Bob DollValero Energy CorpVLOTOP PICKJul 23, 2004

Bearish on refineries at large. More capacity coming on line globally, namely Nigeria and Mexico. Medium-term outlook is not phenomenal. 

Trades at a low PE, but is a value trap and is highly cyclical. Their EPS leapt from $9.16 in 20167 to -$3.50 in 2020 to $29.11 last year! Up, down and up big. Has had a a partial share buyback. Today, share are hitting 5-year highs. However, future 2025 EPS estimates are sliding to less than half of 2022's peaks, because of less demand for oil and gas. Also, the existential long-term obstacle are EV's. Consider the massive clean-energy incentives in Biden's 2022 IRA. It's possible earnings have already peaked--big warning.

First, oil is under a lot of pressure now. Valero at $100 would mean crude at $50. Look at the end of each quarter to buy--buy according to timing, nor price.

FMV is $375. The 10-year picture sees it peaking at 2x book, and it now has to break through that ceiling. Market has memory, so it will take a lot of pressure to bust out. Not his favourite. Prefers Canadian to US stocks.

Well run, good pure play on refining. But you want to own refiners at beginning of cycle, when prices are low or going up, not now. Now you want to be in the integrated space.

Coming right down, as have a lot of energy stocks, seasonally weak. But trend is up, though a bit of volatility. Might get a bit more weakness through July. Energy is a really good investment. Could be a bit volatile with economic activity. For VLO, Kelt, and the etfs XEG and XLE, look at your technical lines over the next couple of weeks, you can pick some up and add to them over the summer.

He is neutral on this and is very cautious on energy and has been for the entire year. At this time there has been a real whip in refiners. He has backed away from the space, because they are really whippy. Unlike some stories, such as biotech, you take the stairs up and the elevator down, so you have to be really careful about your entry point. He would prefer something a little more conservative such as Mkt Vectors Oil Services ETF (OIH-N).

Has not been adding to his holdings, and wouldn’t add to it right now. In his view, this is the best operated independent refiner. It now pays a good dividend of something like 3.6%. However, if you look at the current P/E ratio, it is far higher than its historical single digit PE.