Exxon Mobil (XOM) Stock Falling as Oil Prices Lag

Exxon Mobil (XOM) stock is declining in afternoon trading on Monday as oil prices slip.
By Amanda Albright ,

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Exxon Mobil  (XOM) - Get Report stock is down by 2.89% to $82.02 in afternoon trading on Monday, as oil prices continue to decline today.

WTI Crude is down by 0.70% to $43.98 per barrel this afternoon and Brent crude is slipping by 0.42% to $47.22 per barrel, according to the CNBC.com index.

Oil prices are falling after a report showed lower oil imports to China, which raised concerns about lagging oil demand, Marketwatch reports. 

"The combination of confirmed evidence of global trade weakness, and a huge question mark about global oil demand growth for the first half of 2016, are colliding with the strong [U.S. dollar] to create a nasty suppression of oil prices," Richard Hastings, macro strategist at Seaport Global Securities, told Marketwatch.

Exxon is an energy company based in Irving, TX.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates EXXON MOBIL CORP as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:


We rate EXXON MOBIL CORP (XOM) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its reasonable valuation levels and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including disappointing return on equity, a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself and weak operating cash flow.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

  • XOM's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.20 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. Even though the company has a strong debt-to-equity ratio, the quick ratio of 0.48 is very weak and demonstrates a lack of ability to pay short-term obligations.
  • XOM, with its decline in revenue, slightly underperformed the industry average of 37.2%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 37.4%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
  • The share price of EXXON MOBIL CORP has not done very well: it is down 10.80% and has underperformed the S&P 500, in part reflecting the company's sharply declining earnings per share when compared to the year-earlier quarter. The fact that the stock is now selling for less than others in its industry in relation to its current earnings is not reason enough to justify a buy rating at this time.
  • Current return on equity is lower than its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a clear sign of weakness within the company. When compared to other companies in the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry and the overall market, EXXON MOBIL CORP's return on equity is below that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
  • You can view the full analysis from the report here: XOM

Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of Jim Cramer, TheStreet or any of its contributors.

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