Earnings roundup: Exxon earns $39.5 billion

Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $39.5 billion — even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent.

The 2006 profit topped the previous record, also by Exxon Mobil, of $36.13 billion set in 2005. The record earnings amounted to roughly $4.5 million an hour for the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, which produces about 3 percent of the world’s oil.

It also equals the approximate gross domestic product — a measure of all goods and services produced within a country in a given year — of countries like Ecuador, Luxembourg and Croatia.

Also eye popping was Exxon Mobil’s revenue, which rose to $377.64 billion for the year, surpassing the record $370.68 billion it posted in 2005.

“Exxon Mobil continued to leverage its globally diverse resource base to bring additional crude oil and natural gas to market,” said Rex W. Tillerson, chairman of the Irving, Texas-based company.

Still, it marked the first time since the third quarter of 2002 Exxon Mobil had a year-over-year quarterly earnings decline.

Exxon Mobil’s record annual earnings followed a year of extraordinarily high energy prices as crude oil topped $78 a barrel in the summer — driving up average gasoline prices in the United States to more than $3 a gallon. Prices retreated later in the year.

The fourth-quarter decline reflects lower profits from Exxon’s refining and marketing operations and a sharp dropoff in natural gas prices.

The company said earnings from exploration and production were $6.2 billion for the quarter, down from about $7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005. Earnings also fell on the refining and marketing side to $1.96 billion in the most recent quarter from $2.4 billion a year ago.

Oil production for the quarter was up slightly from a year ago, while natural gas production was off slightly.

The company said it ended 2006 with $32.8 billion in cash, and debt of $8.3 billion. Tillerson and other company executives plan to meet with Wall Street analysts March 7 to discuss ongoing business plans.

Exxon Mobil’s results for the October-December period mimicked those of U.S. competitor ConocoPhillips, which last week said its fourth-quarter profit fell 13 percent — also primarily because of lower natural gas prices and refining margins. But hefty earnings earlier in the year helped Houston-based ConocoPhillips post its most profitable year on record, earning $15.55 billion.

ConocoPhillips is the nation’s third-largest integrated oil company behind Exxon Mobil and Chevron Corp., which is scheduled to report 2006 results today.

“Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable television operator, said Thursday that fourth-quarter profits nearly tripled as customers signed up for its discounted video, Internet and phone package, but the results fell short of expectations.

The Philadelphia-based company also said it is splitting its stock 3-for-2 on Feb. 21.

Net income totaled $390 million, or 18 cents per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with $133 million, or 6 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 30 percent to $7.03 billion, up from $5.42 billion a year earlier.

Excluding one-time adjustments to reduce gains recorded in the third quarter — related to the purchase of Adelphia’s cable assets and subsequent swap of certain systems with Time Warner Cable — Comcast earned 21 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were forecasting operational earnings of 24 cents a share on revenue of $7.13 billion. Investors sold off Comcast’s shares. The stock fell $1.43, or 3.22 percent, to close at $42.92 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

“Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday its fourth-quarter earnings fell 51 percent from a year ago in the all-important holiday season, hurt by higher tax-related charges. The Internet retailer’s results were just ahead of Wall Street’s expectations.

For the three months ended Dec. 31, Amazon.com said it earned $98 million, or 23 cents per share, compared with $199 million, or 47 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting earnings of $90.4 million, or 21 cents per share, on $3.77 billion in sales.

The Seattle company said the most recent results were hurt by $91 million in income tax expenses in the quarter, compared with a tax benefit of $38 million in the comparable 2005 period.

Net sales for the three-month period were $3.9 billion, up 34 percent from $2.98 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005. The company said sales would have been up by 30 percent without the favorable $122 million impact of changes in foreign exchange rates.