Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM) are in the green this morning even though the oil giant reported a decline in its first-quarter revenue on lower prices.
Highlights from CEO’s interview with CNBC
Investors seem to be focusing more on the fact that it, nonetheless, performed better than expected in its recently concluded quarter.
Exxon increased its oil and gas net production by close to 300,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day in its Q1. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, CEO Darren Woods said:
We’ve cut out over $7.0 billion of structural costs. We’ve got an investment portfolio that leads industry. We’re continuing to grow production. So, a good mix of advantages investments and strong performance.
Exxon stock is now up nearly 20% versus its low around mid-March.
On the downside, crude and natural gas realisations in the quarter slid 10% and 23%, respectively. Discussing oil price that sits today at $76 and change, CEO Woods said:
I think the industry could be very successful at the prices that we see today. We are certainly not in a low period by any stretch of the imagination.
Moreover, he expects prices to pick up as the summer demand kicks in and China continues to come back online after extended COVID lockdowns.
Wall Street currently has a consensus “overweight” rating on Exxon stock.
Exxon Q1 earnings snapshot
Earned $11.43 billion versus the year-ago $5.48 billion
Per-share earnings also more than doubled to $2.79
Adjusted EPS printed at $2.83 as per the press release
Revenue sunk 4.3% year-over-year to $86.56 billion
Consensus was $2.60 a share on $85.65 billion revenue
Exxon spent $8.1 billion on shareholder returns in Q1. Lastly, commenting on the windfall profit tax the European Union and the United Kingdom announced on fossil fuel companies last year, the chief executive said:
If demand turns around, we’ll see very tight markets and higher prices. Unfortunately, I think Europeans will pay a price for that by discouraging investment required to bring long-term production sustainably.
Last week, UBS said Exxon stock had upside to $144 as Invezz reported HERE.
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