Valero Energy Corporation VLO has provided a glimpse of its preliminary financial information about the March quarter of this year.

The international manufacturer and marketer of transportation fuels and petrochemical products added that its refining and ethanol business segments were impacted significantly by a severe winter and ice storm, dubbed unofficially as Winter Storm Uri. Notably, the storm, which caused havoc to power systems in Texas, led the company to predict higher than expected incurrence of costs associated to natural gas and electricity through the first quarter of 2021 by its refining and ethanol units.

The company has made the estimation of the excess energy costs in the range of $520 million to $535 million. The company added that the excess costs mostly affected its refining businesses across the U.S. Gulf Coast region and U.S. Mid-Continent region. Following the severe impact of the winter storm, Valero Energy now projects first-quarter net loss attributable to its stockholders in the band of $1.81 to $2.05 per share.

Other energy players that expressed concerns regarding winter storms’ effect on their first-quarter 2021 bottom lines are Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM and Phillips 66 PSX. ExxonMobil recently expressed concerns regarding the Texas winter storm having hit its first-quarter 2021 earnings by as much as $800 million. Moreover, Phillips 66 announced that its operations in the Central and Gulf Coast regions were significantly affected by severe winter storms.

Valero Energy Corporation Price

Valero Energy Corporation price | Valero Energy Corporation Quote

Currently, Valero Energy carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Meanwhile, another prospective player in the energy sector is Diamondback Energy, Inc. FANG. The stock sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Diamondback is likely to see earnings growth of 112.5% in 2021.

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