Tesoro Emanates Trends of Refiners (TSO)

After the market closed yesterday, oil refiner Tesoro (NYSE:TSO) put up some solid good news. For the third quarter, Tesoro’s EPS hit $1.86 on net income of $259 million and revenues of $8.7 billion. Analysts had expected EPS of $1.48 and revenues of $7.81 billion. The company’s share price jumped 4.55% in after-hours trading, finishing at $10.35. In the same period a year ago, Tesoro reported EPS of $0.34 on revenues of $5.9 billion.

Marketing margins almost doubled year-over-year, and refining marginswere up 85% from a year ago. Throughput was lower by 32,000 b/d than ayear ago.

When we reviewed the performanceof several refiners in August, Tesoro’s share price was off 64% from52-week highs. The stock has since fallen nearly 50% from it’s $18.43level at that time. But maybe things will improve more now that thereis at least some anecdotal evidence that drivers are driving more asgasoline prices have tumbled.

The NY Timesalso noted that credit card companies are seeing a rise in consumption.Getting US drivers to change their habits doesn’t appear to be possiblewhen gasoline is less than $2.50/gallon. That’s the best news forTesoro and other refiners.

Paul Ausick
October 30, 2008