NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM) - Get Report are down 0.48% to $86.76 in midday trading Thursday despite Credit Suisse's price target increase to $85 from $82, while maintaining an "underperform" rating. 

Exxon Mobil is a manufacturer and marketer of commodity petrochemicals, including olefins, aromatics, polyethylene and polypropylene plastics and a wide variety of specialty products.

"While U.S. shale is 'more resilient than some people think' (per ExxonMobil), shale alone cannot meet the energy demands of '3 billion more middle class by 2040.' Improving megaproject execution is a key imperative for the supermajors and the report card (outside ExxonMobil) remains poor," Credit Suisse analysts said. 

Exxon offers investors long-lived assets with less decline, a world class chemical business, a large advantaged U.S. refining system, rising underlying unit profitability, the superior project execution that is critical in a capital intensive industry, and portfolio diversification which lowers project specific risk, the firm noted. 

Credit Suisse raised their 2015 and 2016 earnings to $4.20 from $3.54 per share and to $5.59 from $5.44 per share, respectively, due to a stronger downstream earnings.  

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

"We rate EXXON MOBIL CORP (XOM) a BUY. This is driven by multiple strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strongest point has been its strong cash flow from operations. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself."

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

• Regardless of the drop in revenue, the company managed to outperform against the industry average of 18.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 17.9%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• The change in net income from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry average, but is less than that of the S&P 500. The net income has decreased by 21.3% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, dropping from $8,350.00 million to $6,570.00 million.
• EXXON MOBIL CORP's earnings per share declined by 18.3% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. We feel it is likely to report a decline in earnings in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, EXXON MOBIL CORP increased its bottom line by earning $7.60 versus $7.37 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 53.6% in earnings ($3.53 versus $7.60).
• Reflecting the weaknesses we have cited, including the decline in the company's earnings per share, XOM has underperformed the S&P 500 Index, declining 7.46% from its price level of one year ago. Looking ahead, although the push and pull of the overall market trend could certainly make a critical difference, we do not see any strong reason stemming from the company's fundamentals that would cause a continuation of last year's decline. In fact, the stock is now selling for less than others in its industry in relation to its current earnings.
• Net operating cash flow has decreased to $7,499.00 million or 26.53% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing the cash generation rate to the industry average, the firm's growth is significantly lower.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: XOM Ratings Report