Exxon Mobil Knows How To Make Money (XOM)

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) is the largest integrated oil company which can come under fire because of its huge profits.  Its second quarter earnings were $7.6 billion outside of special items. This is up 85% from a year ago because of higher crude oil realizations, improved downstream margins, and strong chemical results.   Earnings per share rose 90% to $1.60 EPS outside of items, which compares to $1.47 EPS expected from Thomson Reuters.

Revenue came to $92.486 billion, but the consensus from Thomson Reuters (only a few estimates) was about $98.5 billion.  Its game-changing merger with XTO Energy was completed on June 25, 2010, and this may have added to the confusion when considering the estimates.

More than $3 billion was used during the quarter to buy back stock and to pay dividends, with about $1.6 billion used to buy about 24 million shares to reduce the float. Share repurchases to lower the float are anticipated to be about $3 billion in the third quarter of 2010.

Exxon noted that oil-equivalent production was up 8%  from a year ago.  Capital and exploration spending in the first half has been $13.4 billion, a gain of 9% from the first half of 2009.

Shares are up before the open with a gain of 0.7% to $61.38 on nearly 1 million shares.  The 52-week range is $55.94 to $76.54.  Exxon Mobil shares are down more than 10% since the BP disaster.

JON C. OGG