InvestIdeas

Stats of the week: $69,000,000,000

Amount of market cap lost by ExxonMobil in the past two months. Shares in America's largest company have fallen from $94 to $81 since May.

Exxon Mobil Corp. posted a 14% rise in second-quarter net income, boosted by high oil prices, but results were tarnished by falling production figures that worried investors.

Exxon Mobil's profit of $11.68 billion, or $2.22 a share, up from $10.26 billion, or $1.83 a share, a year earlier, wasn't enough to distract investors from a 7.8% drop in its production of oil and natural gas. The earnings also missed Wall Street expectations of $2.52 a share, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Exxon increased capital spending to $6.97 billion from $5.04 billion in the same period last year. The company has said its annual capital expenditures will be between $25 billion and $30 billion in the next few years.

Also on Thursday, Shell unveiled the largest capital-investment target in its history: up to $36 billion in 2008.

– Wall Street Journal

Stats of the week: 21%

Gain in shares of the world's largest oil company, ExxonMobil, from their October low.

The gain has been made in the face of collapsing oil prices and severe weakness in the overall stock market. Impressive!

Funny you should mention XOM and its resurgence today... I just put it on my bearish play watchlist yesterday, purely from a technicals perspective...

THE WORLD'S TOP "SAFE MONEY" STOCK by Brian Hunt

Right now, there's a big "should" vs. "is" story unfolding in the world's largest company, ExxonMobil (XOM).

XOM is one of the world's best companies by a country mile. Its efficiency at producing oil and choosing where to invest shareholder money is legendary. As our colleague Dan Ferris points out, the company earns double-digit returns on its assets even when oil prices are below $20 per barrel.

Here's where the "should" vs. "is" comes into play. Oil prices are down more than 50% since October. Stocks are down 24% since October. Given the destruction in both oil and the market in general, XOM "should" be plummeting. But shares are up slightly in the past two months.

It's a big bullish sign when a stock like XOM "should" fall but doesn't fall... It's a sign that a huge amount of smart money is buying shares. If you're looking for a "safe money" stock, look at ExxonMobil. In the midst of a horrid market for oil shares, it's holding like a rock.

THIS COULD BE THE WORLD'S BEST COMPOUNDING MACHINE by Brian Hunt

Just under three years ago, our colleague Dan Ferris issued one of the best pieces of stock research we've ever read. It came in the July 2006 issue of his Extreme Value advisory.

In that issue, Dan all but shouted at the top of his lungs to buy shares in the world's best oil company, ExxonMobil (XOM). He used words like "biggest," "best," and "safest" to describe its legendary treatment of shareholders and assets. For instance, XOM has raised its dividend every single year since 1983. A low oil price don't bother it either. XOM returned 12% on its capital in 1999... when oil prices were below $30 a barrel. You can read an excerpt of his issue here.

As you can see from today's chart, Dan's advice was dead on. XOM has returned 26% since the write-up. The past year or so in XOM shares is just incredible.

While oil and fuel suffered giant price collapses... while the credit markets froze solid... and while stocks of all kinds were clobbered, XOM shares have held steady. Almost no stock, commodity, bond, or currency can say that these days. The great compounding machine marches on...

ExxonMobil posts 33% profit drop
By Upstream staff

ExxonMobil said today its fourth-quarter net income fell 33% as a steep drop in crude oil prices hurt results.

Net profit in the quarter was $7.8 billion, or $1.55 per share, compared with $11.7 billion, or $2.13 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of $1.45 per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

ExxonMobil reported a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a US company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33% from a year ago.

The previous record for annual profit was $40.6 billion, which the company set in 2007.

The full-year profit was not a surprise given crude's triple-digit price for much of 2008, peaking near $150 a barrel in July.

Since then, however, prices have fallen roughly 70% amid a deepening global economic crisis.

ExxonMobil's bottom line took a beating from its exploration and production arm, where net income fell 31% to $5.6 billion.

The company said this was due to lower crude prices, which decreased earnings by $3.2 billion in the fourth quarter alone.

Overall output fell 3% in the most recent period, the company said. Production-sharing contracts and Opec quotas contributed to its lower output.

ExxonMobil said it spent $26.1 billion on capital and exploration projects last year, up 25% from 2007.

Its earnings release provided no information about its planned spending for 2009.

THE WORLD'S GREATEST OIL COMPANY IS ON SALE

Long-term investors take note: The world's best energy company is sporting an interesting share price.

Study the oil and gas industry for a while, and you're bound to realize ExxonMobil (XOM) is one of the best oil companies to ever turn a drill bit. The company is legendary for its efficiency and ability to value assets... which helps it generate high returns on capital for its shareholders.

Like most every stock, XOM shares were punished during the historic "stress test" of 2008. Shares fell from $94 per share to $62 in just five months. After a brief rally, shares traded back down to that low point in March 2009 and rebounded nicely. This mid-$60s area marks a price floor where seasoned investors will buy shares like crazy.

XOM is nearing the floor again. The company just made a huge natural gas acquisition, which most outsiders feel it paid too much for. This has sent shares down to the mid-$60s... down to that area of solid support.

Short-term considerations aside, ExxonMobil is a great company that lives and breathes "high long-term returns on capital invested." This is the mantra all investors should demand of their long-term holdings. Buying near "ultimate stress test" levels is a bonus.

Source: Daily Wealth

EXXONMOBIL JUST ACED THE STRESS TEST

ExxonMobil (XOM) – one of our favorite oil companies – just aced its latest stress test.

Like most every stock, XOM shares were punished during the historic "stress test" of 2008. Shares fell from the $90 level to the mid-$60s in just five months. After a brief rally, shares traded back down to that low point in March 2009 and rebounded nicely. This level is important. It marks the lowest price XOM reached during the worst general selling pressure we've seen in decades.

In early February, we bullishly noted shares were near their historic stress test level. On cue, shares bounced back into the high $60s.

Finding the stress test level is the sort of common-sense "technical analysis" we prefer at DailyWealth. No complicated cycles or geometric shapes to memorize. Just an obvious price where value-focused investors step in to buy shares in one of the world's best companies.

Source: Daily Wealth

Added XOM to my watchlist, today. Meanwhile, any updates?