Valero Energy beats by $0.16, beats on revs
Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.57 per share, $0.16 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.41; revenues rose 4.1% year/year to $36.14 bln vs the $31.02 bln consensus.
The decrease in operating income was due to lower refining throughput margins caused by lower gasoline and diesel margins as well as lower light sweet and sour crude oil discounts. Also contributing to the decline in operating income were higher costs for Renewable Identification Numbers to comply with the U.S. federal Renewable Fuel Standard. Strong performance in the ethanol business partially offset the decline in operating income.
Valero expects full-year 2013 capital expenditures, including turnarounds and catalyst, to be ~$2.85 billion, of which $1.30 billion is for growth investments. For 2014, capital expenditures, including turnarounds and catalyst, are expected to be ~$3 billion.
"We believe that we have a great opportunity to unlock potential value in our assets via the formation of a logistics partnership. We are also evaluating and pursuing investments that leverage the North American natural resource advantages, such as projects to process additional light sweet crude oil volumes and to upgrade natural gas and natural gas liquids. Along with these opportunities, we intend to continue returning cash to stockholders through dividends and share buybacks."