Is it worth investing in an oil company like Exxon in the current market?
401586
Wouldn't we all like to know the answer to this question? If indeed you had $10 million, there are a lot less risky ways to make lots of money, because you have quoted such a large sum. This is the fantasy that most people get caught in. They pose a valid question on an invalid premise.\n\nPeople with $10 million don't need to make more than 3-5% a year to get rich. They already are. You, on the other hand, will never get anywhere at the current interest rate on a CD of 3%.Thus the question concerning stocks.\n\nFirst, you would not put your entire investment into one basket. It was about this time seven years ago when I last owned Exxon stock. I'm a Petroleum Engineer, and know quite a bit about oil companies, and they had just discovered some big fields on the North Slope of Alaska. I woke up one morning, and found my IRA cut in half, when they spilled oil in the Port of Valdez.\n\nNow, I trade Index Futures on the stock market for a living. In my opinion, the Top in the stock market is already in, and direction is now down for several months. \n\nSome would tell you to diversify, but not by buying five different oil companies, you have to diversify across industries. But I would tell you that all ships rise and fall on the tide, unless you are an exceptional stock picker and fast enough to maneuver your boat to gain headway.\n\nThere are times when cash is King, and this is probably one of those times. If you're in a mutual fund, switch to the money market fund or a CD or Treasury Bill; just park it for now. The name of the game is preservation of capital.\n\nIf you really do have $10 million, lets start our own mutual fund. Write me at  dredude52@yahoo.com
452439
I think those things will become increasingly important given the trends in the price of oil. Companies will shift to alternative forms of energy to save money. I don't know that it will stop wars among nations.
463011
No, profits are the American way. I doubt you were even born when the oil companies were struggling back in the mid-seventies and early eighties. Aquisitions and mergers have made them some of the strongest American companies.\nThere are now more known oil reserves world wide than ever before. There is also more demand than ever before. Hence oil is over $72 per barrel. We could get all we need from the Canadian oil sand deposits and it would be cheap. But it is being shipped around the world.\nFigure that
1169083
Oil and Weapons are good investments right now
802098
This is a great company to invest in.....They are gaining market share. As an employee - if you are skilled - it might be a great Future. \n\nUsually rewards follow performance.   :o )
500382
Your mistake is basic: you're presuming that the oil in the ground belongs to America.  It doesn't.  It belongs to ExxonMobil, BP, etc.  Think they'd want to lower profits to benefit us?  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
895521
Why buy a stock like this when you can buy Vaalco?  They are in oil exploration, they have a low PE and great return-on-capital.  They are making money and growing.\n\nI like investing in over-the-counter and pink sheet stocks, but my rule is : the share price must be at least 25 cents, and the market cap must be at least $30 million.  Anything below those limits is too risky, and their is not enough public information available to make informed decisions.\n\nHere is a portfolio that has Vaalco and other "value" stocks:\n\nhttp://www.top10traders.com/ViewPortfolio.aspx?userID=92\n\nThis portfolio is from http://www.top10traders.com - this is a free site that lets you create a portfolio of stocks with $100,000 in "play" money.  Each day the site ranks the best performing portfolios, so you can see how your picks perform compared to other investors.  You can also read posts on investing from the best traders, as well as share your own investing ideas.\n\nHere are this month's best traders:\n\nhttp://www.top10traders.com/Top10Standings.aspx
70476
Here is a directory listing to hopefully all renewable energy companies.\n\nhttp://www.renewableenergystocks.com/Companies/RenewableEnergy/Stock_List.asp\n\nWhich would be good investments? Probably none, because these institutions tend not to care about shareholder profits as much as suposedly saving the world. So these companies are willing to invest millions of dollars into supposedly more earth friendly sources of energy even if the cost of production is higher than other "evil" fossil fuel sources for the production of energy.\n\nAlthough if traditional sources of energy become more costly to produce than the cost of alternative energy, they will have some market opprotunity. Hopefully they would use that opportunity to generate pofits for their shareholders.
