SPH vs UGP vs SGU Stock Comparison

Suburban Propane Partners, Ultrapar Holdings and Star Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
UGP Ultrapar Holdings Inc
$7.76 +1.3% 1M +102.6% 1Y
Market cap
$7.03B
P/E
10.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$29.04B
Div. yield
–
Fuel Distribution Energy
8 wins
SGU Star Group, L.P.
$13.15 +3.1% 1M +9.4% 1Y
Market cap
$427.02M
P/E
4.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.91B
Div. yield
–
Fuel Distribution Energy
2 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Ultrapar Holdings leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (Ultrapar Holdings 8, Star 2, Suburban Propane Partners 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionSPHUGPSGULeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $1.20B $7.03B $427.02M UGP
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 9.2x 10.1x 4.9x SGU
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 9.1x 8.4x — UGP
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months -2.5% +20.1% +7.6% UGP
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 9.4% 2.4% 4.5% SPH
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 10.6% 463.0% 15.3% UGP
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 4.4x -3.9x 0.8x UGP
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.07% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -6.7% +102.6% +9.4% UGP
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +2.0%/yr +26.3%/yr +3.8%/yr UGP
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 21.6% 34.5% 17.2% SGU
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 34/100 67/100 65/100 UGP

Percentile Scorecard

SPHUGPSGU

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisSPHUGPSGU
Valuation 32 #16 of 23 96 #2 of 23 91 #3 of 23
Growth 28 #14 of 19 61 #8 of 19 50 #10 of 19
Profitability 56 #9 of 19 61 #8 of 19 50 #10 of 19
Financial Health 21 #20 of 25 75 #7 of 25 46 #14 of 25
Shareholder Returns 35 #12 of 18 41 #11 of 18 88 #3 of 18
Overall 34 67 65
  • SPH ranked among 25 companies in Refining and Marketing
  • UGP ranked among 25 companies in Refining and Marketing
  • SGU ranked among 25 companies in Refining and Marketing

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodSPHUGPSGUSPY
1 month +7.2%+1.3%+3.1% -1.0%
3 months -4.3%+20.7%+0.9% +2.9%
6 months -8.0%+35.0%+2.2% +6.4%
Year to date -4.3%+105.8%+11.1% +11.4%
1 year -6.7%+102.6%+9.4% +13.1%
3 years +5.0%+96.0%+15.5% +79.4%
3 years, per year +1.6%+25.2%+4.9% +21.5%
5 years +10.7%+220.7%+20.8% +67.7%
5 years, per year +2.0%+26.3%+3.8% +10.9%
10 years -47.3%-32.3%+39.2% +255.2%
10 years, per year -6.2%-3.8%+3.4% +13.5%

Risk

MeasureSPHUGPSGUSPY
Volatility, 1Y 21.6%34.5%17.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 23.0%36.0%17.1% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y -0.070.640.14 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.312.980.55 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -26.1%-59.6%-34.0% -25.4%
From 52-week high -14.2%-2.5%-2.2% -2.5%
52-week high $20.68$7.96$13.45 $779.14
52-week low $16.40$3.63$11.47 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleSPHUGPSGU
P/E now vs peer median 9.1xmedian 10.4x 12.0xmedian 10.4x 5.0xmedian 10.4x
P/S now vs peer median 0.8xmedian 0.3x 0.3xmedian 0.3x 0.2xmedian 0.3x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 8.6xmedian 7.1x 1.7xmedian 7.1x 3.4xmedian 7.1x
P/FCF now vs peer median 11.7xmedian 9.4x 4.7xmedian 9.4x 7.6xmedian 9.4x
P/B now vs peer median 1.7xmedian 1.9x 2.1xmedian 1.9x 1.1xmedian 1.9x
PEG now vs peer median 0.79median 0.30 0.76median 0.30 0.02median 0.30

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsSPHUGPSGU
Revenue $1.39B $29.04B $1.91B
Gross profit $880.33M $2.00B $292.10M
Operating income $211.03M $1.14B $136.40M
Net income $130.66M $1.16B $87.41M
Free cash flow $101.29M $1.75B $56.83M
EPS (diluted) $1.96 $0.63 $2.64
Cash & equivalents $5.03M $2.06B $27.00M
Total debt $1.22B -$3.45B $172.57M
Shares (diluted) 66.68M 1.10B 32.84M
Enterprise value $1.19B -$210.40M $328.22M

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricSPHUGPSGU
P/E 9.1x 12.0x 5.0x
P/FCF 11.7x 4.7x 7.6x
P/Operating cash flow 6.5x 4.2x 6.0x
P/S 0.8x 0.3x 0.2x
P/B 1.7x 2.1x 1.1x
P/Tangible book 1.9x 2.1x 1.6x
EV/EBITDA 8.6x 1.7x 3.4x
EV/EBIT 11.4x 2.2x 4.2x
EV/Revenue 1.7x 0.1x 0.3x
EV/FCF 23.7x 1.4x 10.2x
EV/Operating cash flow 13.2x 1.3x 8.1x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.79 0.76 0.02

