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Valero Energy Corporation
Energy · Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing
Made on Aug 11, 2026
Price at call $314.95
6-month call Bear -10.5%
Target by Feb 2027 $282.00
Great value below $235.00
Model v0.6.0

Projection vs Actual (6M history + forecast)

The masterbrain's trajectory (blue, curved through its 7 checkpoints), the deterministic v0.3 control (dashed), and the actual price (green) overlaid from the prediction date forward.
Forecast Change -10.5% to $282.00
Predicted High $322.00 at 1 month
Predicted Low $282.00 at 6 months
Max Drawdown (predicted) -10.5%

Forecast

The masterbrain trajectory — 7 dated checkpoints. Short rungs (2w, 1m) show the typical range as the primary claim; point calls run from 2 months out. Every claim still gets graded. Predicted Aug 11, 2026 1:20 am
Bear VLO trends lower to $282.00 (-10.5% from $314.95) by Feb 2027. ride-then-fade
ThesisVLO is stretched about 30% above composite fair value after a 55% six-month run, but a risk-on regime and hot refining tape keep momentum alive near-term. Expect the rally to hold or drift higher into fall before value gravity and cyclical fatigue pull it back toward the high 200s.
Invalidated ifA decisive break above $340 on refining strength, or a collapse below $285 that breaches trend, would invalidate this mean-reversion path.
Checkpointtime after the call Datewhen it gets graded Predictedthe claim: closing price Current priceactual close — fills in over time Predicted returnpredicted vs $314.95 at call Conv.brain's confidence, 1–10 Driverwhy the brain put the point here
Prediction made Aug 11, 2026 — $314.95 at call — —The anchor — every point below is measured from this price and date.
2 weeks Aug 25, 2026 $291.58–$338.32 typical range · internal point $318.50 — ±7.4% 6/10 Momentum and risk-on regime carry tape short-term
What actually happened: closed $346.00 on Aug 24, 2026 = +9.9% vs the call (predicted +1.1%)  ·  direction MISS (called flat, was up)  ·  off by 8.7 pp  ·  accuracy 4/10  ·  typical range ±7.4%: OUTSIDE the band  ·  S&P -1.0% over the same window — beat it
1 month Sep 11, 2026 $281.09–$348.81 typical range · internal point $322.00 — ±10.8% 5/10 Peer refining strength extends run into September
What actually happened: closed $385.43 on Sep 10, 2026 = +22.4% vs the call (predicted +2.2%)  ·  direction MISS (called flat, was up)  ·  off by 20.1 pp  ·  accuracy 4/10  ·  typical range ±10.8%: OUTSIDE the band  ·  S&P -1.8% over the same window — beat it
2 months Oct 11, 2026 $315.00 — +0.0% 4/10 Rally stalls as valuation stretch becomes visible
3 months Nov 11, 2026 $305.00 — -3.2% 4/10 Q3 print risk and crack spread normalization weigh
4 months Dec 11, 2026 $295.00 — -6.3% 5/10 Value gravity pulls toward DCF anchor near 277
5 months Jan 11, 2027 $288.00 — -8.6% 5/10 Late-cycle refining narrative fades into new year
6 months Feb 11, 2027 $282.00 — -10.5% 6/10 Convergence toward bear scenario and fair value zone

Why ranges on the short rungs? A 102-prediction trial (2026-07-21) showed 2-week point calls carry no information here — three prompt formulations all lost to simply predicting zero — while the stock's own volatility scale (σ×√t) described those windows well. So the short rungs claim what's actually knowable: the typical travel, with earnings timing flagged where the variance will come from. The internal point calls keep being generated and graded to map where real skill begins. Full evidence: stocks/predictions/V0.5-DESIGN.md §8.

Deterministic control (v0.3 value line) targets $306.57 (-2.7%) — both lines get graded at every checkpoint, so the brain has to beat the formula, not just replace it. Brain: claude-opus-4-7.

