"Refiners enjoy a virtual monopoly. The high price of crude has put the squeeze on profit margins -- especially in the case of gasoline, even though it is selling for over $4.00 now. Gasoline always becomes a political issue during election season.
"Nevertheless, gasoline prices are generally rising. The stock market is also getting 'depression minded,' to the point of paranoia; and this fear is dragging some stocks like refiners lower with the tide.
"The current profit squeeze will not be permanent, but Valero has another arrow in its quiver. They are able to process sour crude, which is becoming more prevalent as exporters keep more of the good stuff (light sweet crude) at home and ship the heavy sour crude.
A few days ago I posted Chasing Value: Valero -- when is a downgrade an upgrade? and since then I have become even more disturbed with our government and the stock analysts, as well as the companies they represent. Eitan Bernstein, an analyst with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co downgraded his expectations for the major oil refiners Wednesday and lowered his price target for Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) from $77 to $65.
How can this be? The stock was trading around $40 per share and closed Friday at $39.96. As a shareholder who has watched this stock go down, any signs of optimism have to be welcome I suppose, but what in the world is this guy saying. He is saying he has concerns about the sector, but believes VLO will be 61.5% higher this time next year any way!
This makes no sense. He can't be too concerned, can he? If you believed him you would buy all the VLO shares you could get hold of -- and so would he! Maybe he did? Or maybe he is trying to pump up the stock to help a big client? Or maybe he is clueless and does not know what he is talking about? What might his e-mails reveal?
Anyone can predict anything, and they have a right to be an idiot, but what responsibility does he have to eat his own cooking? VLO started the year near a high that is between Bernstein's old and new projections, and I for one have hopes of it rebounding, but I do not have the level of certainty to broadcast such an exact figure. What is the purpose?
The change in his projections of 15.5% is indicative of the silliness of this analysis. We have seen this before and will see it again ... so buyer beware.
Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.DISCLOSURE: I currently own shares of VLO.
What can I say, one of my best stocks picks of 2007 has turned into one of my worst of 2008. Valero Energy(NYSE: VLO) the largest independent oil refiner in the United States has experienced shrinking profit margins as oil prices have continued to climb throughout the year.
It was reported in the Associated Press that a Wall Street analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co downgraded his expectations for the major oil refiners Wednesday. In regards to VLO, analyst Eitan Bernstein lowered his price target from $77 to $65.
Analysts are notoriously optimistic and I myself would not hazard a guess picking a number out of thin air given the number of variables to consider, but I would go as far as to say this downgrade makes me laugh.
The stock closed yesterday at $41.25 and is trading down further today around $40. But this is considerably lower then anyones price targets for the stock so perhaps this is a case where the downgrade is actually an upgrade.
This is a company with a price-to-sales ratio of 0.43 and a price-to-book of 1.42 that accompany a P/E of 7 and a yield of 1.41%. I may have been caught in the downdraft of a cyclical stock recommending it last December, but I sure do feel more comfortable recommending to readers that they examine VLO today.
Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.DISCLOSURE: I currently own shares of VLO.
Although he has been maintaining a cautious stance on the refining group, energy sector expert Elliott Gue is now boosting the rating on Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO).
In his The Energy Strategist, the advisor explains, "Valero is now attractive for three reasons: superior geographic exposure, refinery complexity and a new focus on profitability."
"Our caution on the refining group was due to expectations that crack spreads would be weak through the spring, a period during which spreads tend to widen. Overall, this call was correct: Refiners have underperformed the energy patch since mid-March.
"And longer term, I have some concerns about new refining capacity expansions due to come online over the next few years. As this supply comes online, it could put downside pressure on margins.
"But over the next six to nine months, the refiners look like a compelling play. Gasoline inventories are now back in line with seasonal norms; it's likely gasoline prices will now rally further relative to crude oil. In fact, we're already seeing an obvious spike in crack spreads.
Today was a very gloomy day in the stock market with Oil reaching new highs and everything else losing -- almost. Among the few winners, and I mean very few, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), oil, and specialty steel were up. I went through my watch list and found this very short list of winners:
Over the past year, we have been hearing a lot of news about soaring crude oil prices. The easiest thing that we could think about is investing our money into independent oil refiners. Companies such as Frontier Oil (NYSE: FTO), Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO), Tesoro (NYSE: TSO), Alon USA Energy (NYSE: ALJ) or Western Refining (NYSE: WNR) are among those potential stocks on the waiting list.
