Par Pacific Shares Rise 7% as Refiner Rebounds From Recent Slide With Diesel Tightness and Earnings in Focus

Par Pacific Holdings Inc. shares rose 7% on Monday. The independent refiner recovered part of a recent pullback as investors returned to a sector that has been one of the stock market's best performers this year.

Par Pacific shares gained $5.41, or 7.01%, to $82.56 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange, giving the company a market value of about $4.1 billion. Trading was light in the first part of the session: about 91,000 shares had changed hands, against a three-month daily average of about 954,000.

The stock has risen about 89% over the past 52 weeks. It trades at about 4.5 times trailing earnings, a low multiple that reflects the cyclical nature of refining profits.

The company did not issue any news on Monday, and no specific trigger for the move was confirmed.

Recovering from a pullback

Monday's gain followed a slide over the previous week. Par Pacific closed at $85.11 on Oct. 20 and had fallen to $77.15 by Friday's close. Refining stocks broadly pulled back after diesel prices and refining margins eased from their peaks earlier this month.

Margins remain well above historical norms. The benchmark 3-2-1 crack spread, which approximates the profit from refining crude oil into gasoline and diesel, was about $53 a barrel last week, according to market reports. That was down from a 2026 peak near $70 on Oct. 7, but more than double the roughly $23 of a year earlier.

Global fuel squeeze

Refiners have rallied this year on a global shortage of refined fuels. Conflicts involving Iran and Ukraine have taken millions of barrels a day of refined product supply offline, and attacks on Russian refineries and Middle East shipping have tightened markets further. Diesel has topped $6 a gallon in the United States.

"It's more of a supply shock than a demand shock," Phillips 66 Chief Executive Mark Lashier said on his company's second-quarter earnings call.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced an arrangement for Russia to ship diesel to the United States to ease prices before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Analysts have played down the likely effect.

Francisco Blanch, commodity strategist at Bank of America, said the move may help "only at the margin given the domestic scarcity that Moscow faces." He added that "any pullback in distillate prices" could be a buying opportunity for investors.

Record quarter

Par Pacific has benefited strongly from the margin surge. The Houston-based company operates refineries in Hawaii, Montana, Washington and Wyoming, along with retail fuel stations and logistics assets.

In the second quarter, the company reported:

Net income of $462.1 million, or $9.35 a share, up from $59.5 million a year earlier. Adjusted earnings of $10.10 a share. Adjusted EBITDA of $571.3 million, compared with $137.8 million a year earlier. Refinery throughput averaging 181,000 barrels a day.

Chief Executive Will Monteleone credited "strong operational and commercial execution in a constructive market." He said the company was well positioned after completing major maintenance at its Hawaii refinery.

Earnings ahead

Par Pacific will report third-quarter results after the market closes on Nov. 3. It will hold a conference call the next morning. Investors will look for evidence that high margins carried through the summer and early fall, as well as updates on capital returns and debt.

Larger refiners, including Valero Energy, Marathon Petroleum and Phillips 66, have more than doubled in value this year, according to market data. Smaller independents such as Par Pacific and PBF Energy have been even more volatile.

Analysts say the outlook for refiners depends largely on how long global fuel supplies stay tight. That in turn depends on developments in the Middle East and Ukraine and on whether lost refining capacity can be restored.

_This article is for information only and does not constitute financial advice._