Weaknesses

0 blocking · 0 degraded · 2 notes — follow the chain top-down (cause → effect).
  • Note
    Value is primarily income-based — dividend sustainability is the key risk
    upstream:classification
  • Note
    Valuation anchor absent: anchored_pe.
    anchor:anchored_pe

Equation Inputs

Everything feeding the v0.6.0 model — value anchors, the stock's own price behaviour, and the tunable knobs.

Value anchors (from deep analysis)

Price at call$314.95
Composite fair value$243.29
Signal-adjusted fair value$226.93
DCF fair value$276.99
Anchored-PE fair value—
Buy-below (value lens)$235.00
Value net score-67
Value confidence7 / 10
Quality net score+18
Memo confidence7 / 10
Deserved value (base)—
Quality tilt—
Deserved value (used)—
Coherence (value × quality)—

Price behaviour (trailing — shapes the realism line)

Realized volatility (annualized) 1m 36.8%  3m 37.2%  6m 38.9%  
Daily σ (realism noise)2.3%
Beta vs S&P 500 1m -0.41  3m -0.49  5m -0.94  
Trailing 6-month return55.4%

Knobs (equation params)

ladder["w2","m1","m2","m3","m4","m5","m6"]
llm_modelclaude-opus-4-7
max_tokens3000
control_knobs{"w_dcf":0.5,"k_qual":0.200000000000000011102230246251565404236316680908203125,"reach_6m":0.450000000000000011102230246251565404236316680908203125,"coh_floor":0.5,"conf_gain":0.059999999999999997779553950749686919152736663818359375,"noise_phi":0.84999999999999997779553950749686919152736663818359375,"conf_floor":0.40000000000000002220446049250313080847263336181640625,"w_composite":0.5,"noise_window":"3m","flat_band_pct":5,"horizon_months":6,"noise_sigma_fallback":0.01499999999999999944488848768742172978818416595458984375}
Neutral band (%)5
earnings_briefv1
prompt_versionp1
control_versionv0.3.0

Version & Tech Chain

What produced this prediction — stamped on the record so versions can be compared by success rate later.
Model v0.6.0 #271041f8fcd5

Tech composition (what this version is built from)

#ProcessKindGroup
1 Synthesis valuation-synthesis deterministic final
2 Scenario Analysis scenario-valuation deterministic valuation
3 Valuation / Mispricing ext-lens-value llm extended
4 Company Quality ext-lens-quality llm extended
5 Forensic Memo (combiner) ext-forensic-memo llm extended
6 Classification company-classification llm foundation
7 Live Quote fmp-quote data market-data

Inputs used (the runs that fed this prediction)

Upstream processRanLagRun id
company-classification Aug 11, 2026 freshest VLO-20260811-000713-c323
ext-forensic-memo Aug 11, 2026 freshest ext-VLO-20260811-010850-e221
ext-lens-quality Aug 11, 2026 freshest ext-VLO-20260811-010850-e221
ext-lens-sentiment Aug 11, 2026 freshest ext-VLO-20260811-010850-e221
ext-lens-value Aug 11, 2026 freshest ext-VLO-20260811-010850-e221
scenario-valuation Aug 11, 2026 freshest VLO-20260811-000713-c323
valuation-synthesis Aug 11, 2026 freshest VLO-20260811-000713-c323

Inputs flagged 7d+ behind the freshest one may be stale relative to the rest of the analysis.

Saved History

2 frozen snapshots — the record we score once predictions mature.
MadeModelCallAt callTargetExp.Eval due
Aug 11, 2026 v0.6.0 Bear $314.95 $282.00 -10.5% Feb 2027 viewing
Jul 12, 2026 v0.3.0 Bear $280.69 $264.99 -5.6% Jan 2027 view

Not Yet Modeled

What this v0.6.0 forecast deliberately ignores — the work ahead, in plain sight.
  • Scenario probabilities — one path, no bull/bear split (base_prob = 1.0).
  • Intraday / sub-2-week behaviour — the first claim is at 14 days by design (EOD product).
  • Position sizing / portfolio context — the path is a price claim only.