Sifting through countless of stocks in the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Valero Energy Corporation or Exxon Mobil Corporation because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Valero Energy Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Valero Energy Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation

Valero Energy Corporation manufactures, markets, and sells petroleum-based and low-carbon liquid transportation fuels and petrochemical products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol. The company produces California Reformulated Gasoline Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending (CARBOB) and Conventional Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending (CBOB) gasolines, CARB diesel, diesel, jet fuel, heating oil, and asphalt; feedstocks; aromatics; sulfur and residual fuel oil; intermediate oils; and sulfur, sweet, and sour crude oils. It sells its refined products through wholesale rack and bulk markets; and through outlets under the Valero, Beacon, Diamond Shamrock, Shamrock, Ultramar, and Texaco brands. The company also owns and operates renewable diesel and ethanol plants, as well as produces and sells renewable diesel, renewable naphtha, and neat sustainable aviation fuel under the Diamond Green Diesel brand name. In addition, it offers ethanol and various co-products, including dry distillers grains, syrup, and inedible distillers corn oil to animal feed customers. The company was formerly known as Valero Refining and Marketing Company and changed its name to Valero Energy Corporation in August 1997. Valero Energy Corporation was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

Exxon Mobil Corporation engages in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through Upstream, Energy Products, Chemical Products, and Specialty Products segments. Its Upstream segment explores for and produces crude oil and natural gas. The Energy Products segment offers fuels, aromatics, and catalysts, as well as licensing services. Its Chemical Products segment manufactures and sells olefins, polyolefins, and intermediates. The Specialty Products segment offers finished lubricants, basestocks, waxes, synthetics, elastomers, and resins. It is also involved in the manufacture, trade, transport, and sale of crude oil, natural gas, petroleum products, petrochemicals, and other specialty products; and pursuit of lower-emission and business opportunities, including carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, lower-emission fuels, Proxxima resin systems, carbon materials, low-carbon data center, and lithium. In addition, the company offers aviation fuel. It sells its products under the Exxon, Esso, and Mobil brands. Exxon Mobil Corporation was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Spring, Texas.

Latest Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels and Valero Energy Corporation, Exxon Mobil Corporation Stock News

As of April 30, 2026, Valero Energy Corporation had a $75.5 billion market capitalization, compared to the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels median of $2.8 million. Valero Energy Corporation’s stock is up 50.9% in 2026, up 4.1% in the previous five trading days and up 118.65% in the past year.

Currently, Valero Energy Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 33.4. Valero Energy Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $115.9 billion with a 3.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was -2.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $23.272 per share for the current fiscal year. Valero Energy Corporation currently has a 1.9% dividend yield.

As of April 30, 2026, Exxon Mobil Corporation had a $641.5 billion market cap, putting it in the 100th percentile of all stocks. Exxon Mobil Corporation’s stock is up 26.8% in 2026, up 2.5% in the previous five trading days and up 42.42% in the past year.

Currently, Exxon Mobil Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 23.0. Exxon Mobil Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $323.9 billion with a 8.9% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was -1.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $10.108 per share for the current fiscal year. Exxon Mobil Corporation currently has a 2.7% dividend yield.

How We Compare Valero Energy Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Valero Energy Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Valero Energy Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Valero Energy Corporation	VLO	C
Exxon Mobil Corporation	XOM	C

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Valero Energy Corporation has a Value Score of 60, which is Average. Exxon Mobil Corporation has a Value Score of 47, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Valero Energy Corporation or Exxon Mobil Corporation has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Valero Energy Corporation or Exxon Mobil Corporation is the better investment when it comes to value.

Valero Energy Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Valero Energy Corporation	VLO	A
Exxon Mobil Corporation	XOM	A

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Valero Energy Corporation has a Quality Score of 90, which is Very Strong. Exxon Mobil Corporation has a Quality Score of 89, which is Very Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Quality Grade breakdown above, both Valero Energy Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation have a grade of A. For investors who focus solely on a company’s overall quality, you will need to conduct further research into both companies to see if they are a good fit for your portfolio. As a good rule of thumb, you should always analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before choosing a company to invest in.

Valero Energy Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Valero Energy Corporation	VLO	A
Exxon Mobil Corporation	XOM	B

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Valero Energy Corporation has a Earnings Estimate Score of 87, which is Very Positive. Exxon Mobil Corporation has a Earnings Estimate Score of 70, which is Positive.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Valero Energy Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Valero Energy Corporation has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Exxon Mobil Corporation. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Valero Energy Corporation could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Valero Energy Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation Grades

In addition to Quality, Estimate Revisions and Value, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Momentum.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Valero Energy Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Valero Energy Corporation or Exxon Mobil Corporation Stock?

Overall, Valero Energy Corporation stock has a Value Score of 60, Estimate Revisions Score of 87 and Quality Score of 90.

Exxon Mobil Corporation stock has a Value Score of 47, Estimate Revisions Score of 70 and Quality Score of 89.

Comparing Valero Energy Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.