Motor fuel retailer Murphy USA Inc. MUSA announced first-quarter 2025 earnings per share of $2.63, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.87 and compared unfavorably with the year-ago profit of $3.12. The underperformance was primarily due to lower-than-expected petroleum product sales.

Murphy USA’s operating revenues of $4.5 billion fell 6.6% year over year and missed the consensus mark by $241 million.

Revenues from petroleum product sales came in at $3.5 billion, well below our estimate of $3.7 billion and down 8.4% from the first quarter of 2024. On the other hand, merchandise sales, at $999.4 million, remained unchanged year over year.

Murphy USA Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Murphy USA Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Murphy USA Inc. Quote

Key Takeaways

MUSA’s total fuel contribution edged up 0.4% year over year to $287.3 million on higher retail contribution and margin expansion. Total fuel contribution (including retail fuel margin plus product supply and wholesale results) came in at 25.4 cents per gallon, up 2.4% from the first quarter of 2024.

Retail fuel contribution increased 7.1% year over year to $267.7 million as margins widened to 23.7 cents per gallon from 21.7 cents in the corresponding period of 2024. Retail gallons declined 1.9% from the year-ago period to 1,131.2 million, missing our estimate of 1,152 million. Volumes on an SSS basis (or fuel gallons per store) deteriorated 3.2% from the first quarter of 2024 to 220.1 thousand.

Contribution from Merchandise increased 2.2% to $195.9 million despite flat sales, as unit margins rose from 19.2% a year ago to 19.6% in the first quarter of 2025. On an SSS basis, total merchandise contribution increased 1% year over year, primarily on the back of 2.8% higher nicotine margins. But, merchandise sales decreased 1.6% on an SSS basis, due to a drop in nicotine as well as non-nicotine sales.

The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s monthly fuel gallons fell 3.9% from the prior-year period, while merchandise sales decreased 1.9% on an average per store monthly basis. 

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Balance Sheet

As of March 31, Murphy USA — which opened eight new retail locations in the quarter and closed four outlets to take its store count to 1,761 — had cash and cash equivalents of $49.4 million and long-term debt (including lease obligations) of $2 billion, with a debt-to-capitalization of 73.3%.

During the quarter, MUSA bought back shares worth $151.2 million.

Some Key Refining Earnings

While we have discussed MUSA’s first-quarter results in detail, let’s see how some other refining companies have fared this earnings season.

Valero Energy VLO reported adjusted earnings of 89 cents per share, which comprehensively beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 43 cents due to stronger-than-expected throughput volumes. The metric came in at 2,828 thousand barrels per day (MBbls/d), up from the year-ago figure of 2,760 MBbls/d. Our estimate for the same was pegged at 2,786 MBbls/d.

Valero’s total cost of sales decreased by $25 million to $29.8 billion on the back of lower cost of materials and others. First-quarter capital investment totaled $660 million, of which $582 million was allocated toward sustaining the business. Valero had cash and cash equivalents of $4.6 billion at the end of the first quarter.

Another refining giant, Phillips 66 PSX, reported adjusted loss of 90 cents per share, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 77 cents. The bottom line also compared unfavorably with the year-ago quarter’s earnings of $1.90. Phillips 66’s underperformance can be attributed to lower refining volumes and a drop in realized refining margins worldwide.

Phillips 66 generated $187 million of net cash from operations for the reported quarter. This implies an improvement from $236 million of net cash used in operations in the year-ago period. The company’s capital expenditure and investments totaled $423 million. Phillips 66 paid out dividends of $469 million in the first quarter. As of March 31, 2025, cash and cash equivalents were $1.5 billion. Total debt was $18.8 billion, reflecting a debt-to-capitalization of 40%.

Finally, we have Marathon Petroleum’s MPC first-quarter adjusted loss per share of 24 cents, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 63 cents. This primarily reflects the stronger-than-expected performance of its Refining & Marketing segment. Marathon Petroleum’s adjusted EBITDA of the segment totaled $489 million, surpassing the consensus mark of $286 million on the back of lower costs and higher throughput.

Marathon Petroleum reported expenses of $31.2 billion in first-quarter 2025, down from $31.4 billion reported in the year-ago quarter. MPC repurchased $1.1 billion of shares during the period. It currently has a remaining authorization of $6.7 billion.

Story Continues

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