Marathon Petroleum

Marathon's most recent quarter brought in 5.1 billion dollars in profit, more than four times what it made in the same quarter last year. Refineries have been squeezing far more money out of every barrel of oil, with profit per barrel jumping from under 7 dollars a year ago to nearly 25 dollars today.

The company returned 2.8 billion dollars to shareholders in a single quarter through dividends and buybacks, and it has shrunk its share count from 335 million to under 280 million over the past two years. Its pipeline business is growing its payouts by more than 12 percent a year and covers Marathon's entire dividend on its own, so shareholder payments do not depend on refining staying hot.

These huge profits are tied to unusual events. War related strikes have knocked out a big chunk of Russian refining capacity, and Middle East tensions have squeezed fuel supplies worldwide. If those conflicts calm down and refining capacity comes back online elsewhere, the extra wide profit margins Marathon is enjoying right now could shrink.

Just two years ago, in early 2025, Marathon posted a quarterly loss. Refining is a boom and bust business where profit per barrel can swing from negative to record highs within a year, so investors should expect bumpy results rather than smooth, predictable growth.