Exxon Profit Tumbles, Shares Fall

IRVING, Texas (TheStreet) -- Exxon Mobil(XOM) offered an increasingly common assessment of why its profit fell in the third quarter. With commodity prices down sharply from last year's astronomical highs, and with narrowed refining margins and sluggish demand, the nation's largest oil company missed Wall Street's forecasts in posting a 68% profit drop.

While many oil equities were trading higher Friday morning, Exxon Mobil shares fell by 2.1%, or $1.54, to $72.30.

In a statement released before the opening bell, Exxon Mobil said income came to $4.73 billion, or 98 cents a share. A year ago, the oil behemoth posted a $14.83 billion profit, or $2.85 a share. Among other items, the year-ago period also included a gain from the sale of a German natural-gas transportation business.

Revenue declined as well, sliding 40% to $82.26 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting $1.03 a share in earnings, combined with $79.29 billion in sales.

Upstream earnings -- or that segment of the integrated structure focused on production and exploration -- dropped 63% to $4.01 billion on those aforementioned weakened commodity prices and higher costs. Still, production output jumped nearly 3% compared to last year.

Profit for the downstream segment -- or that unit focused on refining fuels and marketing products -- plummeted to $325 million, a whopping 89% decline since the year-ago quarter, as the acutely difficult refining market felled the operation. In the U.S., alone, refining and marketing works swung to a $203 million loss.

Exxon Mobil also reduced its sum of outstanding shares by 1.2% by paying out $4 billion to purchase stock.