MARATHON PETROLEUM CORPORATION vs SUNOCO LP, two Oil & Gas Refining stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
What is priced in: Marathon Petroleum at 16.7 times earnings is priced for refining crack spreads and heavy buybacks; Sunoco, an MLP with no clean P/E, is priced for its distribution, its 28.5% free-cash figure the pass-through mechanic of a fuel-logistics vehicle. Marathon refines and markets fuel at a 19.8% return on equity; Sunoco moves it through terminals and pipelines at a thin 3.1% net margin. Marathon pays a 1.5% dividend from earnings; Sunoco distributes. Marathon runs 0.09 turns of debt, Sunoco MLP-standard leverage. The pair prices a refiner against a distributor, adjacent links in the downstream chain, one a capital-return story on the crack spread and the other an income vehicle on the fuel toll, each priced on the metric its structure was built to produce.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | MPC | SUN |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $253.99 | $66.32 |
| Market cap | $74.9B | $3.4B |
| Sector | Oil & Gas Refining | Oil & Gas Refining |
| Stage | Cyclical | Cyclical |
| Implied growth (priced in) | -3.9% | +2.7% |
| P/E | 16.7 | — |
| P/B | 3.20 | — |
| P/S | 0.55 | 0.11 |
| EV/EBITDA | 6.1 | 2.3 |
| Revenue growth | -1.2% | +40.5% |
| Operating margin | 4.1% | 8.1% |
| Net margin | 3.4% | 3.1% |
| Return on equity | 19.8% | — |
| Return on assets | 5.3% | 3.2% |
| Return on invested capital | 29.0% | 9907.9% |
| FCF yield | 7.6% | 28.5% |
| Dividend yield | 1.5% | — |
| Debt / equity | 0.09 | — |
| Current ratio | 1.18 | 1.40 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 2.97 | 1.28 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 7 / 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.