Russell 2000

Now, let’s look at the forward valuations of Marathon Petroleum (MPC), Tesoro (TSO), Valero Energy (VLO), and Phillips 66 (PSX).

Marathon Petroluem’s net debt-to-EBITDA ratio stood at 1.9x in 4Q16. It’s lower than the average industry ratio of 2.8x.

Marathon Petroleum (MPC) has been rated by 19 Wall Street analysts. Seventeen analysts (or 89%) have rated it as a “buy” so far in May 2017.

Average valuation multiples Earlier, we discussed refining stocks’ performance in 1Q17 and compared their dividend yields. In this part, we’ll look at Marathon Petroleum’s (MPC), Tesoro’s (TSO), Valero Energy’s (VLO), and Phillips 66’s (PSX) forward valuation. The average forward EV-to-EBITDA (enterprise value to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) multiples and average forward PE […]

Refining stocks’ valuation In this part, we’ll compare refining stocks’ EV-to-EBITDA (enterprise value to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) ratios with their three-year averages. Marathon Petroleum (MPC), Valero Energy (VLO), Phillips 66 (PSX), and Tesoro (TSO) are trading higher than their historical valuation. MPC was trading at a 10.3x EV-to-EBITDA ratio in 1Q17, compared […]

Since February 2017, downstream stocks have been hit by volatile crack conditions and changing inventory levels. VLO has also witnessed volatility in its stock price.

In this article, we’ll look at refining stocks’ EV-to-EBITDA (enterprise value to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) ratios compared to their three-year historical averages.

PSX is trading at 9x its forward EV-to-EBITDA ratio and at 16.4x its forward PE ratio, which is above the peer averages.

The currently unstable refining environment has resulted in volatile refining earnings for big US refiners like MPC, VLO, TSO, and PSX.

On January 25, six out of the S&P 500’s 11 major sectors moved higher. Strength in the utilities and health care sectors pushed the market higher.

On the DRAM front, Sanjay Mehrotra stated that average capacity per server increased to ~145 GB in 2017, and it is expected to increase to ~350 GB by 2021.

The fact that Intel’s chips are more vulnerable to attack makes the security flaw even more severe, as the company commands about 80% of the PC CPU (central processing unit) market and 99% of the server CPU market.

To become cost-competitive, Micron is increasing its capex from $5.0 billion in fiscal 2017 to $7.5 billion in fiscal 2018.

In fiscal 1Q18, Micron introduced its 32 GB NVDIMMN (nonvolatile dual in-line memory module), which is a combination of its DRAM and NAND products.

The Intel-AMD partnership would likely help Intel tap into the mobile PC gaming market, but NVIDIA doesn’t think of Intel as big competition in gaming.

The acquisition of Cavium (CAVM) by Marvell Technology (MRVL) would mean several revenue and cost synergies and also change the combined company’s revenue structure.

With every new iPhone generation, Broadcom’s (AVGO) content per phone increases as the phone’s RF subsystems grow more complex.

Intel (INTC) is increasing its earnings through spending discipline and by focusing its expenses on projects with high ROI (return on investment).

Intel’s CCG reported flat YoY revenue growth in fiscal 3Q17, with the increase in notebook shipments offsetting the declines in desktop shipments.

Intel has appointed AMD’s Radeon Technology Group chief architect, Raja Koduri, as the chief architect and senior vice president of its new group.

NVIDIA (NVDA) has become NVIDIA because of its most advanced GeForce GPUs (graphics processing units), which are superior in the PC (personal computer) gaming market in terms of performance.

Intel taps neuromorphic processors Intel (INTC), a leader in the data processor market, is set to secure its position in the cloud computing space with its new Nervana NNP (Neural Network Processor), which it developed in conjunction with Facebook (FB). Now, it is tapping offline, on-device computing to compete with more energy-efficient ARM processors in […]

Intel’s competitive advantage has helped the company pay an uninterrupted dividend for the past 25 years. But with new competition, can it keep it up?

