Exxon regains top ranking

Exxon regains top ranking

Tags: Exxon Mobil Corp | PetroChina Co | Ranking

Written by Joe Carroll & Edward Klump
Thursday, 08 October 2009 11:13

CHICAGO/HOUSTON: Exxon Mobil Corp regained its ranking as the world’s most valuable company, overtaking PetroChina Co after Chinese price controls failed to keep pace with rising crude costs, squeezing profits on refined fuels.

State-controlled PetroChina’s Shanghai-traded shares have dropped 2.2% since Sept 2, when the Chinese government last raised domestic prices for gasoline and diesel. Exxon Mobil rose 0.7% in the same period to a market capitalisation of US$330 billion (RM1.13 trillion), compared with US$325.5 billion for PetroChina.

Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil, which traces it roots to the 1880s and John D Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust, lost the top ranking to PetroChina on May 25, after China’s stimulus plan caused a surge in stock prices. PetroChina’s 14% return on capital is less than half of Exxon Mobil’s 36%, the highest among the world’s biggest 10 oil companies by sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Exxon is a solidly run company, one of the best managed companies out there,” said Philip Weiss, an analyst at Argus Research in New York who has a “buy” rating on Exxon Mobil shares and owns none. “It’s very conservatively run, has a good solid resource base, generally provides good returns to shareholders.”

Exxon Mobil’s annual sales are more than twice those of PetroChina. The company had US$425 billion in sales last year, or US$60.45 for every man, woman and child on the planet.

Exxon Mobil rose US$1.08, or 1.6%, to US$68.66 on Tuesday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. PetroChina’s Shanghai shares haven’t traded since Sept 30 because of National Day holidays. The company’s Hong Kong shares climbed 2.8% to HK$9.16 (RM4.05) as of 11.24am local time yesterday.

Year to date, Exxon Mobil is still down 14%, the worst performance among seven integrated oil companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500. The company said Sept 9 that it may fail to meet its 2009 target for 2% output growth.

“My general view on Exxon is it represents a nice core holding in any portfolio that wants exposure to energy,” Weiss said. “You’re not going to get the best returns out of Exxon, but you’re not going to get the worst, either.”

Oil futures traded in New York have jumped 60% this year, heading for the biggest gain in a decade amid signs that demand for petroleum-based fuels such as gasoline is rebounding after a recession-driven collapse. China has allowed filling stations to raise gasoline and diesel prices this year by 19% and 18%, respectively.

China, which ranks behind only the US in energy consumption, on Sept 30 withdrew 37% of the fuel-price increase granted on Sept. 2.

The government has raised fuel prices four times and lowered them on three occasions this year under a system introduced in December to take into account fluctuations in the costs for oil purchased by refiners, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. The government policy allows prices to be changed when crude costs fluctuate more than 4% over 22 working days.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which jumped 87% in this year’s first seven months, has fallen 19% since then. The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 blue-chip US stocks, including Exxon Mobil, has risen 6.1% since the end of July. — Bloomberg


This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, October 8, 2009.