Oil Earnings Results Post-Performance FWIW

By Paul Sankey Published on April 20, 2024 at 10:16 AM

A major client liked the chart we published last week, highlighting that Schlumberger has a pattern of under-performing quarterly earnings reports. Quod Errat Demonstrandum, as SLB under-performed on its results yesterday, despite a headline beat. All you can analyse is the margins, and guidance outlook change. They came in neutral to mildly negative on a stock that is relatively expensive. SLB was down -2.14% in a tape which saw the mighty energy sector XLE power …

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Gas Stations & the Weakening Low End Consumer

By Paul Sankey Published on March 25, 2024 at 2:11 PM

Gas station stocks: low end consumer weakening. Gas station play Alimentation Couche Tard ($ATD) profit warning. Negative implication for refiners with gas stations, such as DINO. We are backing off our “long gas station stocks” stance but still prefer MUSA (Murphy USA), with its massive buyback and low volatility. But watch for a couple of tough quarters ahead. We like long gasoline (equity ETF is $UGA) as a trade into Memorial Day on supply tightness, …

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California write-downs: Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Brangelina

By Paul Sankey Published on January 13, 2024 at 11:41 AM

This year started with massive writedowns from both Chevron and ExxonMobil in California. You don’t need to read the all-time classic of industry literature, “Oil!”, by Upton Sinclair (nor watch the classic film “There Will Be Blood” which is based on the book) to know there is a long and storied history of oil in California. In this note we write brief histories that led to the write-downs. Spoiler alert, we start with the conclusions, …

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