In edge computing, basic analysis happens at the device level. This requires the device to be equipped with memory, processor, and connectivity chips.

The Ryzen Pro launch comes at a time when many enterprises prepare to transition to Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows 10.

So far, we’ve seen how Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) stock reacted to the recent confusion surrounding the news about a possible partnership with Tesla over autonomous vehicle chips.

Micron’s memory business The memory market environment has been favorable for memory makers since October 2016 with tight supply conditions fueling memory prices. Pure-play memory suppliers like Micron benefit the most from the memory uptrend. Micron (MU) earns 64% of its revenues from DRAM (dynamic random access memory) and 31% from NAND (negative AND). Three […]

Micron’s EBU revenue rose 19% sequentially to $700 million in fiscal 3Q17 driven by high demand for its products across consumer, industrial, and automotive markets.

Looking at July imports data, HRC (hot rolled coil) imports fell ~27.0% year-over-year. However, imports rose on a monthly basis.

In fiscal 2Q17, Broadcom’s operating cash flow increased 17% sequentially to ~$1.6 billion.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) entered the high-end GPU (graphics processing unit) market with the launch of its Vega series.

On August 7, 2017, AMAT had a PS ratio of ~3.7x.

In fiscal 1Q18, NVIDIA’s cash reserves stood at $6.2 billion. Its long-term debt stood at $2.0 billion, resulting in a net cash position of $4.2 billion.

NVIDIA’s gaming revenues rose 49% year-over-year to ~$1.0 billion in fiscal 1Q18, driven by strong demand for Pascal GPUs.

AMD launched its Radeon RX Vega GPU for game developers on July 30, 2017. NVIDIA shipped its first Volta GPU Tesla V100 for data center applications on August 1.

Cypress’s MCD revenues rose 8% sequentially to $317.9 million in 1Q17, accounting for 59.8% of the company’s revenues.

Xilinx’s automotive revenues grew at an average annual rate of 60% between fiscal 2013 and 2017.

Intel is offering a full spectrum of AI solutions and several accelerators. The company’s journey in accelerated computing began with its acquisition of Altera in 2015.

Intel’s (INTC) move to acquire Mobileye (MBLY) could create an adjacent data center opportunity in the long term.

Infinity Fabric is a scalable control fabric that controls all the sensors in a chip.

Intel has long-term debt of $24 billion against cash reserves of $17 billion, resulting in net debt of $7 billion.

Previously in this series, we’ve looked at Alcoa’s (AA) 2Q17 earnings estimates. In this article, we’ll see how leading brokerages are rating Alcoa stock ahead of its 2Q17 earnings release.

Advanced Micro Devices’ (AMD) strong stock price gain, product launches, and rising competition have made some analysts bullish and some bearish on the stock.

According to Micron’s Ernest Maddock, even if China succeeds in securing legitimate IP, it would still fail in the memory market.

NVIDIA’s end-to-end autonomous car solution NVIDIA (NVDA) is looking to make the concept of a fully autonomous car reality by developing an end-to-end platform, from architecture to HD (high-definition) maps. It aims to develop a complete software stack and update it on a continuous basis. On top of that, it hopes to make this stack open, […]

NVIDIA’s product strategy NVIDIA (NVDA) has officially unveiled its next-generation Volta architecture. Whenever the company develops a new architecture, it first launches it on the Tesla GPU (graphic processing unit) platform for data centers because it commands a higher price than other platforms. Then it launches the architecture on the GeForce gaming platform, as its […]

Phillips 66’s 90-day daily beta stands at 1.1, which is below its peer average of 1.5.

Qualcomm (QCOM) reported strong growth in the QCT (Qualcomm CDMA Technology) segment in fiscal 2Q17.

NVIDIA (NVDA) has been supporting the adoption of AI (artificial intelligence) beyond the cloud and into supercomputing and other industries.

Tesoro (TSO) has been rated by 18 analysts. Of those, 12 have assigned the stock a “buy” or “strong buy” rating.

