XOM – 24/7 Wall St.

Posts for Ticker ‘XOM’

The More Focused, and More Opaque, Buffett & Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B, BNI, UNP, NSC, GS, GE, TIF, HOG, WMT, COP, XOM, WFC, RSG, DOW, ETN, WBC, MCO, WLP, UNH, GSK, SNY, GCI, WPO)

This was an important week for investment guru and billionaire watchers to see which gurus were holding which stocks. The full public equity holdings of Warren Buffett via Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) were particularly of note, particularly with those B shares under “BRK-B” soon to split and giving a chance for even the less astute ranks of Joe Public to own a piece of the Berkshire dream. Obviously the huge change is via the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI) buyout. As part of this deal, Buffett is exiting Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) and exiting Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) stakes of about $600 million and $100 million, respectively, to avoid duplication and internal competition. The rail transport play now accounts for about one-quarter of the total Berkshire Hathaway entity upon closing. But the less obvious position in that Warren Buffett in 2009 has made it clear that there will be a simpler and probably less “stock-hound” version of Berkshire Hathaway ahead.

Buffett has gone higher up the food chain and is likely to be a creditor now inside or to large institutions. We have seen this during the crisis. Buffett negotiated a better deal for Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) than the US Government was able to get. Buffett’s preferred stock in Goldman Sachs has a dividend of 10% and is callable at any time at a 10% premium; but Buffett also got warrants to purchase $5 billion of common stock with a strike price of $115.00 per share, exercisable for a five-year term (4 years now), and Buffett would effectively get to pocket $61 per share if he exercised those all today at the market (and with a $2.6 billion warrant profit alone).

The General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) stake was listed only as 7.77 million shares of common stock (about $125 million now), the same as it has been for quarters. Yet last year Buffett came to the rescue with a $3 billion of perpetual preferred stock in a private offering with a dividend of 10% and warrants to purchase $3 billion of common stock. The preferred is callable after 3-years (2 years now) at a 10% premium; the warrants have a strike price of $22.25 and are exercisable for a five-year term (4 years now).
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Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 8:59 am in Activist Investor, Bonds, Buffett, Conglomerates, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Infrastructure, Large Cap Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs, Oil & Gas, Private Equity, Transports, Value Investing, BNI, BRK-A, BRK-B, COP, DOW, ETN, GCI, GE, GS, GSK, HOG, MCO, NSC, RSG, SNY, TIF, UNH, UNP, WBC, WFC, WLP, WMT, WPO, XOM

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (DVN, XOM, HES, ITW, LEA, NFLX, PALM, PARD, SPWRA, VRTX)

These are this morning’s top ten analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls:

Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Started as Buy at Collins Stewart.
Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) Raised to Buy at Kaufman.
Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PARD) Cut to Market Perform at Rodman & Renshaw.
Sunpower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray; Cut to Market Perform at FBR Capital Markets.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) Cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear more news on key analyst calls, top day trader alerts, Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, mergers and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 17, 2009 – 8:01 am in Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert, DVN, HES, ITW, LEA, NFLX, PALM, PARD, SPWRA, VRTX, XOM

Buffett & Berkshire Hathaway Q3-2009 Holdings A to F (BRK-A, AXP, BAC, BDX, BNI, KMX, KO, CMCSA, CDCO, COP, COST, XOM, ETN)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A)(BRK-B) has shown its Q3-2009 holdings as of September 30, 2009. We had already seen how his securities holdings were up on the books in the holdings with earnings. There are also some portfolio changes that have taken place since the September 30 cut-off date. These have been broken down into 3 groups of ‘A to F’ and ‘G to O’ and ‘P to Z’ so it is more concise and clear. Here are Warren Buffett’s holdings and accompanying notes for the group ‘A ot F.’

