Marathon Petroleum second quarter 2026 earnings explained: refining margins, MPLX and valuation

Marathon Petroleum reported its second quarter 2026 results on August 4, 2026 and filed its quarterly report the same day. That is still its latest quarter with full results: when this article was written on October 31, 2026, the company had not filed third quarter results with the SEC. This article compares the three months ended June 30, 2026 with the first quarter. Net income attributable to MPC, the company's own share of profit under GAAP, the standard US accounting rules, was $5,138 million against $511 million, as reported by Marathon Petroleum. Every figure is sourced and dated, and every number worked out by us is labelled as a Dalsna Finance calculation. ^[1][2][3][4]

Marathon Petroleum in brief

Marathon Petroleum is a refining and midstream company based in Findlay, Ohio, and its common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker MPC. Its release describes its refining system as the largest in the United States. Its crude oil refining capacity was 2,986 thousand barrels per calendar day in the second quarter, and its refineries ran at 94% of that capacity. It also sells fuel through a marketing system that includes Marathon brand retail outlets. ^[1]

The company controls MPLX LP, a publicly traded midstream partnership, through its ownership of MPLX's general partner. At June 30, 2026 it owned about 64 percent of MPLX's outstanding common units, roughly 647 million units. Because it controls MPLX, all of MPLX's results are consolidated into Marathon Petroleum's own statements. The share of consolidated profit that belongs to outside owners is shown as net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and is taken out before net income attributable to MPC. The quarterly report says that line fell by $74 million in the first half of 2026 against a year earlier, mainly because MPLX's net income was lower. Earnings and EPS in this article mean Marathon Petroleum's share after noncontrolling interests, which is how the company itself uses those words. ^[2][1]

The three business segments

Marathon Petroleum reports three segments. Refining & Marketing runs refineries in three US regions, the Gulf Coast, the Mid Continent and the West Coast, that turn crude oil and other feedstocks into fuels. It also buys refined products and ethanol to resell, and sells to wholesale buyers in the US and abroad, on the spot market and to independent entrepreneurs who run Marathon brand outlets. Midstream mainly reflects MPLX. It moves, stores and distributes crude oil and refined products, largely for the refining segment, using pipelines, terminals, towboats and barges, and it gathers, processes and transports natural gas and fractionates and stores natural gas liquids (NGLs). Renewable Diesel makes renewable diesel from renewable feedstocks and sells it to wholesale buyers, on the spot market and under long term supply contracts. ^[2]

The company measures each segment by segment adjusted EBITDA, a non GAAP figure. EBITDA means earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The company also leaves out some other items, including refining planned turnaround costs, which are the costs of scheduled maintenance shutdowns. It says it excludes turnaround costs to make its figures easier to compare with competitors that spread those costs over time instead of expensing them. ^[1][2]

Refining & Marketing drove the jump, with segment adjusted EBITDA of $6,655 million against $1,377 million. Against the second quarter of 2025, the release puts the gain primarily down to higher crack spreads in all regions. A crack spread is the gap between the price of fuels and the price of the crude oil they are made from. Midstream rose to $1,778 million from $1,598 million, and the first quarter release said its quarter included $77 million of derivative losses on economic hedges. Against a year earlier, the second quarter release credits higher rates and throughputs, including growth from equity affiliates and acquisitions, partially offset by the sale of non core gathering and processing assets. Renewable Diesel rose to $258 million from $38 million, which the release links, against a year earlier, to a stronger margin environment, higher throughputs and better regulatory credit values. ^[1][3]

Two refinery projects were placed in service in the second quarter. A yield improvement at El Paso, the company says, strengthens its ability to make specialty gasolines for the El Paso, Phoenix and Mexico markets, and a product flexibility project at Robinson adds about 10 thousand barrels a day of jet fuel output. Marathon Petroleum's 2026 capital spending outlook, excluding MPLX, is $1.5 billion, and MPLX raised its 2026 growth capital outlook by $500 million to $2.9 billion (company projections, as reported). ^[1]

Refining by the barrel

Refining & Marketing margin is the company's non GAAP measure of what its refining business earns per barrel: sales revenue less the cost of crude oil, other refinery inputs and purchased products, divided by the barrels it refined. It more than doubled, to $36.33 a barrel from $17.74. Refining operating costs, which leave out turnaround costs and depreciation, fell to $5.72 a barrel from $6.23, and the refineries ran at 94% of capacity against 89%. ^[1][3]

