Valero Energy Corporation vs Yum! Brands, Inc. — how do they compare? Valero Energy Corporation trades at $329.58 (market cap $93.27B), while Yum! Brands, Inc. trades at $148.77 (market cap $39.50B). The key difference: Valero Energy Corporation is far larger — about 2.4× Yum! Brands, Inc.'s market cap, and Yum! Brands, Inc. pays the higher dividend (2.07%). Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| VLO | YUM | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $93.27B | $39.50B |
Sector | Energy | Consumer Cyclical |
52-Week High | $323.92 | $168.16 |
52-Week Low | $133.38 | $138.21 |
Enterprise Value | $96.74B | $51.10B |
Dividend Yield | 1.48% | 2.07% |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Valero Energy (VLO) trades at $328.43, up 4.28% today, showing strong momentum after recent earnings beats. The stock maintains bullish technical signals with key resistance at $329 and support at $319. Recent Q2 2026 results significantly exceeded expectations with EPS of $12.54 versus $10.11 estimates, driven by robust refining margins and renewable diesel performance. Revenue trends show recovery from 2025's $122.7B to projected $139.4B in 2026.
VLO presents a compelling value opportunity with attractive valuation metrics (P/E 13.51, P/S 0.7) and strong profitability (ROE 29.31%). Analyst consensus favors Buy ratings (55.55%) with $324.27 price target. Key risks include refining margin volatility and geopolitical impacts on oil markets. The company's disciplined capital allocation and dividend payments ($1.20 quarterly) provide shareholder returns amid energy sector transformation.
YUM Brands trades at $148.91, up 2.46% with recent earnings beats offset by food safety concerns. Technical indicators show bearish momentum with support at $141, while fundamentals reveal strong revenue growth to $8.21B in 2025 and net income of $1.56B. The company recently completed the $1.2B sale of Pizza Hut China, streamlining operations amid cyclospora outbreak impacts on Taco Bell sales.
YUM presents a mixed outlook with 37% analyst buy ratings and $174.60 price target suggesting 17% upside, but faces near-term headwinds from food safety investigations and consumer sentiment. Long-term growth depends on KFC/Taco Bell execution and digital strategy success amid elevated debt levels.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Valero Energy is one of the largest independent refiners in the United States. It operates 14 refineries with a total throughput capacity of 3.2 million barrels a day in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Valero also owns 14 ethanol plants with capacity of 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol a year and holds a 50% stake in Diamond Green Diesel, which has capacity to produce 700 million gallons per year of renewable diesel.
Read more on VLO →Yum Brands is a U.S.-based restaurant operator featuring a portfolio of four brands: KFC (26,930 global units), Pizza Hut (18,380 units), Taco Bell (7,790 units), and The Habit Burger (310 units) at year-end 2021. With $58 billion in 2021 systemwide sales, the firm is the second-largest restaurant company in the world, behind McDonald's ($112.5 billion) but ahead of Restaurant Brands International ($36 billion) and Starbucks ($25 billion). Yum is 98% franchised, with the largest franchisee, Yum China, created via a 2016 spinoff transaction (after which Yum China agreed to pay 3% royalties to Yum Brands in perpetuity). Yum is the newest evolution of Tricon Brands, formerly a division of PepsiCo, and generates the bulk of its revenue from franchise royalties and marketing contributions.
Read more on YUM →