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) over 151.6 million shares, same as last quarter.
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) 5 million shares; same as last quarter.
Becton Dickinson & Co. (NYSE: BDX) 1.2 million shares, same as last quarter.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI) was reported as 76.77 million shares but frankly it does not really matter as BNSF is becoming part of Berkshire.
Carmax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) 9 million shares is same as last quarter.
Coca Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) right at 200 million shares, still same as before.
Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) 12 million shares, same as before.
Comdisco Holdings (NASDAQ: CDCO) roughly 1.5 million shares, same as before.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) 57.43 million shares, DOWN FROM 62.485 million at the end of June.
Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) 5.254 million shares, same as before.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) is a NEW HOLDING of 1.276 million shares.

Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) was NOT LISTED ANY LONGER, so sold from holdings.

BUFFETT HOLDINGS G to O

BUFFETT HOLDINGS P to Z

You can join our open email distribution list to hear more news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, key analyst calls, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 16, 2009 – 4:33 pm in Activist Investor, Buffett, Buffett Holdings, Conglomerates, AXP, BAC, BDX, BNI, BRK-A, CDCO, CMCSA, COP, COST, ETN, KMX, KO, XOM

24/7 Wall St. TV: China Pushes US To Raise Interest Rates Which Would Undermine Recovery

The Federal Reserve and most economists believe that keeping US interest rates at near zero has been critical to the recovery of the American economy. Even with rates at historically low levels, banks and financial companies have been stingy in their lending practices because of the fear of risk from providing capital to people and businesses whose financial positions have been crippled by the recession.

Fed officials have hinted that the agency may not move rates up at all until 2011 because unemployment and tight credit will only allow a very fragile advance in GDP between now and then.

China would like the US to raise interest rates based on its theory that the low cost of capital is causing massive speculation in equity and commodities markets. China claims that Fed policy will cause bubbles that will burst and cause both another sharp downturn in the global economy and damage to the credit markets. Read More »

Posted on: November 15, 2009 – 7:49 am in China, Economy, Editor's Picks, TV, XOM

Exxon: Weak Dollar Adding $20 to Oil Prices (XOM, USO)

The weak dollar has definitely been a contributor to the rise in the price of gold. And it is also partly responsible for some of the oil gains that took prices back over $80 per barrel before the recent pullback. But Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), has actually quantified this with an assigned dollar value to CNBC. His take is that as much as $20.00 per barrel is tied to the weakness of the US Dollar.
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Posted on: November 13, 2009 – 7:53 am in Commodities, Oil & Gas, USO, XOM

Media Digest 11/12/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters: China is the key stop on Obama’s tour of Asia.

Reuters: South Korea’s businesses may start to feel more pressure from China competitors..

Reuters: Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) bought 3Com (NYSE:COM) for $3.1 billion.

Reuters: Lou Dobbs left CNN (NYSE:TWX) Read More »

Posted on: November 12, 2009 – 4:00 am in Press Digest, AAPL, AIG, AMAT, BAC, CMCSA, COM, DIS, F, FNM, FRE, GE, GS, HPQ, MOT, MS, TWX, WMT, XOM

Ida: The Hurricaneless Hurricane (OIH, USO, OIL, MUR, MRO, RDS, CVX, XOM)

Oil and gas companies have closed or winding down many US Gulf operations ahead of a very late in the year Hurricane Ida. The weekend reports had this one dissipating then the reports early this morning had this making landfall as a tropical storm with [a possibility of it being hurricane. This morning Ida became a tropical storm again at the National Hurricane Center. In order to not have to out-guess ahead of time which companies will be least or most impacted had this been a full hurricane at the time it met rigs and the coast, we looked at the Oil Services HOLDRs (NYSE: OIH), the United States Oil (NYSE: USO) ETF and the iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN (NYSE: OIL) reactions based upon the supply data. While the infrastructure is now not as likely to be hit as hard and while a tropical storm is far less of a threat than a hurricane, NYMEX WTI Crude is actually still up $1.78 at $79.21 as of 10:13 AM EST.
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Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 10:27 am in Commodities, Oil & Gas, CVX, MRO, MUR, OIH, oil, RDS, USO, XOM

Media Digest 11/6/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters: The Wall St. insider trading probe lead to another 14 arrests.

