“For Exxon Mobil, $10.9 Billion Profit Disappoints” The New York Times:
Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said Thursday that its first-quarter net income rose 17 percent, boosted by surging oil prices.
But even as it posted the second-most profitable quarter in its history, Exxon’s earnings managed to disappoint investors because of a drop in oil production. Shares were down more than 3 percent Thursday after the company missed earnings estimates by a dime a share.
Record oil prices have lifted corporate profits to new heights throughout the industry but they are also masking an increasingly tough business environment for international oil companies, marked chiefly by rising development costs and stagnating hydrocarbon production. In the refining business, profit margins have plummeted as refiners have been unable to pass through all the increases in oil prices onto gasoline.
Comment: Sure, an $11 billion profit is nice, but not if you were expecting, say, $15 or $20 billion. Or, who knows, maybe $30 billion. When it comes to our emotions, absolute numbers mean nothing. It’s all relative. Personally, I think we should all chip in a few more bucks at the pump today and make ”em feel better over at Exxon. What do you guys think?
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