Valero Energy (VLO) Stock Moves -0.14%: What You Should Know

Valero Energy (VLO) closed the latest trading day at $124.89, indicating a -0.14% change from the previous session's end. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 0.39% for the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.61%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.32%.

Shares of the oil refiner have depreciated by 13.15% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 5.09% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.6%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Valero Energy in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on January 30, 2025. On that day, Valero Energy is projected to report earnings of $0.68 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 80.85%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $30.97 billion, indicating a 12.55% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $8.86 per share and a revenue of $130.09 billion, representing changes of -64.42% and -10.14%, respectively, from the prior year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Valero Energy. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.7% lower. Valero Energy presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, Valero Energy currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 14.12. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 13.97.

Investors should also note that VLO has a PEG ratio of 2.35 right now. 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. Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.3 based on yesterday's closing prices.