Exxon Mobil Corporation (
XOM) engages in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, and manufacture of petroleum products, as well as transportation and sale of crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum products. Exxon Mobil is a component of the Dow Jones Industrials and the
dividend aristocrats indexes. Exxon Mobil has paid uninterrupted dividends on its common stock since 1882 and increased payments to common shareholders every year for 28 years.
The most recent dividend increase was in April 2011, when the Board of Directors approved a 6.80% increase to 47 cents/share. The major competitors of Exxon Mobil include Chevron Corp (
CVX), British Petroleum (
BP) and Royal Dutch Shell (
RDS-B).
Over the past decade this dividend growth stock has delivered an annualized total return of 9.60% to its loyal shareholders.
The company has managed to deliver an increase in EPS of 12.30% per year since 2001. Analysts expect Exxon-Mobil to earn $8.28 per share in 2011 and $8.85 per share in 2012. This would be a nice increase from the $6.22/share the company earned in 2010. On average the company has managed to repurchase 4.20% of its stock annually over the past decade. Exxon Mobil has one of the largest and most consistent
stock buyback programs in the US.
The company has a strong reserve replacement ratio, which ensures it would not run out of oil. The sheer scale of the company gives it huge economies of scale. Its productivity is further boosted by the efficiency of developing new projects in Quatar, Norway and US. Exxon Mobil does business on over 200 countries and derives only 30% of its revenues from the US. The company has over 130 projects worldwide whose goal is to increase reserves of oil and natural gas. The company's future acquisition of XTO Energy will boost natural gas production by over a quarter.