Reuters: Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) lost $19 billion and asked Treasury for money.

Reuters: GM is readying its plans for Opel as some of its workers went on strike.

Reuters: The pay czar says the jury is still out on reforms. Read More »

Posted on: November 6, 2009 – 3:58 am in Press Digest, ACOM, AMZN, BGP, C, CBS, CVS, FNM, GOOG, H, ITWO, JDSA, MSFT, SBUX, SIRI, TGT, UBS, WMT, XOM

Exxon Mobil, The Great Earnings Bust (XOM)

If you think oil companies make too much money regardless of what the numbers are, you might consider looking at just how sensitive the companies are to the price of oil. The 2009 vs. 2008 earnings and almost all figure look like night and day. Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) is out with $4.73 billion earnings for the quarter, which is a disappointment and is down about 68% from a year ago. Gone are the $100 billion revenue days, but Big Oil reported its Q3 earnings of $0.98 EPS on $82.26 billion in revenues. These figures are down from $2.85 EPS and $137.7 billion in revenues from a year ago. Thomson Reuters had estimates pegged at $1.03 EPS and $79.29 billion in revenues. The metrics get worse from there on most fronts.
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Posted on: October 29, 2009 – 8:28 am in Uncategorized, XOM

4 More DJIA Stocks To Report Earnings (VZ, XOM, PG, CVX)

Last week marked what was the crest of third quarter earnings season for 2009, yet there is still a flood of earnings reports coming out this next week. We have four more DJIA components set to report earnings this week, and that should make for 25 of the 30 DJIA components after the week is out. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM), Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG), and Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) will all be on deck for earnings.

We have included Thomson Reuters consensus data for earnings and revenue estimates and added color on each where applicable along with recent share performance metrics.
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Posted on: October 25, 2009 – 7:20 am in Calendar, Earnings, Oil & Gas, CVX, PG, VZ, XOM

Next Week’s Top 10 Earnings (VZ, APOL, VLO, V, WYNN, COP, FSLR, CME, XOM, PG)

This week was the crest of 2009 third quarter earnings season. We still have a flood of reports next week and picking a mere top ten earnings to watch was very unfair to many key stocks. But the ten earnings we have flagged as the top ten for next week are Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL), Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO), Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V), Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CME), ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG). We have included Thomson Reuters consensus data for earnings and revenue estimates and added color on each where applicable.
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Posted on: October 23, 2009 – 1:21 pm in Alternative Energy, Calendar, Earnings, Oil & Gas, APOL, CME, COP, FSLR, PG, V, VLO, VZ, WYNN, XOM

The 100 Hardest Working Brands In The World

There are a number of ways to rank brand values. One of the most important is the level at which a brand contributes to the market value of a public company.

24/7 Wall St. asked Corebrand, the brand research and consulting firm, to look at the top 100 brands based their contribution to market capitalizaton. Using this method, the hardest working brand was Hershey (NYSE:HSY), followed by Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG)

Corebrand described the process briefly to 24/7 Wall. St.

24/7 Wall St.: Corebard often refers to the brands on this list as the”hardest working brands”. How did you come to that description?

Corebrand: There are a lot of people measuring and examining the “strongest brands” or the “most valuable brands”. Our opinion is that examining one without the other is somewhat meaningless. How “strong” a brand is nice to know but not very relevant unless you understand how that strength benefits business. Similarly, “value” is little more than a measure of corporate size unless you understand the drivers of that value and how to influence it. By examining the strength of the brand and it’s contribution to total market value, we can help companies and their leadership manage that strength and value over time.

24/7 Wall St.: Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having a brand value be a very large percentage of market cap in the present and as an indication of a company’s future performance?

Corebrand: The brand will need to be in balance with the rest of the company’s assets. A company should strive to have it’s brand strong enough to fend off competitors or changing market conditions but not so strong that it becomes overly dependent on the brand as a single driver of value. If a company can achieve and maintain its appropriate maximum strength without becoming over-dependent, it will see greater returns in bull markets and retain greater value in bear markets.

