6
Sunoco
Amid a flurry of mergers and investment in refining, conservatively run Sunoco has gotten record results while sticking largely to its knitting. Since 2003 revenues have more than doubled, and net income has more than tripled. The refiner processes mostly light, sweet crude oil into gasoline, heating oil, kerosene, and other products. While the light sweet stuff is costlier to buy than heavy, sour crude, it’s less expensive to process. With CEO John Drosdick at the helm since 1996, Sunoco stands out among its peers for holding on to big stakes in gas stations, coke production, and other chemical-processing businesses. They’re considered to be something of a cushion from the volatility of the refining business.
| Overall Grade | A |
|
| Market Data | SUN | |
| Market Value (2/28/2007) |
$7.8 Billion |
|
| Profitability* | 36.7% | A |
| Sales Growth Rate** | 31.4% | B- |
| 12-Month Sales | $36.0 Billion |
|
| 12-Month Net Income | $1.0 Billion |
|
| Total Return | Past 12 Months-11.8% | Past 36 Months118.7% |
| Economic Sector | Energy | |
| Industry | Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing | |
The overall sector letter grade reflects how the weighted average of the return on income, or return on equity, and sales growth grades compare with others in the same sector. For the overall grade as well as the ROE/ROI and sales growth grades, an "A" places a company in the top 7% of its sector and an "A-" in the top 14% of the sector. The actual ranking was done using the underlying numerical measures. Grades are for information only.
* For nonfinancial companies, three-year average pretax operating profit before interest and special items as a percentage of average invested capital. For financial companies, pretax profits as a percentage of average shareholder's equity.
*Three-year average annual sales growth based on the most recently reported 36 months, calculated using the least-squares method.
