Valero Energy Corp (VLO)

Industry best refineries capable of handling sour/heavy crude - pay attention to the fact there is a worldwide SHORTAGE of sulfur - needed in medicines, agriculture fertilizers, etc ... and VLO cashes in there too. In a world of PEAK OIL ... VLO is a survivor .. other refineries, currently limited to light sweet crude, will have to shut down and refit, or rebuild ...

Despite the bad crack spread which affects refiners margins, they are trading as if tehre will be no recovery while the consumer stocks trade as if recovery is a sure thing. The truth lies somewhere in the middle, but failing to buy refiners at these cheap prices is a mistake you shouldn't make. They will reward patient investors. There has not been a majore refinery built in many years, thus our refining capacity is limited. there is talk of more refining capacity being developed abroad, but seriously, are we going to rely on foreign companies to refine our imported petrolium also? Moreover, VLO can refine types of crude other refiners can't, and when an external shock hits the oil markets, I think US refiners will benefit. Finally, when refiners as a group are trading at or near book value, the prospects of a takeover my an integrated oil compnay can't be ruled out. Look at TSO, FTO, and WNR as well. Finally, I notice that there is not a lot of correlation between refiners prices and the market, this I believe an overall selloff will not be as hard on refiners. They've already been beaten down!!!

This met a high level screen to indicate a buy and strong outperform against its peers (other tickers in its industry). My 1st version of this spreadsheet devles deep into the company's balnace sheet and recent income statements, combined with other relevant price data for the company including insider/institutional holdings, short interest, debt levels, etc.
Testing capabilities of this 1st version of my automated, valuation spreadhseet matched with my personal criteria and see how it holds up.

valuemoney says dont put real money in refiners...... when I picked this and looked at balance sheet it looked decent to me... I wont invest in refiners but is valuemoney way off base? .... I looked at charts from 1980 and none of the refiners did so hot...replies would be helpful (98+ratings)....Because I had been thinking about putting some money in VLO at these levels <$17 ( it seems to me $25 to $30 dollars it a fair price for this company) it is biggest refiner.... thanks!

V, 9/12/07

VLO has a too low valuation compared to its sales potential. This solvent company is planned to be profitable in 2010 and 2011 with growing earnings.

As a refiner, VLO's success should depend on volume, which should mean a higher valuation when energy demand picks up coming out of recession. Higher oil prices should then dampen demand, so it pays to be aware when higher oil prices happen again (which is inevitable).

It is undervalued as a refiner.

I think oil may well reach close to $100 a barrel, especially if the recovery continues. As a result along with the increasing demand we may well see a rise in all energy related stocks, including the refiners like VLO

Refiners are shutting down. They will create artificial demaind which will cause share prices to rally 10-20% within a few months.

Tracking some of my real portfolio

pva, gmxr, vlo, hban, tbsi

Refines and distributes. As economy and demand grows so will their profits.

UL's energy play

ultralong had stated he likes the oil refining industry currently.

this was also his sentiment a few months back when he wrote a blog concerning the industry. Out of the 4 stocks he panned for selection, the two I liked were VLO and SUN.

So green thumb on VLO & SUN

The last time I bought this stock I bought it for for one price and when the oil prices took off it split two for one, twice, and came back to the same price before I sold it quadrupling my money.

I just bought it again. Let's see if my "gut" is right.

Valero might be nothing to brag about over the next year or so, but over the next 2 - 4 it might be rather tasty, assuming the economy comes around.

Energy is paramount to modern day lifestyle. With the stock indexes rising upwards of 15 percent in the 3rd quarter and looking to move higher in the 4th quarter, this is a good price for Valero!

Everyone gets gas... below book value and gas margins may increase with improving economy. Most likely gasoline prices will be higher by next summer.