The list: Read More »

Posted on: October 20, 2009 – 5:06 pm in Research, Uncategorized, AAPL, AET, ALL, AM, AVP, AXP, BA, BBBY, BDK, BGP, BKS, BMY, CAJ, CAL, CL, COF, CPB, CVS, CVX, DAI, DD, DELL, DIS, DLM, EBAY, EK, EL, F, FDX, FUJIY, GE, GIS, GOOG, GPS, GR, GT, HD, HMC, HNZ, HOG, HRB, HRL, HSY, IBM, JCP, JNJ, K, KFT, KO, KSS, L, LIZ, LOW, LZB, MAR, MAT, MCD, MOT, MS, MSFT, NKE, NSANY, NYT, ODP, PBI, PBY, PEP, PG, PZZA, RAD, RL, RSH, S, SBUX, SCHW, SHW, SKS, SLE, SNE, SPLS, SUN, T, TBL, TGT, TIF, TM, TSN, TUP, TXN, UPS, VZ, WAG, WEN, WHR, WMT, XOM, XRX, YHOO

Media Digest 10/13/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters: The healthcare plan is about to take a step forward in Congress.

Reuters: The debt swap at CIT (NYSE:CIT) is in trouble and could cause bankruptcy.

Reuters: Summers says Obama policies saved economy. Read More »

Posted on: October 13, 2009 – 3:58 am in Press Digest, AIG, BAC, CIT, DNDN, DT, GE, INTC, JPM, MHP, MSFT, SNDK, XOM

Media Digest 10/12/2009

Reuters: E-mails and the credit crisis will be key to the trial of Bear Stearns workers.

Reuters: The approval process for Tengzhong to buy Hummer has started in China.

Reuters: Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG) beat expectations.

Reuters: Liz Claiborne’s (NYSE:LIZ) decision to sell its brands at J C Penny (NYSE:JCP) should help both companies. Read More »

Posted on: October 12, 2009 – 4:03 am in Press Digest, ADBA, AIG, BAC, BLK, C, CMCSA, DIS, GOOG, IBM, JCP, KBH, LAZ, LIZ, MSFT, MVL, NWS, OMTR, PHG, WFC, XOM

ConocoPhillips Gets More Shareholder-Friendly (COP, XOM, CVX)

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is trying to further adopt shareholder-friendly strategies with a higher payout and lower expenses. With as much as this stock has lagged some peers until recently, that should be of little surprise. It was back in early March when we listed ConocoPhillips as one our picks in the energy sector which might double from their lows. Shares were around $37 at the time and we noted that they would have to hit $68 for that double to hold true. And now shares are up close to $49 and look as though that they want to challenge the $50 mark.

In order to generate more cash, the company cut its cap-ex budget for next year to about $11 billion for exploration and production and to replace reserves. It will also sell what is said to be about $10 billion in assets. To entice shareholders, it also lifted its quarterly dividend 6.4% to $0.50. This puts it above a 4% yield, which looks on the surface to be the highest of the major US-based integrated oil players such as Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM). It also marks what appears to be the 7th year in a row to boost its dividend.

Posted on: October 7, 2009 – 12:36 pm in Commodities, Dividend, Oil & Gas, Shareholder Issues, COP, CVX, XOM

Media Digest 10/7/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters: Wealth management firms are starting to target the not-so wealthy.

Reuters: Gold’s record price drew a muted response.

Reuters: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Palm (NASDAQ:PALM) are heating up the smartphone software race. Read More »

Posted on: October 7, 2009 – 3:56 am in Press Digest, AAPL, AIG, AMZN, BA, BAC, C, EBAY, FNM, FRE, GOOG, HOT, KO, MSFT, PALM, QCOM, SIRI, T, XOM

Today’s Best Market Rumors (10/6/2009) (CTIC)(DDRX)(BA)(XOM)(GOOG)(AIG)(BAC)(AAPL)

Updates throughout the day.

