Exxon Won't Hold Its Usual December Plan Update, Will Reaffirm 2027 Metrics By Press Release
CEO Darren Woods says he expects results to beat what Exxon has communicated, though "we don't want to be forecast heroes."
ExxonMobil does not plan to host a formal corporate plan update event in December, Investor Relations head Jim Chapman said on the company's earnings call Friday, breaking with the approach of the last several years. Instead, the oil giant will reaffirm key 2027 planning metrics by press release later this quarter, once its board approves the plan.
A press release in place of an event
Chapman said more color will come on the fourth-quarter earnings call in late January. He added that Exxon remains enthusiastic about its outlook and its execution against the long-term plans it has already communicated.
Chairman and CEO Darren Woods was pressed on the change by an analyst from Wolfe Research, who noted that the longer-term portfolio keeps evolving, particularly in LNG. Woods said Exxon has "a pretty good line of sight to those plans beyond 2030" and is working to raise confidence and specificity.
"Forecast heroes" and post-2030 growth
Woods described a conservative management philosophy. "We don't want to be forecast heroes here," he said, but he expects Exxon to do better than what it has communicated, because the company will learn and improve.
Senior Vice President and CFO Neil Hansen said the company is excited to lay out post-2030 plans at the right point. He pointed to Guyana, discoveries in Angola and Cyprus, expanded exploration acreage, and the strategy of upgrading lower-value products into higher-value ones.
Dividend up 4%, buybacks held at $20 billion
Exxon also raised its dividend 4%, Woods said, marking its 44th straight year of annual dividend-per-share growth. The company plans to hold share repurchases at $20 billion in 2027, assuming reasonable market conditions.
In the third quarter Exxon earned $15.4 billion on a standard-accounting basis, Woods said, and generated $25.7 billion of cash flow from operations. It invested $7 billion in the business and returned $9.4 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks.
Woods said structural cost savings since 2019 total $16.9 billion, well on the way to $20 billion of cumulative savings by 2030. Exxon's market value was $753.7 billion in Friday morning trading.
The next checkpoints are the press release reaffirming 2027 metrics later this quarter and the fourth-quarter earnings call in late January.
Sources
- ExxonMobil Beats Third-Quarter Profit Estimates on Refining Boom — Reuters
- ExxonMobil and Chevron top Q3 estimates on higher prices and strong output | AP News — Associated Press
- Exxon’s Report Lands After Trump Called the Oil Spike “A Freaking Fortune”. Here’s the Number to Watch — Yahoo Finance
- ExxonMobil Cashes In on Refining Boom, Raises Dividend — benzinga.com
- Exxon rises after posting Q3 earnings topper on record refining haul (XOM:NYSE) | Seeking Alpha — seekingalpha.com
