Murphy USA of El Dorado (NYSE: MUSA) filed fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 financial results on Wednesday, reporting that the year’s net income was $672.9 million, eclipsing 2021’s yearly profit of $396.9 million by nearly 70%.
The company’s leadership also noted Murphy USA’s successes since it first reported results as a publicly traded company after being spun off from Murphy Oil of El Dorado a decade ago.
The convenience store and fuel chain had fourth-quarter net income of $117 million, or $5.21 per diluted share, compared with a fourth-quarter 2021 total of $108.8 million, or $4.32 per share. The results still fell somewhat short of totals expected by Wall Street analysts, and MUSA stock stood at $270.50 a share at market close Wednesday.
The results were reported after the markets closed. The quarterly and full-year amounts were reduced by a $25 million pre-tax pledge to the Murphy USA Charitable Foundation.
Retail gasoline sales by gallon were up 7.8% to $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter, and volumes of same-store sales rose by 4%, the company reported.
The company also repurchased 800,000 shares of common stock for $239 million, an average price of $283.05 per share. Over the course of 2022, the company repurchased 3.3 million common shares for $806.4 million at an average of $242.24 per share.
Andrew Clyde, Murphy USA’s president and CEO, said the year’s performance demonstrated the company’s progress in 10 years as a public company, beginning in 2013. The oil company has since moved its headquarters from El Dorado to Houston.
“We have invested in critical areas of the business to ensure our ongoing success, including assembling an engaged and experienced leadership team that has helped drive cultural and operational change,” Clyde said in a statement. “We have consistently executed against our clear and coherent strategy to grow the network, improve store performance, enhance differentiated capabilities, and optimize our cost structure to sustain and grow our competitive advantage in the market. We have allocated capital in a focused and disciplined manner, resulting in significant store growth and more than 50% reduction in outstanding shares since our spin.”
Clyde added that he expects more success ahead.
“Looking out over the next decade, we continue to see an equally attractive opportunity set of growth and capability building investments to further improve the business. With an attractive free cash flow profile, a healthy balance sheet, and strong momentum heading into 2023, we expect to continue our track record of value creation for long-term investors.”
The company had a cash balance of $60.5 million at the end of the year, as well as marketable securities above $22 million.
