Which Is a Better Investment, Marathon Petroleum Corporation or Sunoco LP Stock?

By Jenna Brashear
November 25, 2025
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Sifting through countless of stocks in the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Marathon Petroleum Corporation or Sunoco LP because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Sunoco LP compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Sunoco LP

Marathon Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated downstream energy company in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Refining & Marketing; Midstream; and Renewable Diesel. The Refining & Marketing segment refines crude oil and other feedstocks at its refineries in the Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent, and West Coast regions of the United States; and purchases refined products and ethanol for resale and distributes refined products through transportation, storage, distribution, and marketing services. Its refined products include transportation fuels, such as reformulated gasolines and blend-grade gasolines; heavy fuel oil; and asphalt. This segment also manufactures propane and petrochemicals. It sells refined products to wholesale marketing customers in the United States and internationally, buyers on the spot market, and independent entrepreneurs who operate primarily Marathon branded outlets, as well as through long-term fuel supply contracts to direct dealer locations primarily under the ARCO brand. The Midstream segment gathers, transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil and refined products, including renewable diesel and other hydrocarbon-based products through refining logistics assets, pipelines, terminals, towboats, and barges; gathers, processes, and transports natural gas; and transports, fractionates, stores, and markets natural gas liquids. The Renewable Diesel segment processes renewable feedstocks into renewable diesel, markets, and distributes renewable diesel through its Midstream segment and third parties. It sells renewable diesel to wholesale marketing customers, buyers on the spot market, and through long-term supply contracts to direct dealers under the ARCO brand. Marathon Petroleum Corporation was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Findlay, Ohio.

Sunoco LP, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the energy infrastructure and distribution of motor fuels in the United States. It operates in three segments: Fuel Distribution, Pipeline Systems, and Terminals. The Fuel Distribution segment distributes motor fuels and other petroleum products, such as propane and lubricating oil to third-party dealers and distributors, independent operators of commission agent locations, other commercial consumers of motor fuel, and retail locations; and leases real estate properties. This segment also offers non-fuel products, including in-store merchandise and company-operated retail stores food services, as well as credit card processing, car washes, lottery, and other services. The Pipeline Systems segment includes an integrated pipeline and terminal network comprising refined product, crude oil, and ammonia pipelines and terminals. The Terminals segment operates transmix processing facilities and refined product terminals; and provides blending, additive injections, handling, and filtering services. The company was formerly known as Susser Petroleum Partners LP and changed its name to Sunoco LP in 2014. Sunoco LP was founded in 1886 and is based in Dallas, Texas.

Latest Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels and Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Sunoco LP Stock News

As of November 24, 2025, Marathon Petroleum Corporation had a $57.2 billion market capitalization, compared to the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels median of $2.0 million. Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s stock is up 36.2% in 2025, down 4.3% in the previous five trading days and up 19.33% in the past year.

Currently, Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 20.6. Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $133.6 billion with a 2.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was -0.8%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $10.446 per share for the current fiscal year. Marathon Petroleum Corporation currently has a 2.1% dividend yield.

As of November 24, 2025, Sunoco LP had a $10.4 billion market cap, putting it in the 80th percentile of all stocks. Sunoco LP’s stock is up 7.9% in 2025, up 2.1% in the previous five trading days and up 3.52% in the past year.

Currently, Sunoco LP’s price-earnings ratio is 18.9. Sunoco LP’s trailing 12-month revenue is $21.9 billion with a 2.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 4.9%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.604 per share for the current fiscal year. Sunoco LP currently has a 6.7% dividend yield.

How We Compare Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Sunoco LP Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Sunoco LP’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Sunoco LP Growth Grades

Company Ticker Growth
Marathon Petroleum Corporation MPC B
Sunoco LP SUN B

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a Growth Score of 65, which is Strong. Sunoco LP has a Growth Score of 65, which is Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Growth Grade breakdown above, both Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Sunoco LP have a grade of B. For investors who focus solely on a company’s upward growth, further research should be conducted into both companies’ other financial metrics before deciding whether to invest.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Sunoco LP’s Quality Grades

Company Ticker Quality
Marathon Petroleum Corporation MPC B
Sunoco LP SUN C

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a Quality Score of 67, which is Strong. Sunoco LP has a Quality Score of 44, which is Average.

The Quality Grade Winner: Marathon Petroleum Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Quality Grade breakdown above, Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a better overall quality grade than Sunoco LP. For investors who are looking for companies with higher quality than others in the same industry, Marathon Petroleum Corporation could be a good stock to add to their portfolios. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Sunoco LP’s Momentum Grades

Company Ticker Momentum
Marathon Petroleum Corporation MPC B
Sunoco LP SUN C

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation has a Momentum Score of 66, which is Strong. Sunoco LP has a Momentum Score of 56, which is Average.

The Momentum Grade Winner: Marathon Petroleum Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, Marathon Petroleum Corporation is considered to have stronger momentum compared to Sunoco LP. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, Marathon Petroleum Corporation could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

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Other Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Sunoco LP Grades

In addition to Quality, Momentum and Growth, A+ Investor also provides grades for Value and Estimate Revisions.

Invest with Confidence with A+ Investor

AAII’s expansive and robust screening tools like A+ Investor help investors make confident decisions.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Sunoco LP pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Marathon Petroleum Corporation or Sunoco LP Stock?

Overall, Marathon Petroleum Corporation stock has a Growth Score of 65, Momentum Score of 66 and Quality Score of 67.

Sunoco LP stock has a Growth Score of 65, Momentum Score of 56 and Quality Score of 44.

Comparing Marathon Petroleum Corporation and Sunoco LP’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

Learn More About A+ Investor

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.



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