Record oil profits

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Here's the first published news that I have seen about profits from the oil industry, this one is about one of my very least favorites, Halliburton:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Halliburton-1Q-profit-up-on-apf-2640376789.html?x=0

"The Houston company reported first-quarter earnings of $511 million, or 56 cents per share, compared with $206 million, or 23 cents per share, in the same period last year. Revenue rose 40 percent to $5.28 billion."

The Saudis have cut their production, and they know there is not a supply problem right now:

http://www.theage.com.au/business/saudis...0418-1dk3v.html

No doubt the speculators and oil execs will use that to jack prices up even further.

"Crude oil for May delivery climbed $1.55 to settle at $109.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on April 15. Al-Naimi declined to comment on U.S. futures prices, which are up 28 percent from a year ago." I say anyone who thinks speculators have nothing to do with oil and gas prices is crazy.

I look forward to reading more news of record oil profits very soon. I do hope the fat cats, speculators and whoever else is involved all get to enjoy the obscene money they make at the expense of ordinary working people.
 
I've been saying it for months now, nothing new. Oils companies are not our friends, as with any business profits come first. At least I took advantage when prices were low, can't beat'en join them. Seeing them rip us off does Piz me off though, as does people defending them.
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If only there were a way to buy a share of those companies and get in on it.

Oh wait.
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More people bad at math are going to complain oil companies make too much.

Quote:

The Houston company reported first-quarter earnings of $511 million, or 56 cents per share, compared with $206 million, or 23 cents per share, in the same period last year. Revenue rose 40 percent to $5.28 billion.


That's less than 10% profit margin.

$511million profit/$5.28 Billion revenue = 9.67% profit.

So they earned $0.56/share.

What's a share of Halliburton cost?

About $46.75.

So that's about 1.2% of the value of the company in profits.

Yeah, they are really raping folks.

Get good at math before you complain. Even at the current prices, oil is still a small performer in terms of investment returns. It costs a lot of money to drill 7 miles into the earth to get the oil folks want, and folks begrudge them for making less than 10 cents on every dollar invested.

Get real. Learn to do the analysis and look at all the numbers, not just the huge profit figure.

Without knowing what was invested, it's a meaningless number, that only invokes an emotional, non-thinking response.

I thought BITOG was smarter than that. I guess not.

Good grief. I'll be the Federal Government made more in taxes on that same oil than Halliburton did. Why not complain about how they did nothing, but collect 1/3rd of all profits in corporate taxes?
 
Well that depends Java.

When you make billions even a 1% profit would be alot of money.

Almost 10% profit after all expenses are covered. I say that is good.
 
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Let's compare Microsoft to Halliburton.

Quote:

Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) said its profit climbed 60% from a year earlier to $6.7 billion, or 74 cents per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31. The Redmond, Wash.-based company's sales snapped a three-quarter streak of declines, jumping 14% to a record $19 billion.


So M$ had revenue of $19 billion, or almost 4X what Halliburton made in their quarter presented.

How much profit did they make?

6.7 Billion, or more profit than Halliburton had as income for the quarter.

Isn't that about 1/3rd in profit? 6.7/19 = 35.3%

Yep evil oil is making too much at less than 10% profit...

Get real!
 
Originally Posted By: ZZman
Well that depends Java.

When you make billions even a 1% profit would be alot.

Almost 10% profit after all expenses are covered. I say that is good.


Sure, but who are we to say it's too much? Remember pension funds and guys like you and me have our retirements invested in these companies and I want them to make profits so I'll have something to retire on.

If they only make 1%, that's not even keeping pace with inflation, so I'm losing money that I'll need for retirement.

Profits mean growth, and if the profits are only 1%, the growth will be small if there is any at all. If it's not keeping pace with inflation, then we will actually shrink, not grow.

Shrinking means fewer jobs, more folks out of work, etc.

Give me a steady 8-12% profit every year and I think you'll see healthy growth.

It's not like Halliburton or Microsoft get to keep all the money. Shareholders get a cut if there are dividends. Or it's invested back into the business.

So I think that's a good, healthy, not greedy profit margin, regardless what the emotional heart string pullers in the press would have you believe.
 
Originally Posted By: tenderloin
All the while no one complains about Apple.....


Exactly, wait, I'll find a quarterly summary.

Quote:

The maker of iPhones and Macintosh computers reported a profit of $4.31 billion in the September quarter, while IBM had earnings in the same period of $3.59 billion, up 12% from a year ago.

Apple's quarterly revenues also closed in on IBM's. Apple generated $20.3 billion, up 67% from a year ago, though sales of its iPad tablet were lower than some analysts had expected. IBM's revenues were $24.3 billion, up 3% from a year earlier.


It's a two-fer with both Apple and IBM reported 10/2010.

Apple $4.31B/$20.3B = about 20%

IBM 3.59B/24.3B = 14.8%

So tell me again why Haliburton's < 10% is evil, but Apple, IBM and M$ are not?
 
O.K....so there are more greedy companies than the oil companies.

The difference is I don't own any Apple products.

I also own own as few Microsoft products as possible. (Operating system)

I have to buy oil continually.

That is why I am more concerned about how much they make.
 
Most of these companies are publicly owned, so share holders are benefiting from these profits, too. I bought shares in an energy mutual fund, to offset the rise in gasoline prices.
 
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Javacontour,

Just wanted to say, very nice job of putting things in perspective. thank-you.

I don't begrudge the oil companies a penny - they take huge risks to bring us a product that literally is a part of everything we do - without it, we'd die.

