Companies · VLO · Oilfield Svcs/Equip.
What does Valero Energy's price assume?
The margin the price assumes
Revenue grows as its record suggests; the operating margin is solved at today's price.
At $363.71 on November 11, 2026, with growth of 10.8% a year, the price assumes an operating margin of 4.8% by year 5.
The price assumes
4.8%
Operating margin by year 5, solved at the price
Its 10-year median
3.8%
Fiscal 2016–2025, adjusted for R&D and leases
Its industry
4.8%
Oilfield Svcs/Equip., Damodaran Online, January 2026
The price assumes a margin above the company's own median, and close to its industry's.
The numbers behind the chart
| Fiscal year | Adjusted operating margin |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 4.7% |
| 2017 | 3.8% |
| 2018 | 3.9% |
| 2019 | 3.8% |
| 2020 | −2.0% |
| 2021 | 2.0% |
| 2022 | 9.0% |
| 2023 | 8.4% |
| 2024 | 3.2% |
| 2025 | 2.9% |
- Revenue growth, years 1 to 5
- 10.8% a yearIts industry's 5-year revenue growth (10.8%), which is lower than the company's own.Damodaran Online, January 2026 industry data, Oilfield Svcs/Equip.
- Margin path
- From today's margin to 4.8% by year 5Solved at the price. After that, the margin holds.
The growth the price assumes
At its median margin, no revenue growth between −50% and 100% a year matches today's price.
The assumptions both views share
These are neutral settings, the same for every company. Each view holds them and solves for one driver at today's price.
- Reinvestment
- $2.79 of revenue for each $1 investedThe industry's sales-to-capital ratio: how much new capital growth needs.Damodaran Online, January 2026 industry data, Oilfield Svcs/Equip.
- Cost of capital
- 7.52%The return investors need for the risk: the industry's beta, the market's risk premium, and debt rated Aaa/AAA from its median margin, with a stated 5-year debt maturity. Built by the engine from the parts listed under Sources, each with its date.
- After year 10
- Growth at the riskfree rate, foreverNew investment earns its cost of capital and no more, so growth after year 10 adds no value, and the cost of capital moves to a mature company's.
Worth knowing
- Its filings under its current registration cover fewer than eleven years, so growth uses the five-year record alone.
This is a mechanical starting point with neutral assumptions, not a valuation. The story decides.
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- Price: Qualuation's records, close of November 11, 2026.
- 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2025, filed February 25, 2026 (SEC EDGAR, accession 0001628280-26-011499).
- 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2026, filed October 28, 2026 (SEC EDGAR, accession 0001628280-26-067679).
- Margin record: SEC filings, fiscal 2016-2025, operating margin adjusted for R&D and leases.
- Industry margin: Damodaran Online, January 2026 industry data, Oilfield Svcs/Equip., adjusted for R&D and leases.
- Sales to capital: Damodaran Online, January 2026 industry data, Oilfield Svcs/Equip..
- US 10-year Treasury yield (FRED), October 29, 2026.
- Less the US default spread (Damodaran Online, July 2026).
- Industry beta, Oilfield Svcs/Equip. (Damodaran Online, January 2026).
- Equity risk premium (Damodaran Online, October 2026).
- Debt rated Aaa/AAA at its median margin (rating table, Damodaran Online, January 2026).
- The margin the price assumes: solved by the engine at the price on November 12, 2026, with the assumptions above.