Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corp MPC, +3.16% shot up 3.9% toward a more-than three-year high after the oil refiner reported fourth-quarter profit that was more than double what was expected and also a big revenue beat, while also adding $5 billion to its stock buyback authorization. Net income shot up to $744 million, or $1.27 a share, from $285 million, or 44 cents a share, in the year-ago period, as the refining and marketing business swung to income of $881 million from a loss of $1.6 billion. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $1.30 was well above the FactSet consensus of 55 cents. Revenue soared 95.8% to $35.61 billion, beating the FactSet consensus of $21.16 billion. Revenue growth outpaced the 90.1% rise in total costs to $33.83 billion. Separately, the company increased its stock repurchase authorization by $5 billion, after the company had repurchased $3 billion worth of stock during the final two months of 2021 to complete 55% of the previously set $10 billion buyback program. The stock, which is on track to open at the highest prices seen during regular-session hours since October 2018, has soared 14.5% over the past three months through Tuesday while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.69% has slipped 1.5%.
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