In January 2006, Exxon Mobil posted the highest quarterly and annual profits of any U.S. company in history: $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter of 2005 and $36.13 billion for the full year.  \n\nToday, the company posted quarterly profits for the January-March 2006 period of $8.4 billion which is up from $7.86 billion a year ago.  \n\nIs there price manipulation going on in the oil industry?  \n\nShould the oil industry still receive the billions of dollars of tax subsidies that Bush signed into law in August 2005?
199746
"Reasonable" is completely subjective.  Exxon's profit margins have floated between 5-10% for the last 20 years.  The nominal amount of profit has gone up because their raw materials (crude oil) have gone up in price.  They should actually scale linearly with the price of crude oil assuming fixed net margins.\n\nTheir profit margin is actually pretty small compared to other companies.  It's just that they do massive sales.  370B in the ttm.  Even McDonald's (symbol MCD has higher margins).\n\nI posted a more complete argument over here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Agt6_O2xvS55gC8q24AuWYfsy6IX?qid=1006042628391\n\nAnyway, the question seems so one-sided that any form of logical argument isn't going to convince you.
4062
equiserve.com manages direct stock purchase plans for hundreds of companies. Perhaps the one you are thinking of is listed there. The transaction fees buying direct is a lot cheaper than paying the $7/trade through Scottrade or $10-17 for etrade.\nI know Exxon charges no fees when you buy direct through them (equiserve.com manages their purchase program)\n\nTo find out if the company you are interested has a direct stock purchase plan, go to the company's website and click on the "investors" links...and see if they have any information. \n\nIf the company doesn't offer direct purchase, your next cheapest way is to go through a discount broker  like scottrade,etrade,waterhouse. You can also look at sharebuilder.com if you want to buy the stock monthly at a set amount. It can be as cheap as $1/transaction every month if you put money in 20 different stocks..normal fees are $4/trade via their monthly plan.\n\nKeep an eye on the stock and watch for company news. Investors Business Daily recommends cutting your loss if the stock drops 7-8% from your buy point. This is to protect you from the possibility the stock drops even more. Also keep an eye on the daily and weekly volume in the stock. There is support in the stock if it goes up and the volume is above average. The opposite is also true...a down day with high volume or volume 2-5x higher than normal may indicate institutional investors are dumping.\n\nGood Luck!
264223
Bush and the oil companies record profits. If there wasn't record profits there wouldn't be any problem. They are gouging America, and Bush is allowing it to happen.
224263
In our area, we are boycotting Exxon. Do not know if it is working yet, but boy does it feel good when I drive by Exxon & refuse to pay their high prices. We used email notification. Someone emailed me - then I emailed all my friends - then they emailed all their friends. Almost everyone I know is in on the Boycott. Exxon eat dirt not my money.
9280
generally speaking, yes, when a company's profits increase, the stock price goes up. \n\nwhen you own a stock, you own a share of that company, and thus you own a portion of those profits. this is known as EPS, or earnings per share. so if the company earns more, your share of those earnings is worth more. conversely, if a company makes less, then the shares are worth less.\n\nhowever the relationship is a bit more complicated in practice. what makes the market frustrating yet beautiful at the same time is that human emotion is involved. you have analysts and ceo's making predictions as to how much the company will earn. often these predictions are overblown, so if the company does well, but not quite as well as the liberal predictions, then you have a lot of people overreacting to the news and perhaps selling the stock, driving its price down. this is often a great time to buy, because there are no fundamental problems with the company, and yet there is an artificial depression in the price. after a few weeks or months, people will forget about the predictions and see that the company is healthy and going strong, and the price will rise to a normal level again.\n\nyou also have situations when earnings will be very high, even outdoing expectations, but the company will issue a negative future outlook, so investors will get scared and sell, even though the earnings for that quarter or year were great.\n\nalso as you noted, sometimes investors will sell after a long run-up, taking their profits. this causes a small drop in share price. this can also be seen as a natural market correction to a stock price that has gone up faster than a company's performance, and falls back into line.\n\nthen there are completely unrelated situations like 9/11, the war in iraq, hurricane katrina, etc, that may have little or no direct impact on the company and its earnings, but drive the market lower or higher. look at how market prices reacted after 9/11 (huge drop). or after the US went to war in iraq (steady rise).\n\nover the long run, I would argue that markets are efficient, meaning that if a company is profitable and does well, the stock price will rise, and if it does poorly, the stock will will fall.\n\nover the short term, prices are impacted by the things I noted above, as well as others, that have little to do with a company's long-term performance. these irregularities in price should be seen as possible buy opportunities, if you feel the stock has become undervalued. it is these inefficiencies in the market that allow an intelligent investor to reap big profits.