The first quarter carried more maintenance. Its release said about 40% of the year's planned turnaround work was done in that quarter, and refining planned turnaround costs fell to $275 million in the second quarter from $530 million in the first. In its first quarter release the company estimated full year 2026 planned turnaround expense at $1.35 billion (company projection, as reported). ^[3][1]

The numbers, quarter over quarter

Sales and other operating revenues rose to $51,994 million from $34,200 million, up 52.0% (Dalsna Finance calculation). Income from operations rose to $7,322 million from $1,404 million. After interest and income taxes, consolidated net income was $5,538 million. Of that, $400 million was attributable to noncontrolling interests, leaving $5,138 million for Marathon Petroleum's shareholders, against $511 million in the first quarter. ^[1][3]

Marathon Petroleum also reports adjusted net income attributable to MPC, a non GAAP measure that leaves out items the company does not see as part of its core operating performance, after their tax effect. The second quarter had no such items, so the adjusted and GAAP figures were the same. The first quarter had one: $32 million before tax of clean fuel production tax credits for 2025, recognised after proposed guidance on the 45Z credit was issued in February 2026. Taking it out, net of $8 million of tax, gave adjusted net income of $487 million. ^[1][3]

Profit margin here means profit divided by sales and other operating revenues. The operating margin uses income from operations, which comes before interest, taxes and noncontrolling interests, so it includes all of MPLX. The two net margins use Marathon Petroleum's share only. ^[1][3]

Cash flow, debt and shareholder returns

Cash provided by operating activities was $11,448 million in the first six months of 2026, against $2,575 million a year earlier, according to the quarterly report. The first quarter release put that quarter alone at $1.1 billion. The quarterly report says the six month increase came primarily from stronger operating results and a favourable swing in working capital of $4.23 billion against the same period of 2025. ^[2][3]

The company returned more than $2.8 billion to shareholders in the second quarter and more than $1.0 billion in the first, according to its releases. The quarterly report shows $2,525 million of shares repurchased in the second quarter, about 10 million shares, and $756 million, about 3 million shares, in the first. The dividend declared was $1.00 a share in each quarter. On May 5, 2026 the company announced another $5.0 billion repurchase authorization, and $6.13 billion of authorization was left at June 30, 2026. ^[1][3][2]

At June 30, 2026 Marathon Petroleum held $7,768 million of cash and cash equivalents, including $1.0 billion at MPLX, and had no borrowings under its $5 billion bank revolving credit facility. Total consolidated debt was $32,816 million, of which $25,640 million was MPLX debt and $7,176 million MPC debt, against $32,825 million at March 31, 2026. ^[1]

Earnings per share

Earnings per share, or EPS, is profit divided by the number of shares. The diluted figure also counts shares that could be issued under items such as stock awards. Marathon Petroleum reported diluted EPS of $17.73 for the second quarter and $1.73 for the first, and adjusted diluted EPS of $17.73 and $1.65. Dividing net income attributable to MPC by the diluted share count the company publishes gives $17.72 and $1.73 (Dalsna Finance calculation). The one cent gap in the second quarter is consistent with rounding, as the published share count is given to the nearest million. ^[1][3]

In the first quarter the adjusted figure was below the GAAP figure because the 2025 clean fuel credit was taken out. In the second quarter there was nothing to take out, so the two were equal. ^[1][3]

What the market values Marathon Petroleum at

Market capitalization, or market cap, is what the stock market values the whole company at: the share price times the number of shares. Marathon Petroleum shares closed at $444.73 on Friday, October 30, 2026, as reported by StockAnalysis. The cover of the second quarter report lists 280,824,763 shares of Marathon Petroleum common stock outstanding as of July 30, 2026. That gives a market cap of about $124.89 billion (Dalsna Finance calculation). Every multiple and share price below uses this one share count. ^[5][2]

Two points on what that number covers. MPLX units held by outside investors trade separately and are not part of Marathon Petroleum's market cap, and the profit that belongs to those investors is also left out of net income attributable to MPC, so the multiples below set MPC's market cap against MPC's own share of profit. And the price is from October 30, 2026 while the earnings stop at June 30, 2026, so the multiples set today's price against the second quarter's numbers, not against results still to be reported. ^[2][1][5]

