Valero Energy Corporation · VLO · FY2024 Q4 · Calendar Q1 2025

Valero stresses cash flow and operating flexibility amid weak margins

Valero’s earnings narrative combines near-term margin pressure with operational flexibility, renewable-fuels execution, and shareholder-return capacity. The case depends on improving product balances and successful project execution, while tariff, policy, and utilization risks remain material.

Reported Before market openNYSEEnergy $120.72B market cap
80quality score

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS — Consensus $0.16
EPS surprise — Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue — Consensus $29.39B
Revenue surprise — Reported versus consensus

Market reaction

prior-close to event-session close
Stock move -2.9% Event window
SPY move +0.5% Same window
Abnormal move -3.4% Stock minus SPY
Volume 1.3× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift -3.5% Up to 20 sessions
VLOSPY benchmark

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Transcript intelligence

What changed

Compared with the prior-quarter analysis, the update emphasizes the commercial start-up of the Diamond Green SAF project, record heavy-sour-crude processing, the effect of the 45Z credit change on biofuel economics, and continued pressure from weak refining margins.

Guidance delta

Management maintained its outlook, emphasizing disciplined capital spending, continued shareholder returns, and execution of renewable-fuels and refinery-optimization projects.

Key takeaways

  • Management described a sharp earnings decline in a difficult refining-margin environment while emphasizing resilient operating cash flow.
  • The call highlighted feedstock flexibility, record heavy-sour-crude processing, and the commercial start-up of the Diamond Green SAF project.
  • The forward discussion centered on tightening product balances, disciplined investment, and policy and tariff risks affecting renewable fuels.

Management priorities

  • Scale commercial SAF operations and continue renewable-fuels execution.
  • Complete refinery optimization work while focusing capital on sustaining and growth projects.
  • Preserve balance-sheet discipline while continuing dividends and share repurchases.

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Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
VLO EPS earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 10 reported fiscal quarters and 2 future estimate-only quarters. Q4 '23 estimate $2.96 Q4 '23 actual $3.55, beat Q1 '24 estimate $3.24 Q1 '24 actual $3.82, beat Q2 '24 estimate $2.60 Q2 '24 actual $2.71, beat Q3 '24 estimate $0.98 Q3 '24 actual $1.14, beat Q2 '25 estimate $1.75 Q2 '25 actual $2.28, beat Q3 '25 estimate $3.05 Q3 '25 actual $3.66, beat Q4 '25 estimate $3.27 Q4 '25 actual $3.82, beat Q1 '26 estimate $3.16 Q1 '26 actual $4.22, beat Q2 '26 estimate $10.11 Q2 '26 actual $12.54, beat Q3 '26 estimate $21.17 Q3 '26 actual $23.90, beat Q4 '26 estimate $7.88 Q1 '27 estimate $5.21
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Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusHold37 ratings
Bullish2054.1%
Neutral1540.5%
Bearish25.4%

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$419.28Current
$85Low
$256.88Average
$530High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Oct 25, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
Wells Fargo Overweight OverweightMaintainOct 23, 2026
Freedom Broker Sell HoldDowngradeOct 23, 2026
Citigroup Neutral NeutralMaintainOct 23, 2026
Barclays Overweight OverweightMaintainOct 23, 2026
TD Cowen Hold HoldMaintainOct 22, 2026
Show 32 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $419.28. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
Wells FargoSam Margolin$489$426.28 +16.6%Oct 23, 2026
BarclaysAnalyst unavailable$443$426.28 +5.7%Oct 23, 2026
Raymond JamesAnalyst unavailable$530$439.72 +26.4%Oct 19, 2026
Wells FargoSam Margolin$485$456.46 +15.7%Oct 14, 2026
JefferiesAnalyst unavailable$394$443.96 -6.0%Oct 8, 2026
See 102 more

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Company context

Snapshot as of publication

Valero Energy Corporation functions as a global producer and marketer of transportation fuels and petrochemicals, with operations spanning the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and other international territories. The company organizes its business across three primary divisions: Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol. Its Refining segment generates a wide array of products, including various types of gasoline (conventional, premium, reformulated, and California Air Resources Board-compliant), diverse diesel fuels (low-sulfur, ultra-low-sulfur, and CARB diesel), jet fuels, blendstocks, asphalts, petrochemicals, and lubricants. This division also handles the sale of lube oils and natural gas liquids. As of the end of 2021, Valero managed 15 petroleum refineries, boasting a combined daily processing capacity of approximately 3.2 million barrels of crude oil. The Ethanol division comprises 12 plants, capable of producing around 1.6 billion gallons of ethanol annually.…

Historical context

All VLO earnings

Energy peers this season

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E Eni S.p.A. FY2026 Q3 · Calendar Q4 2026 +13.9% +4.3% Eni pairs upstream growth with record shareholder returns and transition progress

Latest beats and misses

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Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2025-01-16T00:01:26.053560+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-10-25T09:20:41.885166+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-10-25T09:20:41.882455+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated · As of 2026-10-25. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.