Exxon Mobil Profit Fell by Half in '09
source: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/02/02/exxon_mobil_profit_fell_by_half_in_09/
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NEW YORK - Exxon Mobil’s earnings fell by more than half to $19.3 billion in 2009, the lowest total in seven years, as company refineries struggled with a plunge in global fuel consumption. But it remains the profit champion among US public companies.
The world’s largest publicly traded oil company finished the year with a 23 percent decline in fourth-quarter income. Exxon now has posted lower profits for five straight quarters after setting a record of $14.83 billion in the third quarter of 2008.
Like rivals ConocoPhillips and Chevron, Exxon’s business of exploring for and producing oil benefited from an increase in crude prices at the end of 2009. But weak demand for gasoline, heating oil, and other products severely depressed profits at the major oil companies’ refineries.
Exxon’s results have swung with the price of oil and the impact of the global recession. When oil spiked above $147 a barrel in mid-2008, Exxon set ever-higher marks for earnings by a US company. Then oil prices plummeted, and Exxon suffered a yearlong hangover that included its smallest quarterly earnings in several years.
The Irving, Texas, company earned $6.05 billion, or $1.27 a share, for the final three months of 2009. That compares with $7.82 billion, or $1.54 a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 6 percent to $89.8 billion. The fourth-quarter results still beat analysts expectations and shares rose $1.75, or 2.7 percent, to $66.18.
For the full year, Exxon earned $3.98 a share. That compares with a record-breaking year in 2008, when Exxon recorded the highest profit ever for a US company - $45.2 billion, or $8.66 a share. Still, Exxon will remain the highest-earning company in the S&P 500 index, a rank it has held since 2000 after its acquisition of Mobil Corp. By comparison, Wal-Mart is expected to earn $14 billion for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, while Microsoft earned $14.6 billion in the fiscal year ended in June 2009.
Exxon’s US refineries lost $287 million in the fourth quarter as the price of gasoline was outpaced by the rise in the price the company paid for crude oil. Profits from the international refining and marketing business dropped 96 percent.
More at link.
The world’s largest publicly traded oil company finished the year with a 23 percent decline in fourth-quarter income. Exxon now has posted lower profits for five straight quarters after setting a record of $14.83 billion in the third quarter of 2008.
Like rivals ConocoPhillips and Chevron, Exxon’s business of exploring for and producing oil benefited from an increase in crude prices at the end of 2009. But weak demand for gasoline, heating oil, and other products severely depressed profits at the major oil companies’ refineries.
Exxon’s results have swung with the price of oil and the impact of the global recession. When oil spiked above $147 a barrel in mid-2008, Exxon set ever-higher marks for earnings by a US company. Then oil prices plummeted, and Exxon suffered a yearlong hangover that included its smallest quarterly earnings in several years.
The Irving, Texas, company earned $6.05 billion, or $1.27 a share, for the final three months of 2009. That compares with $7.82 billion, or $1.54 a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 6 percent to $89.8 billion. The fourth-quarter results still beat analysts expectations and shares rose $1.75, or 2.7 percent, to $66.18.
For the full year, Exxon earned $3.98 a share. That compares with a record-breaking year in 2008, when Exxon recorded the highest profit ever for a US company - $45.2 billion, or $8.66 a share. Still, Exxon will remain the highest-earning company in the S&P 500 index, a rank it has held since 2000 after its acquisition of Mobil Corp. By comparison, Wal-Mart is expected to earn $14 billion for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, while Microsoft earned $14.6 billion in the fiscal year ended in June 2009.
Exxon’s US refineries lost $287 million in the fourth quarter as the price of gasoline was outpaced by the rise in the price the company paid for crude oil. Profits from the international refining and marketing business dropped 96 percent.
More at link.
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