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Valero Energy (VLO) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Valero Energy (VLO - Free Report) closed at $134.03, marking a +0.68% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.7% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.57%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.06%.

Coming into today, shares of the oil refiner had gained 1.36% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector gained 4.46%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.58%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Valero Energy as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Valero Energy to post earnings of $6.25 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 12.46%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $36.59 billion, down 17.69% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $24.16 per share and revenue of $144.71 billion. These totals would mark changes of -17.15% and -17.96%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Valero Energy. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 4.97% higher within the past month. Valero Energy currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Valero Energy has a Forward P/E ratio of 5.51 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 7, so we one might conclude that Valero Energy is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that VLO currently has a PEG ratio of 0.92. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. VLO's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1 as of yesterday's close.

The Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 97, which puts it in the top 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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