Not literally, but pretty close.
 
Apple and Microsoft don't play with prices on a daily basis. As far as I know they don't have speculators artificially inflating their prices and buying and then selling off stock in calculated cycles so they make even more profit on a product on which they are not even required to take delivery. I doubt Apple or Microsoft have highly paid lobbyists in Washington DC or other government centers in the US. I have never heard of politicians being in cahoots with Apple or Microsoft but I have heard plenty about certain political officials being in bed with Halliburton and the oil insdustry. And I seem to remember some years ago Halliburton was in trouble for some shady business dealings but I do not remember any details on it. The government does not make ridiculous tax revenue off the sale of Apple or Microsoft products, AFAIK.

And for what it's worth, you can't "complain" about taxes and what the Feds do with oil and gasoline tax revenue here. If you do, the threads get locked for being too political in nature. Too much of that and you get banned.

Oil companies make billions of dollars in profit. I have no problem at all with anyone making an honest living but the way the oil industry and those associated with it manipulate prices and markets and find any little reason they can to make an excuse to raise prices and profits even further, well it turns my stomach.
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
Javacontour,

Just wanted to say, very nice job of putting things in perspective. thank-you.

I don't begrudge the oil companies a penny - they take huge risks to bring us a product that literally is a part of everything we do - without it, we'd die.

Not literally, but pretty close.
Yes, if you want to complain about excessive profits, start an oil company. Be proactive not reactive. The Govt. (and all of its anti-business agencies) are there to HELP you. Good luck. John--Las Vegas.
 
Quote:
I doubt Apple or Microsoft have highly paid lobbyists in Washington DC or other government centers in the US.


http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?lname=Microsoft+Corp&year=2010

http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?year=2010&lname=Apple+Inc&id=

As for oil company profits:
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2007/05/gasoline-taxes.html

If you want cheaper gas, contact your representative and demand taxes on gas companies be slashed.

Remember that a tax is a punishment so it's pretty obvious that the government doesn't like people using oil.
 
OK, but if they made half the profit, what would that mean to you on a day to day basis. Let's say they made 5% instead of 10%

Assuming the price would drop a corresponding amount, how much would you be paying?

If they made 10% on gas. The spot price this month has been around 3.245/gallon. So the oil company makes $0.325/gallon at 10% profit. (hmmm,less than the tax man gets...)

Let's say his profit is now half that. Your gas drops $0.1625/gallon.

So instead of paying $4.00/gallon, you pay $3.8375

The tax man is still getting more than that.

Originally Posted By: ZZman
O.K....so there are more greedy companies than the oil companies.

The difference is I don't own any Apple products.

I also own own as few Microsoft products as possible. (Operating system)

I have to buy oil continually.

That is why I am more concerned about how much they make.
 
Originally Posted By: javacontour
OK, but if they made half the profit, what would that mean to you on a day to day basis. Let's say they made 5% instead of 10%

Assuming the price would drop a corresponding amount, how much would you be paying?

If they made 10% on gas. The spot price on 4/11 was 3.245/gallon. So the oil company makes $0.325/gallon at 10% profit. (hmmm,less than the tax man gets...)

Let's say his profit is now half that. Your gas drops $0.1625/gallon.

So instead of paying $4.00/gallon, you pay $3.8375

The tax man is still getting more than that.



True. Actually, the price of gas doesn't bother me. The government really doesn't really want us to drive (and trust me, I can now really see why). It's the driving up the prices of everything else that worries me.


I'd have no problem with a 40 cent tax hike if it cut the costs of transporting goods around the country. Otherwise it just makes it way too easy to raise the prices of everything and blame it on gas.
 
I have spoken out of turn here and I didn't have all the facts straight when I started this post. I aplogize for that and am sorry I brought it up.

That doesn't change the facts that concern the manipulation of the oil market and oil prices. One group says there's no shortage and everything is fine, others want to play with the prices and make money on oil they don't even have to take delivery on, others want to make money on the government/tax side of oil and gas prices, and still others point out how oil profits as a percentage are smaller than other industries.

I don't know who or what to believe. The whole thing is a can of political, financial and corruption/lobbyist-related worms. And this can of worms only opens from the inside.

I do believe things would be much different at the pumps if the speculators actually had to take delivery of the oil they buy and sell every day. And I do know there are a lot of forces impacting gas and oil prices.

Starting this post was an emotional and unprepared reaction to a couple of online articles I read this morning. The current situation with oil and gas prices makes me sick. I doubt any letter I wrote to any elected official would do any good. There is too much red tape and money to be made. Sorry I brought it up here again.
 
ZZman,

Who put you in charge to decide how much profit is "appropriate" and how much is greed?

Profit is NEVER evil.

Now there are evil ways to get your profits. Cheating, lying, manipulation, and there are probably others. But the profit itself is not, nor can it ever be evil.

In what industry do you work? What are the typical profit margins in that industry? Is your industry greedy by the standard you've established that oil companies are greedy and computer companies are even more greedy? If your industry is greedy, what are you doing to change that? After all, if you complain about other industries, that must mean you have your industry all squared away and they are not greedy by your own standards.

Do you own investments? Did any of them do better than the 10% you claim is greedy. Make sure you consider your 401(k), IRA and pension funds you might own or be part of. If any of those earned more than 10%, what did you do to give away the greedy portion of those earnings?

Since you have this standard for oil companies, I just want to know if you practice what you preach.
 
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