Exxon's Big Profits Fail to Impress Investors

Exxon Mobil's (XOM Quote - Cramer on XOM - Stock Picks) first-quarter profit rose 17% to $10.89 billion, but its results still missed analysts' estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

The Irving, Texas, oil giant earned $2.03 a share for the latest quarter, up from $1.62 a share in the year-earlier period. Still, the first quarter was 11 cents short of the consensus forecast carried by Thomson Financial.

Revenue surged to $116.85 billion from $87.22 billion in the 2007 first quarter, but despite the increase, that number also failed to meet expectations of around $124 billion.

Higher crude oil and natural gas realizations, driven by record worldwide oil prices, were partly offset by lower refining and chemical margins, weaker production volumes and higher operating costs, Exxon said in a press release Thursday.

Although Exxon's production rates declined 5.6% year-on-year on an oil-equivalent basis, its income from exploration and production activities soared to $8.79 billion from $6.05 billion the same period a year ago.

Cramer: Head for the Exit With Exxon

Exxon's average realized sales price of crude in the U.S. was $91.35 last quarter, vs. $50.59 a year ago. Internationally, Exxon garnered an average realized price of $93.47 a barrel compared with $57.99 a barrel in the first quarter last year.

The company's natural gas realizations for the first three months in 2008 were $7.95 per thousand cubic feet in the U.S. and $9.28 per thousand cubic feet internationally, compared with $6.70 domestically and $6.69 abroad a year ago. Exxon was able to take advantage of abnormally high natural gas prices in Europe by selling nearly half of its 10.24 million cubic feet per day of supply to the European market. Exxon said 81.5% of its total quarterly earnings were generated overseas.

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