Valero Energy Corporation vs Zscaler Inc — how do they compare? Valero Energy Corporation trades at $389.99 (market cap $110.23B), while Zscaler Inc trades at $166.37 (market cap $26.41B). The key difference: Valero Energy Corporation is far larger — about 4.2× Zscaler Inc's market cap, and Valero Energy Corporation pays a 1.25% dividend while Zscaler Inc pays none. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| VLO | ZS | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $110.23B | $26.41B |
Sector | Energy | Technology |
52-Week High | $388.95 | $336.27 |
52-Week Low | $156.39 | $118.05 |
Enterprise Value | $113.71B | $24.79B |
Dividend Yield | 1.25% | — |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Valero Energy (VLO) trades at $382.85, up 3.27% today, reflecting strong momentum amid favorable refining conditions. The stock exhibits a bullish technical trend, with recent earnings beats and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) as of September 9, 2026. Fundamentals show robust profitability with a 29.31% ROE, though revenue has declined from $176.4B in 2022 to $122.7B in 2025. Analyst consensus is bullish with a $345.55 price target, and the company maintains a solid balance sheet with $4.66B in cash.
VLO's outlook is supported by tight fuel supplies and healthy demand, with projected 2026 net income of $7.2B. Key risks include volatile energy prices and potential regulatory pressures. The stock offers growth potential but faces headwinds from revenue declines and geopolitical factors affecting the energy sector.
Zscaler (ZS) trades at $161.94, down 4.63% amid bearish technical signals despite strong quarterly earnings beats. The stock shows improving fundamentals with revenue growing from $1.1B in 2022 to $2.67B in 2025, though net margins remain negative. Recent news highlights Zscaler's AI security innovations and conference presentations, while analyst consensus remains strongly bullish with a $204.88 price target representing 26% upside potential.
Zscaler presents a compelling growth story with accelerating revenue and strong enterprise adoption, though profitability challenges and elevated valuation metrics warrant caution. The stock's current weakness near support levels offers potential entry points for investors bullish on cybersecurity demand, particularly given Zscaler's leadership in zero-trust security and AI-driven threat protection capabilities.
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 →Zscaler is a security-as-a-service firm that offers its customers cloud-delivered solutions for protecting user devices and data. The firm leverages its position in 150 colocation data centers to deliver traditionally appliance-based security functionality, such as firewalls and sandboxes, as a completely cloud-native platform. The firm focuses on large enterprise customers and offers two primary product suites: Zscaler Internet Access, which securely connects users to externally managed application and websites (such as Salesforce and Google), and Zscaler Private Access, which securely connects users to internally managed applications. Both product suites encompass a broad gamut of capabilities situated across the traditional security stack.
Read more on ZS →