Is ExxonMobil Stock a Buy?
It's hard to throw shade on a company that more than doubled its year-over-year earnings, which is what ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) achieved in the first quarter of 2023. And yet this energy giant might not be the best way to play the oil sector over the short term, even though it would be a good way to gain exposure to the energy sector over the long term.
In the first quarter of 2023, Exxon posted earnings per share of $2.79, up from $1.28 in the same period of 2022. You don't need a calculator to see that it was a more than 100% year-over-year earnings increase. That's pretty impressive.
And yet the energy giant's top line actually fell from $90.5 billion in the first quarter of 2022 to $86.6 billion this year. The bottom-line difference was partly related to higher costs in the year-ago period and a one-time charge.
Source Fool.com