557375
DOW is maybe the most undervalued but it is also the most cyclical. It does pay a decent dividend. It is the largest chemical company in the U S. It is subject to asbestos litigation. Technically, it is weak. \n\nXOM is also undervalued but congress wants to blame XOM for the fact that everyone is driving gas guzzling SUV's. The company pays a poor dividend relative to its earnings. \n\nTM technically strong. I dont think oil prices are going down any time and I think auto stocks will suffer as a result. TM will not suffer as much as GM. \n\n\nZMH another technically weak stock. \n\nShort term I would have to go with TM because it is technically strong. \n\nLong term XOM. Though I believe a smaller less politacally sensitive oil company might be a better investment vehicle.
309618
Sure ,very soon.\nAs the fundamentals are very strong.even at the height of 75 dollar/barrel of crude, the sen sex will touch and cross 15000 within a year that is before May 2007.
295724
It depends. Please give the details of the INVESTment OPPORTUNITYies for my PERUSEal and EVALUATEion. You can e-mail me at: romy472000@yahoo.com. thanks.
1018266
The big 'boys' are Exxon/Mobil, Chevron/Texaco, Connoco/Phillips, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total.  You then have numerous smaller companies such as Talisman, CNR, Agip, Amerada Hess, Cairn and many small companies under that.  The number of oil companies is many more than most people realise.  Plus you have the national oil companies such as Petronas, Petrobras, Sonatrach etc.\n\nHow much is left?  Well that is the $64,000 question and the arguements rage.  Shell recently got into trouble over its quoted reserves and trying to figure out exactly how much is in the reservoir is difficult at the best of times.\nThe original oil in place is the maximum amount of oil in the ground before the reservoir is drilled.  Recoverable oil is what we can extract based on current technology.  Currently we can get about 40% of oil out and upto 85% of gas out of the ground.  With improvements in technology and techniques that should go up.  However, thanks to physics we will never get every last drop out regardless of technology and money.\n\nThe big question is when will we have extracted more than 50% of all the original oil in place?  There is a finite amount of oil and gas on the planet and there is a finite limit to how much we can get out so at some point in the future production WILL peak and one day the taps will run dry.  When is anyones guess, some people think the peak has happened, others blindly believe it will never happen.\n\nMy personal feeling is we could see the peak in the next 20 years, many oil producing areas have already peaked (US in the 20's, UK in the 90's, Mexico's Cantarell field just recently) so it is a matter of time.  If we continue to stick our heads in the sand and hope it will never happen we will be in for a rude shock.  Better to start making changes now and be ready than have civilization as we know it crumble around us.\n\nOil is far to valuable a resource to keep pouring in our petrol/gas tanks and burning away.  Think of everything around us today that is made from plastics, all the chemicals we use daily that come from oil.  Could we manage without them? Maybe but would you rather drive or wear clothes?
16598
2006 will be a very interesting year as Peak Oil should come into play. There will be a day where oil price will have a super spike day. We are running out of oil. Yes, I know that we have 40-50 years of oil left but we don't have to wait till the last drop to see expensive petrol prices. I don't think next year is a good year to invest in common stocks. Go study Peak Oil and invest into oil related stocks.
658563
Wait... you are going to invest money in an area that goes through waves of genocyde, tribal war, government coups, and citizen unrest every 6 months... not to mention the entire population is dieing of aids?\n\nYou would be better off investing your money in a dried up oil well.
4517
Probably not much, since the big bucks are in production and transmission.\nRemember we still own a big piece of the Production in OPEC Oil Fields.
201845
buy stock in an oil company then give it to the relatives
81440
I do not believe that Aflac is too highly priced in comparison to the universe of stocks. The company has consistent growth and is selling at about a PE of 16 times 2006 earnings estimate and a PEG ratio near 1.0.  Another point to consider is that Aflac's main market is Japan which is beginning to see a turnaround.  And of course it does not hurt your diversification to invest in a company with interests outside of the USA. \n\nIf however, you were already heavily invested in insurance stocks such as PRU, etc. it would perhaps be wise to look elsewhere. \n\nYou could do a whole lot worse than Aflac.