Though it may seem surprising, Kiplinger.com advises us of exactly the opposite. Kiplinger underlines the fact that refiners represent a way to loose a lot of money... contrary to pipelines, oil producers and energy service companies. This came as the result of people's needs to transform crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel or heating oil.
The big difference between the cost of crude and the price of refined products is called the "crack spread", and this is where the problem comes in. In May of last year, the crack spread peaked at $27, and even moved up as high as $40 in some locations. This compares to the historical norm of closer to $20. But starting with the spring of 2007, things started changing, and the spread began to narrow... now the spread has fallen down to around $8.50 for some companies.
It was announced Monday that Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) has entered into an agreement with Albertson's LLC to acquire 72 convenience stores and fueling kiosks. This will expand Valero's company-owned retail presence in Texas, Colorado, Arizona and Louisiana, where Valero already operates approximately 950 company-owned Corner Store locations.
In the mean time, while Valero's margins have been squeezed this year, it looks like it is intent on diversifying into more of a retail, convenience outlet and sell snacks and coffee in addition to its fuel products. "This transaction offers great synergies with our existing retail network and supply chain," said Gary Arthur, President of Valero's Retail Division. "All of these sites are relatively new and offer strong potential for merchandise growth." Should the 7-Eleven and Circle-K chains be worried? Not yet.
Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.DISCLOSURE: I currently own shares of VLO.
This month saw great improvement after last month's disaster. Having to conclude my findings on a specific month end day, or any day, depending on the news, sometimes distorts results. For example news on March 31 sent the market down and on April first my picks shot up an unusual amount; hopefully the trend will continue.
My riskiest stock pick Newcastle Investment Corp (NYSE: NCT) was down the most in March but recovered about 35% of the loss in April leaving Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) the dubious honor of being my worst performer, down over 30% in the first four months of the year.
April showed improvement as many companies reported positive earnings reports or beat expectations.
Most of my picks improved. Higher food prices no doubt helped Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG) which recaptured losses moving up 23% from its recent bottom. My two winners Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN), the high tech defense contractor, and Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE: RS) were joined by a third, Anglo American plc (ADR) (NASDAQ: AAUK) which had a 10% swing entering positive territory.
After three months it is time to face the facts: two of the three indices beat my picks handily. I have not made a good showing so far and unlike most investment idea sources, I feel obliged to air my dirty laundry for all to see.
My riskiest stock pick Newcastle Investment Corp (NYSE:NCT) is down almost 37% this year, and the energy stocks did almost as poorly even though fuel prices are near all-time highs. The downers were not offset by this months' repeat winners.
March was a seesaw battle, but in the end there was not much to show for it. However, unlike the last day of January (down 370 points in the Dow) and February's last trading day (down 315 points), March had a final day of plus 46.49, which is not very meaningful.
Most of my picks sagged a little more, while two remain in positive territory. Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN), the high tech defense contractor is up and Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE: RS) is way up.
Earlier in the week I posted about finding the market bottom using that age-old handheld calculator, a white paper napkin. So, unfortunately it looks like I may be right again. Not exactly something I was hoping for, but if it has to be, it has to be. I wonder if my old napkin can outperform Wall Street super computers?
Is this an auction to the bottom? Are investors bidding things down instead of up? Looks like it from all the negative sentiment. Consumer sentiment is down, and short sellers are all excited, increasing their negative positions to new highs every day.
And here is the all-telling sign of capitulation: the ever-lying overly optimistic government is starting to admit how bad things are and throwing hundreds of billions of dollars at the problem. When does the turnaround come?
Two months into the year and investors' true 'metal' was tested, and mine more than most. February showed signs of improvement over January, but the last week ended hopes of any rally. The last day of January saw a 370 point drop in the Dow and February's last trading day closed with similar results, down 315 points.
The soft stock market did display many points worth noting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was about break even for the month, indicating investors were showing some signs of support for large cap stocks, prompted in part by news of increased profits at Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and share buy-backs at IBM Corp (NYSE: IBM).
Some of my picks also sagged a little more, although not as much, while two turned into positive territory. In January, only Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN), the high tech, defense contractor, was up. In February, the weak dollar and inflation concerns boosted Anglo American plc (ADR) and Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE: RS) -- two commodity plays.
