Exxon Mobil doin all right

[jambo101]

Exxon Mobil breaks its own profit record - Times Online
Thinking about the prices i was paying at the pump last year, obscene profits like this kinda piss me off.

[ziggy29]

Would you prefer it if they were losing tens of billions of dollars and needed a taxpayer bailout?

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambo101 Thinking about the prices i was paying at the pump last year, obscene profits like this kinda piss me off.

What really tics me off is I don't have much Exxon Mobil stock in my portfolio.

[FIRE'd@51]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo What really tics me off is I don't have much Exxon Mobil stock in my portfolio.

It's 4% of the S&P 500, so you may own more of it than you think.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambo101 Exxon Mobil breaks its own profit record - Times Online Thinking about the prices i was paying at the pump last year, obscene profits like this kinda piss me off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29 Would you prefer it if they were losing tens of billions of dollars and needed a taxpayer bailout?

Yes, I really don't understand this angst.

Let's see, a big company loses money - and some people are up in arms. "The economy is tanking, there will be lay-offs, the end is near".

Then, a big company makes money, and they are "pissed off".

So, questions for jambo101:

What is the profit margin of Exxon Mobile?

How does that compare with the average in the S&P 500, or 100?

What are the top five profit margins in the S&P 500, or 100?

Should we "do something" about it?

-ERD50

PS - another odd one for me is people complained when gas prices were up and house prices were down. Can't please some people I guess.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIRE'd@51 It's 4% of the S&P 500, so you may own more of it than you think.

Wow, that is bigger than I thought. It bumps into that old diversification guideline of no more than 5% in any one stock.

From yahoo:

SPY: Holdings for S&P DEP RECEIPTS - Yahoo! Finance

TOP 10 HOLDINGS ( 22.88% OF TOTAL ASSETS)

EXXON MOBIL CP XOM 5.30
PROCTER GAMBLE CO PG 2.46
GEN ELECTRIC CO GE 2.30
AT&T INC. T 2.14
JOHNSON AND JOHNS DC JNJ 2.09
CHEVRON CORP CVX 2.07
Microsoft Corporation MSFT 2.02
WAL MART STORES WMT 1.60
JP MORGAN CHASE CO JPM 1.49
PFIZER INC PFE 1.41

and with Chevron at another 2.3%, that is 7.6% in one industry right there, before the smaller guys get added.

-ERD50


ps: argggghhhh - even after I chose a fixed font, and padded with spaces to line it up nice and neat, it still mushed it together.... Any way to paste in a list and get it to align?

[FIRE'd@51]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 So, questions for jambo101: What is the profit margin of Exxon Mobile? How does that compare with the average in the S&P 500, or 100? What are the top five profit margins in the S&P 500, or 100? Should we "do something" about it?

All good questions, and I am looking forward to jambo101's response.

This is so typical of the way the media reports news items. They like to "shock" people by saying "XOM earned $45 billion in 2008". What they don't say, is that XOM has a market cap of nearly $400 billion, so we're talking about a roughly 11% ROE, and that's in a very good year.

[FIRE'd@51]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 Wow, that is bigger than I thought. It bumps into that old diversification guideline of no more than 5% in any one stock.

Geez, do you think I should be shorting some XOM against my Vanguard S&P 500 index fund to bring it back down under 5%?

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIRE'd@51 This is so typical of the way the media reports news items. They like to "shock" people by saying "XOM earned $45 billion in 2008". What they don't say, is that XOM has a market cap of nearly $400 billion, so we're talking about a roughly 11% ROE, and that's in a very good year.

So (tongue in cheek here), the *obvious* solution is to break XOM up into 10 smaller corporations. Then they can *all* report a profit that will be under the radar screen. And, assuming that XOM gains economy of scale from its size (not a guarantee - it might be a burden), all those mini-XOMs will need to charge more to make the same profit. Of course, now that they are under the radar, they can make even MORE profits in total, and no one will complain.

Yep, that'll fix it .

