hinted they could do because of the great growth of output that is hitting now. Reserves are growing.
I am hoping that these become de-ETF'd, meaning that they can trade on their own so stock-picking matters again. That's what's happening, for example, with the banks, where a different kind of reserves is distinguishing the players.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: ETF-ization of oil stocks makes everything equal
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