Valero Energy Third Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, October 30, 2012. Valero Energy is an independent refining and marketing company, which owns and operates refineries in the United States and Canada.

Valero Energy Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for net income of $1.73 per share, a decline of 18% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved up from $1.43. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has risen from $1.61 during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting profit of $4.55 per share, a rise of 13.5% from last year.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company beat estimates by 8 cents, coming in at net income of $1.50 a share versus the estimate of profit of $1.42 a share. It marked the fourth straight quarter of beating estimates.

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A Look Back: In the second quarter, profit rose 11.7% to $831 million ($1.50 a share) from $744 million ($1.30 a share) the year earlier, exceeding analyst expectations. Revenue rose 10.8% to $34.66 billion from $31.29 billion.

Stock Price Performance: Between August 28, 2012 and October 24, 2012, the stock price had fallen $2.71 (-8.7%), from $31.12 to $28.41. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between August 1, 2012 and August 10, 2012, when shares rose for eight straight days, increasing 7.2% (+$1.95) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between October 4, 2012 and October 15, 2012 when shares fell for eight straight days, dropping 11.7% (-$3.80) over that span.

Balance Sheet Analysis: The company’s current ratio of assets to liabilities came in at 1.3 last quarter. The current ratio is an indication of a firm’s liquidity and ability to meet creditor demands and generally, for every dollar the company owes in the short term, it has that figure available in assets that can be converted to cash in the short term.

Key Stats:

The company enters this earnings announcement with substantial revenue momentum. The company has averaged year-over-year revenue growth of 45.6% over the last four quarters.

Analyst Ratings: With 10 analysts rating the stock a buy, one rating it a sell and four rating the stock a hold, there are indications of a bullish stance by analysts.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $33.94 billion in revenue this quarter, a rise of 0.7% from the year-ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $136.19 billion for the year, a rise of 8.1% from last year’s revenue of $125.99 billion.

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(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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