Six valuation multiples

The price to earnings ratio, or P/E, is market cap divided by a year of earnings. It shows how many dollars the market is paying for each dollar of yearly profit. Annualised means one quarter multiplied by four, so it assumes the second quarter's conditions lasted a full year. Net income attributable to MPC of $5,138 million times 4 is $20,552 million, which gives an annualised P/E of 6.1. Adjusted net income was the same in the second quarter, so the annualised adjusted P/E is also 6.1 (Dalsna Finance calculation). ^[1][5][2]

A forward P/E uses an estimate of future earnings. Marathon Petroleum's release gives no earnings guidance, only operating outlook items for the next quarter. We found no dated full year 2026 analyst estimate published after the second quarter results that we could check against its original report, so both forward P/E values are not calculated. ^[1]

A trailing P/E, sometimes called a historical P/E, uses the last four reported quarters, here the twelve months to June 30, 2026. Net income attributable to MPC over that period added up to $8,554 million, which gives a trailing P/E of 14.6. Adjusted net income added up to $7,760 million, which gives a trailing adjusted P/E of 16.1 (Dalsna Finance calculation). ^{[6][7][3][1][5][2]}

The last four quarters

Each quarter's net income attributable to MPC and adjusted net income comes from Marathon Petroleum's own release for that quarter. Net income added up to $8,554 million and adjusted net income to $7,760 million (Dalsna Finance calculation for the sums). In the third and fourth quarters of 2025 adjusted net income was below GAAP net income, because the company took out items such as gains on asset sales, while the second quarter of 2026 was the largest of the four on both measures. ^[6][7][3][1]

Two base cases: the second quarter held flat for a year

Suppose sales and other operating revenues stayed at the second quarter's level for a full year, with no growth and no decline: $51,994 million times 4, or $207,976 million. At the second quarter's GAAP net margin that gives $20,552 million of earnings, or $73.18 per share on the cover share count. Because adjusted net income equalled GAAP net income in the quarter, the adjusted case gives the same $20,552 million and $73.18 per share (Dalsna Finance calculation). ^[1][2]

Both cases are simply the second quarter annualised, so at the annualised P/E each returns the October 30, 2026 close of $444.73 by construction. The other cells only show how the price moves when the same earnings are given a different multiple. The GAAP case meets the GAAP multiples and the adjusted case the adjusted ones. The forward P/E values were not calculated, so they have no column. ^[1][5]

There is no separate operating margin case. The second quarter had no items that the company removed from adjusted net income, and income from operations is a consolidated figure that includes the profit belonging to MPLX's outside unitholders, so spreading it over Marathon Petroleum's shares alone would overstate what belongs to them. ^[1][2]

The adjusted base case in a chart

Sector comparison

This table sets the second quarter at Marathon Petroleum beside seven other large US oil and gas companies, using each company's own reported figures for the three months ended June 30, 2026, though integrated companies, producers and refiners earn money in different ways, so margins are not like for like. Each P/E here divides the October 30, 2026 close by four times the quarter's diluted EPS, so it can differ a little from the market cap based P/E earlier in this article. ^[1][5]

What to watch

Marathon Petroleum had not filed third quarter results when this article was written. Its second quarter release gave a third quarter outlook (company projection, as reported): total refinery throughputs of 3,005 thousand barrels a day, refining operating costs of $5.60 a barrel and refining planned turnaround costs of $290 million. The third quarter report will show whether the refining margin per barrel stayed near the second quarter's level and whether throughputs and costs came in line with that outlook. ^[1][4]

One legal matter is worth following. The quarterly report describes climate related lawsuits that governmental and other entities have brought against a number of energy companies, including Marathon Petroleum, which faces such a case in Delaware. The company says that at this early stage neither the likelihood of an unfavourable outcome nor any liability can be determined. ^[2]

How these figures were made: inputs come from Marathon Petroleum's releases for the third and fourth quarters of 2025 and the first and second quarters of 2026 and from its second quarter report on SEC EDGAR. The share price is the dated close named above. Calculations use the figures as filed and are rounded only at the end, with percentages and multiples to one decimal, per share figures and prices to the cent and dollar amounts in millions. ^{[6][7][3][1][2][5]}