Why Sunoco LP (SUN) Is Up the Most So Far in 2025

Omor Ibne Ehsan

Sat, Apr 26, 2025, 4:18 PM 3 min read

We recently published a list of Why These 15 Energy Stocks Are up the Most So Far in 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) stands against other energy stocks that are up the most so far in 2025.

The energy sector has been volatile, and macro trends have led to fears of recession. The S&P 500 energy sector gained almost 9% from January till late March, but it has been dragged down by the broader market correction.

Brent futures have hit lows and sent many energy stocks into a tailspin. Yet, there are still some energy stocks that have defied the odds and have delivered solid gains. Midstream companies have been exceptionally resilient, and renewables have also been a bright spot in the energy sector.

Even during bear markets there are pockets of the market that perform exceptionally well. For instance, tech stocks have been in a bear market, but I recently identified 15 Tech Stocks that are Up the Most in 2025 in another article.

For this article, I screened the best-performing energy stocks year-to-date.

I will also mention the number of hedge fund investors in these stocks. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

A truck parked at a gas station, its fuel tank being filled from a pump.

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 3

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) is the largest independent fuel distributor in the United States and operates a vast energy infrastructure network, including 14,000 miles of pipelines and over 100 terminals across the U.S., Puerto Rico, Europe, and Mexico.

The main reason for SUN’s strong stock performance in 2025 has been its consistent and growing distributions to unitholders. On April 23, 2025, Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) announced its second consecutive quarterly distribution increase, raising the payout by 1.25% to $0.8976 per unit and reaffirming its target of at least 5% annual distribution growth for 2025. This move followed a series of increases since 2022, with total distribution growth of about 9%, highlighting the company’s commitment to capital returns.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN)’s 2024 annual report, filed in February 2025, showed stable financials and continued strong cash flows, which supported these distribution increases and reassured investors about the sustainability of its payout.