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Exxon Mobil tops 1Q mark
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April 23, 2001: 11:31 a.m. ET
World's largest oil company tops EPS target by 9 cents; Conoco up sharply
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Exxon Mobil Corp.'s first-quarter profit jumped from a year earlier Monday, beating forecasts on Wall Street, although it slipped from the record posted in the fourth quarter.
The world's largest oil company, one of 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average, earned $5.05 billion, or $1.44 a diluted share, excluding special items related to its merger. A year ago, Exxon reported earnings of $3.35 billion, or 95 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call were looking for the company to earn $1.35 a share, according to earnings tracker First Call.
"It was a very strong quarter," ABN Amro Analyst Gene Nowak told Reuters news service Monday. "Refining is clearly a plus in this quarter. The balance of Exxon Mobil really came to the fore."
Separately, Conoco Inc. (COC.A: up $0.52 to $28.47, Research, Estimates), the No. 4 U.S. oil company, said first-quarter earnings rose sharply on the back of strong oil prices and better profit margins on fuels such as gasoline. The Houston-based oil company said it earned $616 million, or 97 cents a share, up from $391 million, or 62 cents a share, a year earlier. Wall Street forecasts were for 92 cents a share.
Sales rose to $57.3 billion from $54.1 billion a year earlier.
Though Exxon Mobil's (XOM: up $1.57 to $86.74, Research, Estimates) results are up from the year-earlier period, they are off from the $5.1 billion, or $1.46 a share, earned in the fourth quarter, when Exxon Mobil had the most profitable three-month period of any company in history, according to First Call.
The company said the improvement in the latest quarter came from higher natural gas prices and refining margins as well as improved operating efficiencies across the company, formed by the merger of Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp. in late 1999.
Exxon Mobil accomplished the higher revenue without much increase in production. Crude oil production barely inched upward, from 2.6 million to 2.62 million barrels a day. Natural gas production actually fell to 12.01 billion cubic feet a day from 12.15 billion, 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.
The company said earnings from exploration and production were $3.8 billion, 37 percent above year-earlier results and the sixth straight quarterly record, as it overcame slightly lower crude oil prices and increased exploration expenses. Earnings from refining and marketing operations were $999 million, significantly higher than the $369 million a year earlier, when a spike in crude oil prices squeezed profit from that segment.
Earnings from chemicals fell to $200 million from $320 million a year earlier, as that segment's profit was hurt by higher natural gas prices.
The company said it increased capital and exploration spending to $2.52 billion in the quarter from $2.22 billion a year earlier.
Exxon Mobil's net income excluded gains and expenses stemming from the merger. Including net effects of the merger, the company's net income was $5 billion, or $1.43 a share. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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