40.6 cents and 52.61 cents are not the same fuel quarter
Murphy’s figure is the three months ended June 30. Couche-Tard’s is the 12 weeks ended July 19.
Sept. 13, 2026 — Two public fuel retailers have now printed summer margins that look, in a headline, like a contest. Murphy USA’s total fuel contribution was 40.6 cents per gallon for the quarter ended June 30. Couche-Tard’s U.S. road-transportation fuel gross margin was 52.61 cents per gallon for the 12 weeks ended July 19. Both numbers are in the companies’ own releases. They are not interchangeable.
The periods overlap and do not match. The definitions do not match: Murphy’s total fuel contribution includes RINs and a retail margin it also stated separately at 35.1 cents. Couche-Tard’s 52.61 cents is the U.S. company-operated road-fuel gross margin. The networks do not match. Murphy is a U.S. low-price, high-gallon model. Couche-Tard’s U.S. figure sits inside a company that also prints Canada and Europe.
What does match is the shape. Both made more money per gallon than a year earlier. Couche-Tard’s U.S. same-store gallons fell 1.6 percent. Murphy’s same-store gallons rose 0.5 percent and total gallons rose 3.9 percent. A desk that ranks them on the cent alone will miss who actually moved volume.
Source: Murphy USA earnings release, Aug. 5, 2026; Alimentation Couche-Tard earnings release, Sept. 1, 2026.