Tesoro (TSO) posted its 1Q17 results on May 8, 2017. Revenues missed analysts’ estimate, but adjusted EPS of $0.55 surpassed the estimate of $0.31.

NVIDIA (NVDA) dominates the discrete GPU (graphics processing unit) market. It has a history of pushing its more established competitors out of the market.

Launch of 3D XPoint Intel (INTC) has launched its 3D XPoint-based Optane DC P4800X SSD (solid-state drive). The initial tests show that it is the fastest SSD tested to date and it is ideal for data center tasks that require high input/ output performance and limited storage. However, the Optane drive is only five times […]

Intel in the Artificial Intelligence market According Jackdaw Research analyst Jan Dawson, although Intel (INTC) is committed to making it big in the AI (Artificial Intelligence) market, it is a little late. Also, it does not have the same power as it has in the PC (personal computer) and server market to set standards. However, […]

After its earnings, Phillips 66 was rated by 19 analysts. Four analysts gave it a “buy,” 15 gave it a “hold,” and no analysts gave it a “sell.”

In this series, we’ve examined Tesoro’s (TSO) 1Q17 estimates, refining margin outlook, and stock performance ahead of its earnings release expected on May 8, 2017.

Intel (INTC) is transitioning from a focus on PCs (personal computers) to data. This series will take a look at what’s in store for the company in 2017.

Analysts believe that Ryzen 5, with its price range of $169–$249, would deliver better price points and performance than Ryzen 7.

There’s a huge gap between the gross margins of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and its rivals Intel (INTC) and NVIDIA (NVDA).

Phillips 66 has been rated by 19 analysts. Of those, four (or 21.0%) have given it a “buy” or “strong buy” rating.

Of the 19 analysts covering MPC, 17 (89%) analysts have assigned “buy” or “strong buy” ratings, while two (11%) have assigned “hold” ratings.

VLO’s mean price target of $72 per share implies around a 10% gain from its current level.

One of President Donald Trump’s pre-election pitches was related to the Keystone pipeline. He supported the project while also saying that the pipeline would be made with American steel.

As energy prices have moved to higher price levels and rig counts have seen some upward traction, the menace of higher imports seems to be back.

Thirteen out of the 18 analysts covering Tesoro (TSO) have rated it as a “buy” so far in March 2017. Another five analysts have rated TSO as a “hold.”

Alcoa (AA) has been proactive in controlling its costs to stay competitive in the subdued commodity pricing environment.

Phillips 66’s (PSX) 90-day beta stood at 1.2 on March 16, 2017, below its peer average of 2.1.

Intel is looking to mitigate the integration risk by integrating its Automated Driving Group with Mobileye instead of integrating Mobileye into its business.

Fifteen out of the 19 analysts covering Phillips 66 (PSX) rated it as a “hold” in March 2017. Another four analysts rated PSX as a “buy” or a “strong buy.”

AMD is Nvidia’s only competitor in the discrete GPU market. Nvidia became a leader in the discrete GPU market in late 2014 when it released its GeForce 900 series.

Marathon Petroleum’s refining earnings are impacted by the blended LLS 6-3-2-1 crack, the sweet-sour differential, and the LLS-WTI spread.

Recently, Google (GOOG) announced it would be the first cloud service company to use Intel’s Skylake Xeon server processor. The news came as a surprise.

Marvell’s (MRVL) restructuring program will involve selling off non-strategic businesses.

PBF Energy (PBF) released its 4Q16 results on February 16, 2017. The earnings results weren’t very encouraging for this petroleum refiner.

For fiscal 1Q17, AMAT expects its non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) gross margin to rise 43.8% from 43.7% in fiscal 4Q16.

Tesoro (TSO) posted its 4Q16 results on February 6, 2017. It reported revenues of $6.6 billion, which missed Wall Street analysts’ estimates.

After its 4Q16 results, four of 19 analysts assigned “buy” or “strong buy” recommendations to Phillip’s 66 stock, while 15 assigned “holds.”