Growth

14 metrics
MetricSPHUGPSGU
Revenue growth (1Y) -2.5% 20.1% 7.6%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) -1.1% 3.4% -1.2%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 2.8% -19.0% 552.6%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 4.1% -1.2% -14.5%
Operating income growth (1Y) 5.2% -36.9% 27.7%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 8.5% 25.4% 97.8%
Net income growth (1Y) 34.5% 111.7% 30.3%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 13.0% 61.6% 273.3%
EPS growth (1Y) 31.9% -0.7% 36.2%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 11.5% 15.8% 284.0%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 0.1% 145.3% -24.7%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -5.8% 28.2% -24.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -2.9% 58.8% -30.5%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -16.2% 29.6% -28.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricSPHUGPSGU
Gross margin 63.1% 6.9% 15.3%
EBITDA margin 20.0% 5.1% 9.0%
Operating margin 15.1% 3.9% 7.1%
Pretax margin 9.4% 7.0% 6.5%
Net margin 9.4% 2.4% 4.5%
FCF margin 7.3% 6.0% 3.0%
Operating cash flow margin 13.0% 6.8% 3.7%
Return on equity 17.9% 35.3% 21.5%
Return on assets 5.5% 13.4% 8.0%
Return on invested capital 10.6% 463.0% 15.3%
Return on capital employed 9.8% 16.3% 18.2%
Asset turnover 0.6x 3.0x 1.8x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.4x 1.7x 0.8x
Stock comp / revenue 0.5% 0.1% –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricSPHUGPSGU
Debt / assets 51.9% -34.5% 17.1%
Debt / equity 1.7x -0.9x 0.4x
Net debt / EBITDA 4.4x -3.9x 0.8x
Debt / FCF 12.1x -2.0x 3.0x
Liabilities / assets 69.7% 61.3% 61.5%
Equity / assets 30.3% 38.7% 38.5%
Interest coverage 2.8x 1.6x –
Current ratio 0.8x 1.6x 0.9x
Quick ratio 0.4x 0.9x 0.6x
Cash ratio 0.0x 0.8x 0.1x
Altman Z-score – – –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricSPHUGPSGU
Dividend yield 7.4% 4.9% 5.9%
Net buyback yield -1.4% 0.0% 2.6%
Shareholder yield 6.0% 4.9% 8.4%
Payout ratio (earnings) 65.7% – –
Payout ratio (FCF) 84.7% – –
Dividend growth (1Y) 2.5% – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 1.4% – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusSPHUGPSGU
Forward P/E 9.1xFY2026 8.4xFY2026 –
EPS, next fiscal year $1.94FY2026 $0.92FY2026 –
EPS growth, next FY -4.9%FY2026 +104.4%FY2026 –
EPS growth, the year after +2.1% -27.2% –
Revenue, next fiscal year $1.34BFY2026 $33.31BFY2026 –
Revenue growth, next FY -6.6%FY2026 +16.2%FY2026 –
Revenue growth, the year after +3.9% -11.0% –

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersSPHUGPSGU
Held by institutions 43.1% 5.2% 41.8%
Institutions holding 145 177 73
Change in shares held, QoQ +3.8% -10.2% -0.1%
Institutions buying 60 98 28
Institutions selling 33 58 16
Buyers to sellers 1.82 1.69 1.75

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

SPHUGPSGU
SPH 1.00 0.16 0.19
UGP 0.16 1.00 0.04
SGU 0.19 0.04 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, SPH, UGP and SGU?

Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) is the largest by market capitalisation: Suburban Propane Partners (SPH) $1.20B, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) $7.03B, Star (SGU) $427.02M.

Which stock is cheaper, SPH, UGP and SGU?

Star (SGU) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Suburban Propane Partners (SPH) 9.2x, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) 10.1x, Star (SGU) 4.9x). On next year's consensus earnings, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) is cheapest (Suburban Propane Partners (SPH) 9.1x, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) 8.4x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Suburban Propane Partners (SPH) -2.5%, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) +20.1%, Star (SGU) +7.6%.

Which company is more profitable?

Suburban Propane Partners (SPH) has the highest net margin (Suburban Propane Partners (SPH) 9.4%, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) 2.4%, Star (SGU) 4.5%). On return on invested capital, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) leads (Suburban Propane Partners (SPH) 10.6%, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) 463.0%, Star (SGU) 15.3%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) returned the most: Suburban Propane Partners (SPH) -6.7%, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) +102.6%, Star (SGU) +9.4%. Over five years, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) compounded fastest (Suburban Propane Partners (SPH) +2.0%/yr, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) +26.3%/yr, Star (SGU) +3.8%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Suburban Propane Partners (SPH) 0.07%, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) 0.00%, Star (SGU) 0.00%. Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) and Star (SGU) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Star (SGU) has been the steadiest (Suburban Propane Partners (SPH) 21.6%, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) 34.5%, Star (SGU) 17.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, SPH, UGP and SGU?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Ultrapar Holdings (UGP) leads on 8. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.