Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What do you think of a U.S. stock I’m thinking of buying — Holly Corp? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Holly Corp., $22.39, symbol HOC on New York (Shares outstanding: 50.1 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion), is a refiner and marketer of petroleum products. The company operates a 100,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Artesia, New Mexico, an 85,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and a 31,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Woods Cross, Utah. Holly also owns a 41% interest in Holly Energy Partners, L.P. (symbol HEP on New York), which, through subsidiaries, owns or leases roughly 2,500 miles of petroleum pipelines in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, plus petroleum-product terminals in several southwestern and Rocky Mountain states. The recession has driven down demand for gasoline. This, in turn, has hurt the company’s revenue. However, falling oil prices mean that it is paying less for crude. This is lifting the profit margins it gets from gasoline. Lower demand has put global refining capacity in a state of flux. Chevron may shut a plant in Hawaii, and Shell may also shut down underperforming plants. But offsetting…