Marathon Petroleum Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings and revenue surged
past expectations, the latest indication that the energy sector could
be recovering.
Shares of the company climbed 2% in premarket trading to $49.
Many
energy analysts have been raising their oil-price projections for the
first time in nearly half a year, as the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries has trimmed output by more than 1 million barrels a
day.
Marathon reported a quarterly profit of $227 million, or 43
cents a share, up from $187 million, or 35 cents a share, a year
earlier. Revenue improved 10.7% to $17.28 billion.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of 26 cents a share on revenue of $14.54 billion.
Last
month, Marathon announced plans to accelerate so-called drop-down deals
and conduct a strategic review of its Speedway assets, months after
hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. raised concerns with the energy
company.
Marathon said it would significantly accelerate a
drop-down of assets with about $1.4 billion of annual earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to MPLX LP, a master
limited partnership formed by Marathon Petroleum to buy, develop and
operate midstream assets.
The company also said a special
committee of its board would conduct a review of Speedway, its brand of
company-owned and operated convenience stores and gas stations.
Austen Hufford contributed to this article
Write to Ezequiel Minaya at ezequiel.minaya@wsj.com
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