491160
Hey, how is it going? I'm not an specialist in oil research, but I had to do a report on the increment of city revenues - the main source it's a oil refinery.\nThere are two good websites: World Energy Outlook and the Energy Information Administration (EIA).\nThe reports on the EIA are much more comprehensive and have projections until 2030. There's also access to previous reports.\nI hope that information will help you!
73001
in response to neparis2001: How about a car that runs on bull$hit? The conservative republicans are spreading plenty of that around. \n\nOr, you can do what I do. I refuse to support MidEast oil. All of my gas purchases are from Citgo, which comes from Venezuela. The only way that OPEC and the big oil companies are going to lower their prices is if we start hitting them where it hurts - in the wallet.
219484
I would love to see how much of the overall taxes that they make up... \n\nand how much do the loopholes help them... I've heard a lot, and I know some people who are weathy and they know a few tricks to cut down on what they pay.... \n\nWe all know the most profitable business in America, the oil compaines have tax cuts from the government... I wonder about the personal taxes?\n\nblackcorgi... aren't there "tax-free" investments that you make? or deductions that you have that cut down on that percentage considerably?... wouldn't anyone that makes that much be "a fool" to not take adavantage of these (no offense if you don't)?
285508
Why arn't gas companies allowed to make a profit? There are other industries that make more than the oil industry.  They have to make money for their stockholders just like every other company out there.
284399
The bastards are messing with us!  They are simply raising the prices to fatten up their wallets.  Their profits have raised by 30% and they keep changing the reasons for prices going up.  We never get a straight answer.  First its "a pipe broke and needs to be repaired so oil has gone up", then its "everyones using too much gas in their suvs", then its "we're negotiating to lower prices", um, excuse me but doesnt Bush OWN a refinery?
591317
I think it is amazing that the two people that have made the largest profit from this war are Michael Moore and Ted Turner.\n\nNow you see why the media spin is what it is. Keep reporting, stir the pot, line their pockets.\n\nDEEJay, Michael Moore owns stock in Halliburton. He was quoted as saying he does not own a single share of stock, his reply, I said "single" share. He owns multiple shares, in the thousands. This was revealed by the NY Times last year.
204666
the oil company reported an all time high profit over 84 million, it is not supply and demand,the irs gave oil companies millions of dollars in tax breaks this year, how many millions of dollars in tax breaks did the working poor or the working middle class recieve, it is who has the highly payed lobbyist , who makes the biggest political contributions and who's interests are being looked after by the current administration which coincidentally includes some oil company investors there is nothing free about this type of democracy
184205
It's amazing that gas costs so much and that guy from exxon just got a 400 million dollar retirement now that's some BS.
325196
havnt you seend the little stickers at the gas pump that says "May contain up to 10% Ethonal" that is where it is coming from. A few years ago no one was interested in the stuff since it was SO expensive (i think it was like 2.50 a gallon) now that gas has caught up lots of americans are flipping the bird to OPEC and saying lets at least give our high gas cost to american farmers and not some terrorist supporting mid east country.\n\nAlso isnt that what all new GM vehicles are able to run on?
208322
the gas companies have greedy businessmen behind them milking this for all it's worth.  they are lying to the public, and making record profits!!!  its disgusting.  no one in this government will take a stand on this.  i think that they don't want to bite the hand that feeds them(money)!!!
250512
I am a liberal and have never used the "war for oil" argument. The argument I use is "war for riches". It made no difference who we attacked, as long as we attacked somebody. Halliburton is recording record profits, and Dick Cheney by extension. Bush's father is making a lot of money through the Carlyle Group, which owns United Defense Industries, United States Marine Repair, and EG&G Technical Services, all of which are turning heavy profits from this war.\n\nAs for the correlation between Bush and gas prices, I think his actions have a direct, although unintentional, effect of raising them. It's supply and demand. Before the war Iraq produced 3.5 million barrels of oil per day. Now they are producing 1.6 million. Oil prices spiked slightly when the administration talked about attacking Iran for the first time - fear speculation.\n\nThere are an equal number of sheeple on both sides of the aisle. Blindly following anyone is not patriotism, it's stupidity.
217631
Let's see.\n\nIf you actually do any form of primitive Google search, the chairman got a golden parachute of 400M, not 1B.  Even if it was 1B, it wouldn't really matter that much.\n\nLast year, Exxon had 330B in revenues, so if you add back in 400M, that's around .1%.\n\nAssume you bought gas around 3$ per gallon.  .1% of that is 3/10 of a cent.  Depending on your usage, I'd say the typical person uses around 600 gallons a year.  So, you gave him $1.80.  Off 1B, it would have been closer to $5 last year.  The actual number is probably slightly higher because things that needed transport would have been passed on, but you get the general idea.\n\nPeople get hung up on someone's pay but never get around to figuring out how much it actually affects them.  Do you still worry about how much Bill Gates makes or the CEO of Google (who's made billions in the last couple years also), etc.?