There has been a never-ending battle between rapidly changing energy prices and the effect on margins at refineries. Since the beginning of the year, the best-performing crude oil refiner has been Western…
Fitch Ratings published a short report on the effect of the compression in crude oil spreads on refiners. We looked at this phenomenon about a month ago. Fitch concludes that the “relative…
Douglas A. McIntyre Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE:VLO) has won the auction for seven ethanol plants formerly owned by VeraSun Energy Corporation (VSUNQ), which is now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Valero will pay $477 million for…
This week 24/7 Wall St. is picking several stocks from major sectors that are likely to double off of their lows. The time frame is by the end of 2010, which is…
For the past couple of years, diesel fuel prices have been higher than gasoline prices. In the US, that is a real anomaly. Now, industry observers are predicting a return to normalcy,…
Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE:VLO) has submitted a “stalking horse” bid for six properties offered by VeraSun Energy Corp. (formerly NYSE:VSE) as part of VeraSun’s bankruptcy sale. All told the six plants have…
Douglas A. McIntyre Valero Energy Corporation reported earnings this morning, and it’s not pretty. The company had a net loss of $3.3 billion, or EPS of -$6.36. The loss includes an impairment charge against goodwill…
Douglas A. McIntyre Lower oil prices were supposed to be good for the refiners. Yesterday, Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) released its interim update for the fourth quarter of 2008. Today, Tesoro Corporation (NYSE:TSO) followed suit,…
A Bloomberg review of the S&P 500 stocks shows that the fourth quarter of 2008 will probably be the sixth quarter of declining earnings. According to the news service, "Fourth-quarter profit at…
On December 12th, the US Energy Information Agency reported that the cost of a barrel of crude in the US was $36.58/barrel. On December 22nd, conventional regular gasoline in the US sold…
Energy stocks have taken a pounding since crude oil prices started falling in July. In virtually every part of the energy business, share prices for the premiere companies are off by as…
Frontier Oil (NYSE:FTO) released its third quarter earnings yesterday, and the news was not good. EPS was $0.70, down from $1.28 a year ago, and below analysts’ estimates of $0.73. Revenues rose…
These are some the top pre-market analyst downgrades we have seen with more than two hours until the open this Tuesday morning: Banco Santander (STD) Cut to Sell at UBS. Exxon Mobil…
This has been a very sketchy earnings season, and the crazy stock markets have offered very little help in being able to evaluate many companies. But despite the massive drop in oil…
Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) looks set to surge after the refinery giant posted earnings. The company posted $1.86 EPS from continuing operations, which may have some questionable numbers because some other…
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