Will Valero Energy (VLO) Beat Earnings Estimates This Quarter?

One of the largest North American independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products, Valero Energy Corporation (VLO) is set to report its second-quarter 2013 results on Jul 23. Let?s see how things are shaping up prior to the announcement.

In the last quarter, the company?s earnings of $1.18 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.01 by 16.8%. The quarterly results were aided by higher refining throughput margins in each of the company?s regions, except the U.S. West Coast, along with lower refining operating expenses.

Growth Factors this Past Quarter

In the first quarter, Valero witnessed refining throughput volumes of approximately 2.57 million barrels per day, marginally up from the year-earlier level of 2.56 million barrels a day. This was primarily backed by major turnaround, maintenance and repair activity at refineries in Valero?s U.S. Gulf Coast region, including the Texas City, Corpus Christi and Port Arthur refineries; and at its Benicia and Wilmington refineries in the U.S. West Coast region.

By feedstock composition, sweet crude, medium/light sour crude and heavy sour crude accounted for 42%, 16% and 19%, respectively. The remaining volumes came from residuals, other feedstock as well as blendstocks and others. The Gulf Coast accounted for approximately 55% of the total volume. The Mid-Continent, North Atlantic and West Coast regions accounted for 17%, 19% and 9%, respectively.

Valero?s stable performance in the first quarter can be traced back to favorable refining margins and lower operating expenses.

More importantly, Valero is best positioned to profit from increased refining margins mainly on account of its strategic refinery structure that enables it to use cheaper oil for over one-half of its needs.

Valero recently spun off 80% stake of its retail arm ? CST Brands Inc. (CST) ? through a tax-advantaged distribution to shareholders, to unlock value on May 1, 2013. The spin-off of the company's retail arm generated an immediate net cash benefit of $500 million, after shelling out $220 million in taxes. We feel that the move would help the company to concentrate on its industry-specific strategies.

However, being the largest independent refiner in the country, Valero remains exposed to the ongoing tepid macro backdrop. Refiners in the U.S. generally face uncertainty regarding future regulations pertaining to greenhouse gas emissions and the potential for higher requirement of biofuels. Other threats include government regulations, weather conditions, crude oil and natural gas prices as well as renewable fuel prices. These can result in increased costs, reduced growth and fines or other sanctions.

Earnings Whispers?

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Valero is likely to beat earnings estimates this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive earnings Expected Surprise Prediction or ESP (Read: Zacks Earnings ESP: A Better Method) and a Zacks Rank #1, 2 or 3 for this to happen. This is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP:? The earnings ESP for the stock is 0.00%.

Zacks Rank #3 (Hold): Valero?s Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) when combined with a 0.00% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult.

We caution against stocks with Zacks Ranks #4 and 5 (Sell rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Other Stocks to Consider

Here are some other companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: ?

Ferrellgas Partners LP (FGP) with earnings ESP of +6.90% and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

W&T Offshore Inc. (WTI) with earnings ESP of +9.09% and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
?

Read the Full Research Report on VLO

Read the Full Research Report on FGP

Read the Full Research Report on WTI

Read the Full Research Report on CST

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/valero-energy-vlo-beat-earnings-185002795.html

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Apple reveals that developer portal was hacked, announces system overhaul

Been paying attention to Twitter recently? You might have noticed Apple developers complaining about the company's developer portal, which has been out of service for a number of days. Today, Apple acknowledged the outage, explaining that the site was taken down to combat a security breach. "Sensitive personal information was encrypted and cannot be accessed," Cupertino told developers in an email. "However, we have not been able to rule out the possibility that some developers' names, mailing address and/or email addresses may have been accessed."

Naturally, the company is taking the breach very seriously, and has said that it'll be rebuilding its entire developer system database and updating servers to prevent future incursions. Apple also assured developers whose developer accounts were up for renewal during the outage would not have their software pulled from the App Store. Furthermore, the company told MacWorld that customer information and app code was not compromised during the attack.

Filed under: Misc, Apple

Comments

Via: MacWorld

Source: Apple

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/21/apple-developer-portal-hacked/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Queen hopes baby comes soon as she's off on holiday

By Belinda Goldsmith

LONDON (Reuters) - The Queen joined the band of increasingly impatient royal baby watchers hoping Prince William and his wife Kate's first child arrives soon, saying she is due to go on holiday.

With the future heir to the British throne due any day, the queen, on a series of engagements in the Lake District in northern England, was asked if she would like her third great-grandchild to be a girl or a boy.

"I don't think I mind. I would very much like it to arrive. I'm going on holiday," she told children at the Wiggonby Church of England Primary School on Wednesday, dressed in a green suit and matching hat despite the summer heat.

Every summer the queen leaves London for her Scottish country estate, Balmoral. Her final public engagement before her holiday is next Tuesday.

The Queen is the second senior royal this week to publicly express hopes of a imminent arrival for the baby who, regardless of sex, will be third in line to the throne after her son Prince Charles and his son Prince William.

Royal officials have remained vague about the due date of the baby so the world media's has been camped since July 1 outside St. Mary's Hospital in London where Kate is due to give birth, growing increasingly impatient with what has been dubbed the "Great Kate Wait".

Prince Charles's wife Camilla said earlier this week that everyone was "just waiting by the telephone" at the moment and she hoped the baby would arrive by the end of the week.

By tradition, the queen will be the first person to be informed when the baby is born, with a handwritten note taken from the hospital to Buckingham Palace.

A note will then be pinned outside the gates of the palace.

The waiting game has proven a boon for bookmakers offering odds on the date of the birth and for public relations companies pulling royal-related stunts to pique the interest of journalists in need of stories during the summer lull.

Former England football captain David Beckham made headlines this week when he jokingly suggested that the baby could be named David and one bookmaker was offering odds on him being named as a godfather to the royal heir.

A newspaper's website is even streaming live footage of the entrance to the private Lindo wing at the hospital, where Prince William, a helicopter search-and-rescue pilot, was born to the late Princess Diana 31 years ago.

The gender of the baby is said to be unknown as the couple, who married in April 2011 and are known officially as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, want a surprise.

But bookmakers expect a girl and have made Alexandra the favourite for the baby's name, followed by Charlotte, Diana and Elizabeth. George and James are hotly tipped if it is a boy.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith; editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/queen-hopes-baby-comes-soon-shes-off-holiday-181240505.html

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