VLO - Marathon Petroleum Q4 results - beats by a mile adds to buyback lowers capex

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) out this morning with great results and a shareholder friendly capital allocation update. Marathon's divestiture of Speedway and aggressive buyback made it the best performing large-cap refiner through the pandemic, and Management looks to be doubling down on their strategy with today's update:  Q4 adjusted EPS came in at $1.3/s, versus consensus expectations for 56c/s. Having completed 55% of the $10b share buyback announced in conjunction with the Speedway sale, management today announced an additional $5b buyback (current market cap $44b). Marathon repurchased $3b of shares between 10/31 and 1/31, or ~7% of shares outstanding over the four month period. Management provided capital guidance of $1.7b for 2022, after spending $1.9b in 2021. Shares are up ~3.5% in the pre-market. Although Marathon's share price is back above pre-pandemic levels, having a buyback in place for ~25% of the market cap would suggest there is room for continued outperformance.

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Marathon Petroleum Q4 results - beats by a mile, adds to buyback, lowers capex