Update 2.40 PM EST: Biotech Cell Therapeutics (CTIC) is getting crushed, down 13% to $.95 on over 46 million shares. Rumors of insider selling, troubles with OPAXIO cancer, and possible dilution from possible raising of capital (various)

Update 1.50 PM EST: Cult stock Diedrich Coffee (DDRX) down 7% on heavy volume based on rumors shorts are aggressively moving into the shares which are up almost 7,000% this year. (various)

Update 12.05 PM EST: After announcing a delay in the 747-8 Freighter and a $1 billion charge, Boeing (BA) CEO Jim McNerney’s job could be on the line (DJ Newswires).

Update 9.55 AM EST: Exxon Mobil (XOM) has agreed to buy Kosmos Energy’s stake in the Jubilee field in Ghana. (CNBC)

Kaufman industry sources say BMC, Citrix (CTXS), VMware (VMW), Symantec (SYMC), and CA (CA) are potential tech buyout targets. (Briefing.com)

Yahoo! (YHOO) might sell Zimbra, Hot Jobs, and Yahoo! Small Business. (SAI)

Rogers Communications will lose its exclusive deal for selling the Apple (AAPL) iPhone in Canada. Telus and Bell Canada will get franchises (Globe and Mail).

Pay czar Kenneth Feinberg will cut cash compensation for executives at a number of firms which may include AIG (AIG), Citigroup (C), and Bank of America (BAC) (WSJ)

Citigroup’s Pandit could be the next big bank CEO pushed out the door. (The Deal)

Lawyers working on Viacom’s (VIA) lawsuit against Google’s (GOOG) YouTube have found e-mails uncovered evidence that “employees of the video site were among those who uploaded unauthorized content to YouTube.” (CNET)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: October 6, 2009 – 9:14 am in Rumors, AAPL, AIG, BA, BAC, BMC, C, CTIC, CTXS, DDRX, GOOG, VIA, VMW, XOM, YHOO

Conoco Issues Cautious Update, While Exxon CEO Calls for More Taxes (COP, CVX, XOM)

Oil major ConocoPhillips Corp. (NYSE:COP) released its third quarter 2009 interim update this morning, and while the news was not altogether positive, the company’s share price is up nearly 2.5% in early trading on heavy volume. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM) are not following suit, with both down less than 1%. Read More »

Posted on: October 2, 2009 – 12:00 pm in Oil & Gas, COP, CVX, XOM

Another Increase in Crude Inventories (CVX, XOM, OIL, USO, CIT)

The US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration has released its weekly status report on crude oil inventories, and once again they are higher, this time by 2.8 million barrels. Gasoline inventories are down 1.6 million barrels and distillate inventories are up by 300,000 barrels. All these figures put respective inventories above the upper bound of the five-year average for oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel.

It’s no surprise then that share prices for the petroleum companies are falling in the wake of the report. Chevron Corporation (CVX), which announced the retirement of chairman and CEO David O’Reilly and his replacement by vice-chairman John Watson, is trading down, as is Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM). For some unknown reason, the iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN (OIL), and the US Oil Fund ETF (USO) are both up about 1%. Read More »

Posted on: September 30, 2009 – 1:07 pm in Oil & Gas, CIT, CVX, oil, USO, XOM

China Reaches Out Again For Crude Supply Domination

China has made aggressive investments in oil production facilities and fields in Venezuela, Brazil, and several places in the Middle East. Almost all its multi-billion dollar deals are aimed at locking up supply to accomodate its ravenous need for energy which fuels is rapidly expanding economy. Many of its recent transaction guarantee crude at market prices.

The most substantial China investment to date is a plan to buy one-sixth of the reserves of Nigeria which is a poor nation with abundant supplies of crude. Read More »

Posted on: September 29, 2009 – 5:05 am in Oil & Gas, CVX, XOM

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