| http://biz.yahoo.com/apf/010423/earns_exxon_mobil_3.html
Monday April 23, 6:49 pm Eastern Time Huge Earnings Leap for Exxon Mobil By DAVID KOENIG AP Business WriterDALLAS (AP) -- High prices for oil and natural gas propelled Exxon Mobil Corp. to a $5 billion first-quarter profit, up nearly 44 percent from a year ago. Analysts said the oil giant's biggest problem might be what to do with the gusher of cash flowing into its coffers. ``They could be debt-free by the end of the next quarter. That's incredible for a $300 billion company,'' said Fadel Gheit, an analyst with Fahnestock & Co. For the three months ended March 31, the world's largest publicly traded oil company earned $1.43 per share, compared with $3.48 billion, or 99 cents per share in the year-ago period, the company said Monday. Excluding one-time gains and losses, the oil giant -- which recorded $17.72 billion in profit last year, the highest ever by a U.S. corporation -- earned $5.05 billion, or $1.44 per share in the first quarter. That was 51 percent higher than the $3.35 billion, or 95 cents per share, it earned a year ago. The consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call for the quarter was $1.35 per share. On Monday, shares of Irving-based Exxon Mobil rose $2.83, or more than 3 percent, to close at $88 on the New York Stock Exchange. First quarter revenue was $57.28 billion, up 6 percent from last year's $54.08 billion.Exxon Mobil's strong results come amid a backdrop of steadily escalating gasoline prices. According to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations nationwide, the average price of gasoline is now at $1.67 a gallon -- up 13 cents from the previous two weeks -- with prices averaging $1.95 in San Francisco. Pump prices in many parts of the country may exceed $2 this summer. Chairman and chief executive Lee Raymond said gasoline supplies are at their tightest springtime levels in years, and that parts of the country could face price volatility ``for some time to come'' because of the short supply. Analysts said Exxon Mobil was able to earn more revenue without much increase in production by raising its profit margins. Crude oil production inched upward less than 1 percent, while natural gas production actually fell about 1 percent, which the company blamed on the shutdown of an Indonesian plant because of fighting between government troops and separatist rebels in the province of Aceh. At the end of the first quarter, Exxon Mobil had a debt-to-capital ratio is about 2.5 percent, its lowest since the early 1980s. The strong balance sheet meant Exxon Mobil's financing costs fell by two-thirds, saving the company $144 million compared to the first three months of last year. The company spent some of its cash -- $1.44 billion -- to buy back stock.In fact, analysts said the only disappointing part of Exxon Mobil's performance has been on the stock market. While the company hasn't slumped like broader indexes, share prices have hardly budged since early 1999 despite a succession of record-breaking earnings reports. ``Investors aren't willing to believe oil prices can stay at these levels,'' said Banc of America Securities analyst Tyler Dann. ``If oil prices softened, their business will be hurt, but less than other oil companies.'' Raymond said the merger of Exxon and Mobil has turned out to be even more profitable than expected. Cost savings and increased revenue by combining the two, he said, would save more than $7 billion by the end of 2002, up from the company's most recent projection of $4.6 billion in savings. |
