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Western Refining, Inc.

5/22/2013, 6:57 PM ET

Quote & Headlines Market Currents StockTalk

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Monday, May 6, 6:30 PM All but three refiners are net-cash today, with average free-cash yield of ~11% on mid-cycle earnings whose managements have substantial firepower to defend against share-price weakness, Credit Suisse notes, finding the most value in Marathon Petroleum (MPC) and Tesoro (TSO); it reinstates Valero (VLO) at Neutral. Also, Western Refining (WNR) is upgraded, and Alon USA (ALJ) is cut to Underperform. 1 Comment [Energy, Quick Ideas]
Saturday, May 4, 3:52 PM Barron's is out with its list of the 500 financially strongest companies as ranked after a rigorous cash and sales analysis. A quick filter on the list shows a good chunk of the names trade with a single-digit price to earnings ratio including Goodyear Tire & Rubber (GT). Despite all the buzz about booming auto sales in the U.S. and China, concerns about growth for Goodyear's products in other regions of the globe have lowered expectations. But with auto sale estimates for full-year being taken higher, Goodyear could see enough consistent revenue growth to justify a higher trading multiple. (Top 25: AAPL, WCC, WDC, DVA, CHRW, QCOM, JOY, V, STX, MRC, MA, CVI, COF, SYMC, MCK, WCG, ETN, BRCM, TMO, CI, CBI, NOV, WNR, HFC, DK) 39 Comments [Consumer, Quick Ideas]
Thursday, May 2, 6:05 AM Western Refining (WNR): Q1 EPS of $0.94 misses by $0.02. Revenue of $2.18B beats by $0.03B. (PR) Comment! [Earnings, Breaking News]
Wednesday, April 17, 5:50 PM Deutsche Bank lowers its stock target prices on several refiners, expecting weak margins to weigh on earnings in Q2 and in 2013 as producing gasoline gets less profitable. The new target for Buy-rated Holly Frontier (HFC) is $58, down from $68. Hold-rated refiners with reduced targets: ALJ, CLMT, CVI, DK, MPC, PBF, PSX, TSO, VLO, WNR. Comment! [Energy, Quick Ideas]
Thursday, April 11, 3:33 PM Phillips 66 (PSX -2.9%) shares slump as it reports an emission at its Rodeo refinery in California related to an unplanned unit shutdown. It's part of a broad slump in refiners today, picking up pessimism in the sector which has led to sharp recent losses: VLO -4.8% (despite a plug by Jim Cramer), HFC -4.4%, TSO -3.3%, MPC -3.2%, WNR -2.9%, CVI -2.4%, ALJ -2.3%, NTI -2.2%. 4 Comments [Energy, On the Move]
Friday, April 5, 12:49 PM Refiners are mixed today - VLO +1%, TSO +1%, PSX -0.2% - as the sector licks its wounds after this week's selloff, and Dimitra DeFotis of Barron's suggests its time to take profits as the market recognizes the stocks have come too far too fast. In particular, Tesoro and Marathon Petroleum (MPC) are up 106% and 99% Y/Y, respectively. 3 Comments [Energy]
Thursday, April 4, 2:35 PM Cowen's Sam Margolin notes gasoline margins have fallen 35% since March 8, which may keep refiner stocks volatile near-term, but he likes the medium-term picture as prices stabilize. Top drivers of refining stock performance over the past two years - accelerated return of cash, monetization of secondary assets, feedstock cost advantages vs. competing global refineries - remain in place for the coming year. 5 Comments [Energy]
Thursday, April 4, 12:34 PM Refiners recoup a sliver of losses from their two-day slide following concerns about looming expenses from newly announced emissions regulations. Barclays believes refiners are fundamentally cheap for long-term investors, the EPA's new rules are "not as bad as it seems" and the Brent/WTI spread should widen. VLO +1.1%, TSO +0.6%, WNR +3.9%, MPC +1.5%, ALJ +3.1%, HFC +1.3%, CVI +1.8%. 4 Comments [Energy, On the Move]
Wednesday, April 3, 5:15 PM Most troubling for refiners amid a two-day rout: Crack spreads have tumbled recently, with gasoline at a premium of $29.81/bbl to WTI today; it was $33 a week ago. As Bloomberg notes, the narrowing is due to a decline in gasoline prices, which hurts refiners: "People are factoring in some refineries coming back online, and we’ve yet to see any pick-up in demand,” one analyst says. 7 Comments [Energy]
Wednesday, April 3, 11:17 AM Looks like another bad day for refiners on fears of increased costs from tougher standards on gasoline, even as BAML says yesterday's selloff of Valero (VLO -4.8%) was overdone. WNR -7.6%, PSX -6.9%, MPC -6.2%, ALJ -6.1%, NTI -5.3%, TSO -4.7%, HFC -4.7%. CVR Refining (CVRR -1.5%) is lower even after announcing estimated costs to meet Tier 3 standards are less than $20M. 21 Comments [Energy, On the Move]
Tuesday, April 2, 3:13 PM Valero (VLO -6%) says proposed new rules aimed at reducing sulfur content in gasoline would cost it hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment construction and upgrades alone. In addition to spending $300M-$400M initially to implement the rule, VLO also predicts operating costs would rise by an undetermined amount every year due to the rules proposed Friday by the EPA. (earlier) 53 Comments [Energy, On the Move]
Tuesday, April 2, 2:29 PM Shares of refiners are taking a beating today, apparently on fears of increased costs from proposed tougher standards on gasoline. The EPA is proposing the so-called Tier 3 rules that will require refiners to reduce the sulfur content of gasoline to 10 parts per million by 2017 from 30 ppm. VLO -6.2%, TSO -3.5%, MPC -4.3%, ALJ -4.5%, PSX -3.1%, HFC -3.2%, WNR -4.8%, NTI -5.5%. 39 Comments [Energy, On the Move]
Monday, March 25, 5:10 PM Pursuant to a tender offer announced on March 11, Western Refining (WNR -2.2%) accepts ~$149M of the outstanding principal of its 11.25% senior secured notes. The total amount outstanding was $325M. Earlier in the month, the company announced it is considering the formation of an MLP, a minority stake in which would be offered to the public. Comment! [Energy]
Wednesday, March 13, 12:42 PM It's worth noting that Macquarie, in sounding the alarm over biofuels costs that could hurt earnings for refiners, thinks the problem won't hurt all refiners equally. It says the well positioned companies are those that are better integrated between refining and midstream product terminal assets that support self-blending of ethanol, such as MPC, NTI, TSO and WNR. 13 Comments [Energy, Quick Ideas]
Wednesday, March 13, 10:47 AM Refiners are taking a hit on an after-the-fact downgrade by Macquarie, but surely they will like the latest EIA report showing a bigger-than-expected gain in oil (USO) inventories, and a far larger-than-expected decline in gasoline (UGA) stocks. A refinery-heavy ETF, PXE -1%. 3 Comments [Energy, Commodities]
Wednesday, March 13, 10:44 AM Since when is Macquarie such a market mover? Its downgrade of Valero (VLO -4.4%) is hitting refiners hard; the firm thinks the government's forced usage of biofuels is causing unintended consequences that will negatively impact refiners and may result in high RIN prices. Ratings for Holly Frontier (HFC -2.5%) and CVR Energy (CVI -3.3%) are cut too. Also: TSO -2.9%, WNR -3.7%, MPC -1.5%. 7 Comments [Energy, Quick Ideas, On the Move]