Photo:Mrs.McD, Creative Commons, Flickr
Big Oil likely to see big profits. Again.
It's fourth quarter 2007 earnings reports time, and the next couple of weeks will see increased activity. Big Oil companies are expected to report in February, and despite volatile oil prices and energy concerns, most companies are once again expecting to see big profits. The AP reports on expected Big Oil earnings for fourth quarter 2007:
Already, Chevron (CVX), the second-largest U.S. oil company, has predicted it will earn a bigger profit in the fourth quarter than it did in the third, when it earned $3.72 billion, because of higher energy prices…
Exxon Mobil (XOM ), the world's largest publicly traded oil company, has offered no guidance for its upcoming report, expected Feb. 1. But Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial predict the company to top its year-ago result and post quarterly revenue of $112.7 billion, a 25 percent jump from the fourth quarter of 2006.
This is probably why Exxon stock is rising this morning, even as other Big Oil stocks fall. Exxon is expected, once again, to be the earnings king, and nothing anyone has seen is likely to change that.
Disclosure: I do not invest in XOM or CVX.