3 Big Numbers is a weekly column that looks at a few key details from around the c-store industry.
Murphy USA revealed its third-quarter earnings on Thursday, reporting $176 million in quarterly net income, which was up about 35% year over year. Fuel contribution increased during the quarter, though merchandise contribution dollars decreased nearly 3%.
Those results more or less reflect an industry that’s seeing fuel continue to flow while store sales feel the pinch. Equally interesting was the information Murphy’s leaders shared on how the company is developing its stores — both in terms of the number of sites and what customers can find inside.
In this week’s “3 Big Numbers,” we examine the top takeaways from Murphy’s Q3 earnings report.
4
The number of new stores Murphy opened in Q3
The company opened four new Murphy stores in Q3, bringing its total in the first nine months of 2026 to 15 Murphy sites and one QuickChek. President and CEO Mindy West confirmed that two more stores have opened since the end of the quarter, bringing the year-to-date total to 18.
The company expects to open 45-50 new locations this year, which means it’s behind pace right now, but West said in the call that the company still expects to hit its goal.
She added that the company hopes its openings this year will come in just above the lower end of guidance, but that various factors involved in construction and opening schedules can impact that.
“It’s very difficult to predict what stores are going to open December 31, for example, versus January 2,” she said.
100+
The number of automated food kiosks in its stores
In August, Murphy shared that it was testing automated White Castle kiosks at select stores, but did not share how many locations were part of that rollout. During the earnings call, West said that the company has more than 100 of the machines in the market.
The kiosks let customers place orders on a touchscreen interface and receive hot food in about two minutes. The platform automates the preparation, heating and delivery of the restaurant chain’s food within a self-contained system, without the need for a kitchen or dedicated restaurant space.
West said in the earnings call that the company wants to see how significant customer demand is, if the kiosks are a good fit for the operating model and if the store-level economics make sense.
While she said it was too early to draw any conclusions, “the initial results that we've seen so far are encouraging.”
$234.5M
Murphy’s total Q3 merchandise contribution
The company’s merchandise contribution for Q3 was $234.5 million, down 2.8% year over year. But that result is not as concerning as it might appear.
One reason for that decline was Murphy’s decision to discontinue a nicotine pouch promotion that boosted sales in that category during Q3 2025. Same-store nicotine contribution fell from around $23,000 per store per month to $21,000 per store per month.
Non-nicotine contribution, on the other hand, stayed flat year over year on a same-store basis.