I recently posted Chasing Value: Final list -- 8 stocks for 2008 and mentioned that all of them pay a dividend. If this year is going to be as gloomy as some would have you believe, then stocks that pay dividends, as a group, will outshine those that do not.
The following are my eight picks, with the closing stock price as of my start date December 28, 2007 and the dividend yield. Last year, there were more stocks among my picks that paid a dividend higher than the S&P 500 Index average of 1.8% . This year there are only two.
After hitting a one-year high of $78.68 in July, the stock has declined a bit over the past four months. This morning, VLO opened at $63.58. So far today the stock has hit a low of $60.80 and a high of $63.58. As of 11:05, VLO is trading at $61.84, down $2.21 (-3.4%). The chart for VLO looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.
For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a January bear-call credit spread above the $75 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 5.3% return in 2 months as long as VLO is below $75 at January expiration. Valero would have to rise by more than 21% before we would start to lose money.
VLO hasn't been above $75 since July and has shown resistance around $68 recently. This trade could be risky if the price of oil stabilizes and then moves higher, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the resistance VLO formed between $70 and $75 in October. Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in VLO.
Valero (NYSE: VLO) is not one of the famous "big oil" companies, but with a market cap of $39 billion and trading volume that averages nine million shares a day, it is big enough.
The difference between the price of crude and what Valero could charge for finished petroleum-based products hurt its earnings as it has other oil companies that have reported Q3 results.
Third quarter 2007 operating income was $1.2 billion versus $2.3 billion reported in the same period last year. The $1.1 billion reduction in operating income was mainly due to higher prices for light sweet crude oils. Revenue was up only slightly to $23.7 billion.
The company was not high on its Q4 prospects either. "So far in the fourth quarter, the margin environment has been difficult as prices for refined products have failed to keep pace with the increase in feedstock costs," said Bill Klesse, Valero's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. "In particular, the seasonal supply and demand patterns and higher feedstock prices have squeezed gasoline margins."
So Valero finds itself in the difficult position of not being able to pass rising oil prices on to end-users fast enough to drive up earnings.
Ironic that an oil company cannot make more money as its primary commodity's price moves up sharply on an almost weekly basis.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor for 247wallst.com.
This year has been a stock picker's market extraordinaire! This month's review provides ample evidence of this, as you'll note that Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), which I included for fun because of its popularity, beat all else as a portfolio of one. The average of my seven picks came in second, beating James Cramer's average based on his nine picks. Both Cramer and I beat each of the three indices I am tracking, and therefore beat the average as well, with the largest and most stable, the Standard & Poor's 500 coming in last.
Of course, this could easily change given recent market volatility. A sharp downturn in the market could reverse our fortunes. A lot can happen in the remaining two months -- I take nothing for granted.
While Google shined brightly this year, Cramer and I have each made one pick that shined brighter. Cramer's best, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has gone into orbit this year on the wings of the iPhone, iPod, and growing Mac sales. Benefiting from rising oil prices, shortages in China and the Chinese government allowing a 10% price hike, my PetroChina ADR (NYSE: PTR) has rocketed, becoming the second-largest capitalized company in the world. PTR has done this even in the shadow of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)selling its shares and Warren Buffett questioning the huge appreciation of the Chinese stock market and stocks overall.
What can I say, one of my best stocks picks of 2007 has turned into one of my worst of 2008. 
Today was a very gloomy day in the stock market with Oil reaching new highs and everything else losing -- almost. Among the few winners, and I mean very few,
Over the past year, we have been hearing a lot of news about soaring crude oil prices. The easiest thing that we could think about is investing our money into independent oil refiners. Companies such as 
It was 
This month saw great improvement after last month's disaster. Having to conclude my findings on a specific month end day, or any day, depending on the news, sometimes distorts results. For example news on March 31 sent the market down and on April first my picks shot up an unusual amount; hopefully the trend will continue.
After three months it is time to face the facts: two of the three indices beat my picks handily. I have not made a good showing so far and unlike most investment idea sources, I feel obliged to air my dirty laundry for all to see.
Earlier in the week I posted about 
This year has been a stock picker's market extraordinaire! This month's review provides ample evidence of this, as you'll note that 
John McCain, losing ground, goes for broke tonight
If nothing else, gasoline prices are falling!
Closing Bell: Dow slump puts bulls on suicide watch; BAC, MS, F, FSLR all down, AMD up
