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Exxon Mobil profit falls
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January 23, 2002: 10:56 a.m. ET
Plunging prices, economic recession cut into oil company's 4Q earnings.
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Exxon Mobil Corp.'s fourth-quarter profits sank 43 percent as oil prices tumbled due to slack worldwide demand, but the results still came in a shade above forecasts on Wall Street.
The nation's biggest oil company said it earned $2.9 billion before one-time items, or 42 cents a share, in the quarter, down from $5.1 billion, or 73 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call forecast a profit of 39 cents a share.
Revenue fell to $47.3 billion from $64.1 billion, driven by a sharp drop in oil prices.
"The reduction in earnings compared with the fourth quarter of 2000 reflected significantly lower crude oil and natural gas realizations, which weakened through the quarter and tracked widely quoted price markers," Chairman Lee Raymond said.
A global economic slump, led by a recession in the United States, sapped demand for oil in 2001, cutting prices.
For the full year 2001, the Irving, Tex.-based company earned $15.6 billion excluding one-time items, or $2.26 a share, down from $16.91 billion before one-time items, or $2.40 a share. Wall Street analysts expected Exxon Mobil to earn $2.24, according to First Call.
Including merger-related charges, the company earned $2.68 billion, or 39 cents a share, in the quarter, down from $5.22 billion, or 75 cents, the prior year. For the year, including charges, Exxon-Mobil earned $15.32 billion, or $2.21 a share, compared with $17.7 billion, or $2.52 a share, a year ago.
Exxon Mobil (XOM: Research, Estimates) stock rallied in early trading. 
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