Marathon Petroleum Corporation · MPC · FY2026 Q1 · Calendar Q2 2026

Marathon Petroleum Q1 2026: Record Operations, $5B Buyback, EPS Doubles Estimates

Marathon Petroleum delivered Q1 2026 adjusted EPS of $1.65, more than double the $0.74 consensus, on $2.8 billion in adjusted EBITDA. Refinery utilization reached 89% with 99% margin capture and record-low unplanned downtime. Capital deployment is accelerating: $330 million into refining projects (jet fuel capacity at Garyville and Robinson, yield improvements at El Paso) and $2.4 billion via MPLX into natural-gas and NGL infrastructure. Shareholder returns remain front and center with $1 billion returned in Q1 plus a new $5 billion buyback authorization. Management reaffirmed its full-year outlook and guided 94% Q2 utilization, citing a tight global refining market with roughly 6 million bpd of capacity offline due to Middle East conflict. The stock traded 2.35% above benchmark on the report and drifted 2.57% subsequently, with the current price of $306.05 sitting near the analyst…

Reported Before market openNYSEEnergy $89.35B market cap
100quality score

Company context

Snapshot as of publication

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) functions as a prominent integrated energy enterprise, primarily concentrating its downstream operations across the United States. Its business is bifurcated into two main divisions: Refining & Marketing, and Midstream. The Refining & Marketing segment is responsible for processing crude oil and various other raw materials at its refineries, strategically located in the U.S. Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent, and West Coast regions. This division also acquires refined petroleum products and ethanol for subsequent distribution. Key outputs from this segment encompass a diverse array of transportation fuels, including different gasoline blends, heavy fuel oil, and asphalt. Additionally, it manufactures chemicals such as aromatics, propane, propylene, and sulfur.…

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS $1.65 Consensus $1
EPS surprise +123.3% Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue $34.57B Consensus $33.42B
Revenue surprise +3.4% Reported versus consensus

Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
MPC REVENUE earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 8 reported fiscal quarters and 4 future estimate-only quarters. Q4 '23 estimate $35B Q4 '23 actual $36B, beat Q1 '24 estimate $32B Q1 '24 actual $33B, beat Q2 '24 estimate $37B Q2 '24 actual $38B, beat Q3 '24 estimate $34B Q3 '24 actual $35B, beat Q2 '25 estimate $33B Q2 '25 actual $34B, beat Q3 '25 estimate $33B Q3 '25 actual $35B, beat Q4 '25 estimate $31B Q4 '25 actual $33B, beat Q1 '26 estimate $33B Q1 '26 actual $35B, beat Q2 '26 estimate $41B Q3 '26 estimate $41B Q4 '26 estimate $38B Q1 '27 estimate $36B

Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusBuy32 ratings
Bullish2475.0%
Neutral825.0%
Bearish00.0%

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$306.05Previous close
$68Low
$200.19Average
$344High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted previous close from FN2's market snapshot as of Jul 29, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
Goldman Sachs Buy BuyMaintainJul 22, 2026
TD Cowen Buy BuyMaintainJul 21, 2026
Citigroup Neutral NeutralMaintainJul 14, 2026
Raymond James Outperform OutperformMaintainJul 13, 2026
Evercore ISI Group In Line In LineMaintainJul 13, 2026
Barclays Overweight OverweightMaintainJul 13, 2026
Morgan Stanley Overweight OverweightMaintainJun 12, 2026
Mizuho Neutral NeutralMaintainMay 27, 2026
Show 24 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted previous close $306.05. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
Piper SandlerAnalyst unavailable$343$315.82 +12.1%Jul 23, 2026
Raymond JamesJustin Jenkins$335$294.06 +9.5%Jul 13, 2026
BarclaysAnalyst unavailable$289$283.74 -5.6%Jul 13, 2026
JefferiesAnalyst unavailable$335$283.74 +9.5%Jul 12, 2026
UBSManav Gupta$321$280.61 +4.9%Jul 10, 2026
Wells FargoSam Margolin$344$263.58 +12.4%Jun 15, 2026
Morgan StanleyAnalyst unavailable$265$260.81 -13.4%Jun 12, 2026
Mizuho SecuritiesAnalyst unavailable$284$248.05 -7.2%May 27, 2026
UBSAnalyst unavailable$285$249.32 -6.9%May 6, 2026
BarclaysAnalyst unavailable$270$260.51 -11.8%May 6, 2026
See 56 more

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Market reaction

prior-close to event-session close
Stock move +3.2% Event window
SPY move +0.8% Same window
Abnormal move +2.4% Stock minus SPY
Volume 1.2× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift +2.6% Up to 20 sessions
MPCSPY benchmark

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Transcript intelligence

What changed

Capex outlook shifted from decreasing in Q4 2025 to increasing in Q1 2026. The prior quarter emphasized a 20% cut in refining capex to $700 million; Q1 saw $330 million deployed into refining projects with continued investment ahead. Margin capture moved from 105% in full-year 2025 to 99% in Q1 2026, still strong but no longer above 100%. A new $5 billion buyback authorization builds on the prior commitment to return $4.5 billion to shareholders in 2026. MPC also disclosed the first-time export of ULSD from Los Angeles to Australia and naphtha to Asia, and the purchase of roughly 10 million barrels of advantaged SPR crude directly from the U.S. DOE, neither of which were highlighted in the prior quarter.

Guidance delta

Management maintained full-year guidance and guided Q2 2026 refinery utilization to 94%. Guidance sentiment is unchanged from the prior quarter (maintained). No upward or downward revision to financial targets was indicated.

Key takeaways

  • Adjusted EPS of $1.65 beat the $0.74 estimate by 123%; adjusted EBITDA reached $2.8 billion.
  • Refinery utilization was 89% with 99% margin capture and record-low unplanned downtime.
  • $1 billion returned to shareholders in Q1 alongside a new $5 billion share repurchase authorization.
  • MPLX invested $2.4 billion in natural-gas and NGL infrastructure, with Gulf Coast fractionation facilities slated for 2028-2029.
  • Middle East conflict has taken approximately 6 million bpd of global refining capacity offline, supporting elevated crack spreads.

Management priorities

  • Expand jet fuel capacity: Robinson jet flexibility project online in Q3 (~10,000 bpd incremental jet).
  • Advance MPLX growth projects including Gulf Coast fractionation and LPG export infrastructure.
  • Execute the new $5 billion buyback authorization while sustaining dividend growth.
  • Optimize renewable diesel operations and complete the Martinez turnaround.
  • Leverage advantaged crude sourcing, including SPR purchases and record Canadian crude volumes.

Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-07-26T00:37:12.209961+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-07-29T05:31:52.712173+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-07-29T05:31:52.709485+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated . For educational purposes only; not investment advice.