Valero price target lowered to $169 from $187 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler lowered the firm’s price target on Valero to $169 from $187 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. With refining margins continuing to struggle under the combination of robust supply and “underwhelming” demand, Piper lowered Q2 estimates, reducing earnings estimates by 43%, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm now sees 42% downside to Street estimates on average across the intendent refiner group. Piper says that with the shape of the forward refining margin curve largely backward-dated, and the market currently well supplied, it expects the market has “largely abandoned the idea of a driving season rally, in the absence of a supply outage,” with second half of 2024 estimates likely moving lower as well.