Marathon Petroleum earnings: third quarter 2026

Marathon Petroleum, one of America's largest oil refiners, had an exceptional third quarter of 2026. Sales rose about 61% to $56.0 billion, and its profit after everything was $7.4 billion against $1.4 billion a year earlier. Its own adjusted measure of operating earnings, which strips out one-off items, was more than three and a half times last year's at $11.7 billion, so the jump came from the business itself. Almost all of it came from refining, where the gap between what fuels sell for and what crude costs widened sharply. ¹

Against what analysts expected

Analysts had on average expected earnings per share of $25.74 for the quarter, according to Nasdaq's earnings calendar. ¹²

The strong points

• What Marathon earns on each barrel it refines, the gap between fuel prices and the cost of crude, more than doubled to $45.70 from a year ago. ¹
• Cash on hand rose to $12.8 billion from $7.8 billion three months earlier, even after large payments to shareholders and an early debt repayment. ¹
• It handed $3.3 billion back to shareholders in the quarter, mostly by buying back its own shares, raised its dividend 10% and approved $5 billion more for buybacks. ¹

The weak points

• Income from ventures it only partly owns fell by almost two-thirds to $359 million. ¹
• Corporate costs rose to $328 million from $238 million, which the company puts down to higher incentive pay. ¹

What the company expects

• Marathon expects its $4.2 billion sale of the St. Paul Park and Mandan refineries to close at the end of 2026, and plans to reinvest its $3.45 billion share mainly on the Gulf Coast. ¹
• It kept its plan to spend $1.5 billion on investment in 2026, outside its pipeline arm, the same as it said three months ago. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A strong report. Profits several times last year's on a refining margin more than twice as wide, with the cash to show for it and a steady spending plan, make this a strong report, though its strength rests on fuel margins the company does not control.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)
• The previous results, for what it forecast then

Notes

1. Marathon Petroleum's results release, 3 November 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 3 November 2026. ↩