Billionaire D.E Shaw Is Bullish On These Oil Refiners

Moving on to Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO), which represented D E Shaw’s third-largest bet in the oil refining industry and its fifth-largest equity holding overall. The fund bought an additional 2.14 million shares of the company during the second quarter, and as of June 30 owned almost 11.6 million shares worth around $726 million. Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) reported far better-than-expected second quarter numbers on July 30. While analysts were expecting the company to declare EPS of $2.42 on revenue of $19.91 billion for the quarter, it reported EPS of $2.66 on revenue of $25.12 billion. Nonetheless, analysts at Bank of America recently downgraded Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Neutral’ on August 24, though they increased their price target on the stock to $68 from $64, which represents a potential 17.85% increase from where the stock currently trades at. Among the hedge funds that reduced their stakes in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) during the April-June period was Robert Joseph Caruso‘s Select Equity Group, which reduced its holding by 8% to slightly above 2.22 million shares during that period.

D E Shaw increased its stake in Tesoro Corporation (NYSE:TSO) by 30% to over 6.66 million shares during the second quarter. As of June 30, this stake was worth $562.78 million. The company posted an earnings and revenue beat on August 5, following which its shares saw a 10% rise over the next few days. However, this rally was short-lived, as the fall in crude oil prices started weighing on the stock. While analysts were expecting Tesoro Corporation (NYSE:TSO) to report EPS of $4.02 on revenue of $6.80 billion for the second quarter, the company declared EPS of $4.59 on revenue of $8.23 billion. On August 14, analysts at Scotiabank reiterated their ‘Sector Perform’ rating on the stock, while increasing their price target to $114 from $111, which represents a potential 28.45% rise from the shares’ current price. Among the hedge funds we cover, Jonathan Auerbach‘s Hound Partners was the third-largest shareholder of Tesoro Corporation (NYSE:TSO) on June 30, owning over 3.83 million shares.

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