I'm glad I'm not the only one exasperated by these endless equity raises.
Here are some of my Foolish colleagues' responses to Valero Energy's
- Chris Barker: "Wall Street is living it up, but I fear shareholders will suffer the hangover."
- Matt Koppenheffer: "The timing and price of the stock offering is just awful, particularly when we consider the massive amount of stock the company bought back at much higher prices over the past few years. Buy high and sell low? Sounds like management has no idea how much Valero's equity is worth"
- Joe Magyer (via instant message): "Why don't they just kick my dog while they're at it?"
So it's not just me. Phew.
Time, then, to highlight a few of the week's lowlights from within the energy sector.
On Tuesday, Stone Energy
The following day, owners of ATP Oil & Gas
You can hardly accuse ATP of being unimaginative in its approach to deleveraging. The E&P has sold a chunk of reserves to France's EDF, and monetized some infrastructure by partnering with GE
If this stock's asset value is nearly as high as some on our dedicated ATP message board believe it to be, then the offering is really a terrible blow. It doesn't give one much comfort with regard to the company's ongoing monetization efforts, either. I'm holding onto my outperform rating in Motley Fool CAPS, but I'm not happy.
Last but not least, EV Energy Partners