Murphy USA, the national gasoline and convenience retailer based in El Dorado, reported on Wednesday a whopping fourth-quarter profit of nearly $125 million, partly the result of a deferred tax benefit of $89 million from the corporate tax cut enacted by Washington in December.
The quarterly income contributed to a full-2017 profit of $245.3 million, up from $221.5 million in 2016. The $125 million quarterly figure compares with a $44 million profit in the fourth quarter of 2016. The annual income figure was the equivalent of $6.78 per diluted share of stock, compared with $5.59 per diluted share for 2016.
The fourth-quarter earnings per share handily beat most analysts’ predictions, and the annual figure for revenue, about $3.4 billion, also topped expectations. The company, which was spun off from Murphy Oil Corp. in 2013, achieved the results despite selling less gasoline over the quarter and the full year. The annual fuel sales numbers were down 1.3 percent from 2016 at 4.1 billion gallons. Merchandise helped offset the fuel sales deficit, growing 8.1 percent in the fourth quarter, according to figures filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
“We are extremely pleased with the company’s performance in 2017,” President and CEO Andrew Clyde said in a statement. “The business was resilient against continued headwinds, challenging macroeconomic conditions, and especially in the first quarter, regulatory uncertainty that resulted in a change to our guidance early in the year.”
Clyde gave particular credit to the tax cut, which reduced corporate income tax rates by more than a third in the largest overhaul of the nation’s tax system in decades. President Donald Trump signed the legislation last month.
“Our focused strategy and operating discipline generated full-year results that were within the original guidance range for adjusted EBITDA and well above our guidance for net income thanks to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which will provide continued tangible benefits into 2018,” Clyde said. “Although challenges and regulatory uncertainty persist, Murphy USA has repeatedly proven its resilience to external factors and its ability to add value to its business.”
The company opened 23 new stores in the fourth quarter, in addition to four sites that were razed and rebuilt. At year’s end, Murphy USA had 1,446 locations.
The quarterly and yearly results were released after the market closed on Wednesday. Murphy USA stock closed up 21 cents at $85.31; its five-year high of $87.24 was reached last week.
The company will host a conference call at 10 a.m. Thursday to discuss the results. The conference call number is 1 (844) 613-1037; the conference number is 5467727. Materials will also be available on the Murphy USA website, corporate.muphyusa.com.
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