ConocoPhillips vs MARATHON PETROLEUM CORPORATION, two Oil & Gas Refining stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
ConocoPhillips earns 11.3% on equity exploring and producing crude; Marathon Petroleum earns 19.8% refining it, and the return gap is more about capital structure than skill: Marathon's buyback-shrunk equity base inflates the ratio, where Conoco's return on assets of 6% against Marathon's 5.3% is the cleaner read and nearly ties. The businesses sit at opposite ends of the barrel, upstream price-taking against downstream crack-spread capture, which is why they hedge each other in a portfolio. Conoco pays the bigger dividend, 3% against 1.5%, and trades slightly dearer, 17.9 against 16.7 times. Both run near-zero debt. The pair is the upstream-downstream split priced almost evenly; the barrel's two ends, one page each.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | COP | MPC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $105.80 | $253.99 |
| Market cap | $129.6B | $74.9B |
| Sector | Oil & Gas Refining | Oil & Gas Refining |
| Stage | Cyclical | Cyclical |
| Implied growth (priced in) | — | -3.9% |
| P/E | 17.9 | 16.7 |
| P/B | 2.01 | 3.20 |
| P/S | 2.23 | 0.55 |
| EV/EBITDA | 10.7 | 6.1 |
| Revenue growth | +1.9% | -1.2% |
| Operating margin | — | 4.1% |
| Net margin | 12.6% | 3.4% |
| Return on equity | 11.3% | 19.8% |
| Return on assets | 6.0% | 5.3% |
| Return on invested capital | — | 29.0% |
| FCF yield | 13.9% | 7.6% |
| Dividend yield | 3.0% | 1.5% |
| Debt / equity | 0.02 | 0.09 |
| Current ratio | 1.29 | 1.18 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 2.64 | 2.97 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 8 / 9 | 7 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.