Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Marathon (NYSE:MRI), Holly (NYSE:HOC) Upgraded to "Buy" on Strong Refinery Margins

While Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) believes the refining industry needs to be shrunk in the U.S., there is good news for companies like Marathon (NYSE:MRI) and Holly (NYSE:HOC) serving in that capacity, as margins are up and earnings will follow as a result.

Both companies were upgraded to "Buy" on enhanced margins.

Deutsche Bank said, "Demand is weak and expected to never attain its previous peaks; but more refining capacity has been added. The need is to retire refineries, a slow and painful aging process for a twilight industry. However in this note we list the many positive factors that have driven US refining margins, particularly in the MidCon, towards the upper end of the 2000-2010 range. Long MidCon: Raise Marathon to BUY, Holly to BUY, re-iterate ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) BUY, Frontier (NYSE:FTO) BUY, CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) BUY."

It seems Deutsche is wrong concerning oil refinery capacity, which has caused problems in the past in the U.S. when a number of them were shut down.

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