CVR Energy Adjusted EBITDA Hits $582 Million As It Agrees To Buy Two Marathon Refineries
The refiner's third-quarter net income hit $570 million, and the CEO called it the best quarter in company history.
CVR Energy, a holding company that refines petroleum and makes nitrogen fertilizer, said third-quarter adjusted EBITDA reached $582 million, up from $180 million a year earlier. It also agreed to acquire two Marathon Petroleum refineries, St. Paul Park and Mandan, plus a marketing operation, it said Tuesday in an 8-K filed with the SEC.
Profit nearly doubles the year-earlier base
Net income attributable to CVR Energy stockholders was $570 million, or $5.67 per diluted share, against $374 million, or $3.72 per share, in the third quarter of 2025. Adjusted earnings per share rose to $4.00 from 40 cents. Adjusted EBITDA is the company's own measure of operating earnings, stripped of certain non-cash and unusual items.
CEO Dane Neumann called it "the best quarterly results in the Company's history on both a consolidated basis and in the Petroleum segment, driven by strong operations across our system and record crack spreads." A crack spread is the gap between the cost of crude and the price of refined products. The heating-oil crack spread averaged $95.72 a barrel in the quarter, versus $33.54 a year earlier.
Separately, an August 2026 EPA decision gave the company's Wynnewood Refining subsidiary a full waiver of its 2025 renewable fuel obligation, removing a liability of about $253 million. Net sales were $3,281 million, compared with $1,944 million a year earlier.
Refining carried the quarter, fertilizer slipped
The Petroleum segment posted adjusted EBITDA of $565 million, against $120 million a year earlier. Throughput averaged 227,637 barrels a day, and crude utilization was 104.9%.
The Nitrogen Fertilizer segment lost $11 million, against a $43 million profit a year earlier, as a planned turnaround at the East Dubuque plant cut ammonia utilization to 80% from 95%. Neumann said the turnaround finished in mid-October as scheduled. CVR Partners, the fertilizer partnership in which CVR Energy's subsidiaries own about 37% of the common units, declared a distribution of $1.79 per unit.
CVR Energy ended September with $1.3 billion in cash and $1.8 billion in total debt and finance lease obligations, $570 million of it in the fertilizer segment. Operating cash flow was $655 million for the quarter.
Marathon deal targeted for year-end
Neumann said the company seeks to close the Marathon transaction by the end of the year, calling it "transformative." Bloomberg Law reported the price at $4.2 billion in a headline.
The board declared a 10-cent dividend, payable November 23 to holders of record November 16. The fourth-quarter outlook calls for throughput of 210,000 to 225,000 barrels a day.
The company's earnings call was set for 10 a.m. Eastern Tuesday.
Sources
- 8-K Filing — CVR ENERGY INC (CVI) — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit d897437dex991.htm — CVR ENERGY INC 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
- CVR Energy Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results – Company Announcement - FT.com — Financial Times
- Marathon beats third-quarter estimates — Bloomberg
- Carl Icahn’s CVR Energy reportedly nears $4B deal to acquire Marathon refineries | Seeking Alpha — seekingalpha.com
- Icahn’s CVR to Buy Marathon Refineries for $4.2 Billion (1) — news.bloomberglaw.com
- CVR Energy Announces Transformative Transaction to Acquire 2 Refineries and Marketing Platform From Marathon Petroleum — businesswire.com
