Sunoco LP SUN reported the fourth-quarter 2023 loss of $1.50 per unit, falling short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings of $1.01. The bottom line turned around from the year-ago quarter’s earnings of 42 cents.

Total quarterly revenues of $5.64 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.61 billion. However, the top line declined from the $5.92 billion reported a year ago.

Weak quarterly earnings resulted from lower motor fuel sales across all segments.

Sunoco LP Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

 

Sunoco LP price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Sunoco LP Quote

Segmental Performance

Sunoco reports financial results through two reportable segments — Fuel Distribution and Marketing, and All Other.

Fuel Distribution and Marketing: Total revenues from the segment decreased to $5.4 billion from $5.7 billion in the comparable period of 2022 primarily due to lower motor fuel sales. The reported figure is slightly above our estimate of $5.3 billion.

All Other: The unit reported total revenues of $213 million compared with $226 million in the prior-year quarter. The year-over-year downside can be attributed to lower motor and non-motor fuel sales. The reported figure also lagged our estimate of $216 million.

In terms of volumes, the partnership sold 2.2 billion gallons of fuel in the reported quarter, up 11% from the 2 billion gallons reported in the year-ago period. The metric also beat our estimate of 1.9 billion gallons.

Motor fuel gross profit per gallon was 12.3 cents compared with the year-ago level of 12.8 cents.

Sunoco reported a total operating loss of $43 million, which significantly declined from the profit of $96 million reported in the prior-year quarter. The figure also missed our estimate of $156.3 million.

For the quarter ended Dec 31, 2023, the net loss was $106 million versus a net income of $55 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. The figure also missed our estimate of a net income of $102.3 million.

Distributable Cash Flow

The adjusted distributable cash flow totaled $148 million in the fourth quarter, down from the year-ago level of $153 million.

Expenses & Capital Expenditure

The total cost of sales and operating expenses in the reported quarter declined to $5.7 billion from $5.8 billion a year ago.

The partnership incurred a capital expenditure of $83 million in the fourth quarter, comprising $50 million in growth capital and $33 million in maintenance capital.

Balance Sheet

As of Dec 31, 2023, Sunoco had cash and cash equivalents of $29 million, and a net long-term debt of $3.6 billion.