-ERD50

[Bestwifeever]

The first headline I saw on Exxon's report was that they didn't make their expected numbers (so the sky is falling). Only when I clicked on it to read further did I see that the company still made a record amount (so the sky isn't falling ). Perspective is everything.

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever The first headline I saw on Exxon's report was that they didn't make their expected numbers (so the sky is falling). Only when I clicked on it to read further did I see that the company still made a record amount (so the sky isn't falling ). Perspective is everything.

Just like yesterday's GDP report.

One can say it was the worst result since 1982 and thus we're doomed. On the other hand, you could say it was considerably better than expected. Half empty or half full?

[jambo101]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIRE'd@51 All good questions, and I am looking forward to jambo101's response. .

What bothers me about these profits is that they were made because of pricing that had no connection to cost of production or demand. I find it a bizarre system where large companies are free to exploit regular citizens as much as they can with no government interference but the minute things go the other way, the government is there with bags of cash.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambo101 What bothers me about these profits is that they were made because of pricing that had no connection to cost of production or demand. I find it a bizarre system where large companies are free to exploit regular citizens as much as they can with no government interference but the minute things go the other way, the government is there with bags of cash.

You didn't answer the questions. Instead, you made unfounded allegations, and threw in a red herring. Why is that?

We get the gas we need for our cars, they make a profit margin of X% ( find that number yet?) for the risk they take and investments they make ( it isn't easy finding oil any more, and it takes a lot of investment and research and technology). Is that exploiting us, or offering a service at a fair price?

I'm not in favor of govt bailouts in most cases either. But that's a red herring. We aren't talking about govt bailouts, we are talking about why anyone should be so upset with Exxon Mobile making a profit, just as businesses are supposed to do. You called it an obscene profit.

Come up with that list of companies that make a higher profit margin, let's see if they are all obscene too.

-ERD50

[ERD50]

Well, I'm going for dinner, so here's a few to start you off:

This only returns the top 25 in the list, so when I sort S&P500, (Large Cap to limit it further), for highest profit margin, XOM doesn't even come close to making the list.

Search Results - MSN Money


Corning, Public Storage, Adobe, Oracle, Linear Technology - are they all "exploiting" us by multiples of what XOM is?

And restricting to the DOW:

top down -

Search Results - MSN Money

bottom up -

Search Results - MSN Money

Hmmm, XOM in the middle of the pack. 13 above, 16 below. Sure, we need more companies like GM. No one will accuse them of making "obscene" profits.

-ERD50

[dex]

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How about Shell Oil 0- maybe they can become a bank and get TARP money.

[jambo101]

I must have mixed up my forums and this forum wasnt one of those that had topic after topic complaining about getting ripped off by oil companies charging exhorbitant amounts for the price of gas last summer as now the profits are in every one here seems to think it was a really good business move.Yeah bring on the $10 a gallon oil in that case,its just good business.

[ziggy29]

If Big Oil had the price-fixing power you seem to claim, why would they let oil prices fall from $145 to $40 in less than six months?

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dex How about Shell Oil 0- maybe they can become a bank and get TARP money.

[satire]Yes, poor company. It really POs me that a bunch of greedy customers are exploiting that company - taking money from them from like that, buying their product at a loss, with " no connection to cost of production or demand". It's "obscene". [/satire]

-ERD50

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambo101 I must have mixed up my forums and this forum wasnt one of those that had topic after topic complaining about getting ripped off by oil companies charging exhorbitant amounts for the price of gas last summer as now the profits are in every one here seems to think it was a really good business move.Yeah bring on the $10 a gallon oil in that case,its just good business.

Threads like this amaze me.

jambo101, didn't *you* start the thread with a statement? Why are you being so obtuse in backing up why you made that statement? All we are getting from you is re-directs.

You said the XOM's profits are "obscene", right? What does that have to do with what some posters may have posted in the past? Does that alter the current reality?

I take it you are not going to answer the questions I posed.

-ERD50

[Abreutime]

I don't know about their 2008 taxes, but Exxon paid around $30B in taxes in 2007.

Exxon's 2007 Tax Bill: $30 Billion -- Seeking Alpha