Energy Companies in the Spotlight: Exxon Mobil, BP, Total SA and Petro-Canada

Energy companies will no doubt come under the spotlight over the next week, as it was reported Tuesday morning that oil slipped to under $50 a barrel. Exxon Mobil (XOM), the largest company in the world by Market Cap, currently has 0.88% of its shares outstanding on loan, with Utilisation at 4.08%. This is an increase from 0.2% in September, even though the stock opened up 2.5% on Tuesday. The price has remained around the $80 a share mark for the past three months, despite a trough down to $65 in mid-October.

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Exxon Mobil

Total Sa (TOT) has 10% SOOL, having peaked at dividend trading at 20% ten days ago, with Utilisation at 30% now. The stock was up 3.2% on Tuesday, even though short interest is relatively high. The share price has fallen in the last three months from around €50 to €43.

BP (BP) has 1.4% SOOL, down from 2.2% in late October. Utilisation is at 4.5%, down from 7% in the same time frame, so some short covering has occurred in this stock, which was also up around 3% on Tuesday. Like Exxon, BP's share price is the same as it was three months ago with a decrease in between; falling from 530bp in August to 350bp in late October, and back up to approximately 530bp now.

Petro-Canada (PCZ) has 1.19% SOOL, up from 0.75% on November 18. Utilisation is just under 2.4%. Petro-Canada's share price has fallen from C$46 in August and currently stands at C$34, although this has risen from C$20 on November 20.

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Comments

[c300man:]

I'm always interested to read and attempt to digest additional information, however in this case I think the author assumes she is writing for people who are very familiar with the data.

It would probably be helpful for many readers (including myself) for the author to include some term definitions as data is given. This would include SOOL, Utilisation, and then also the bp data for BP; I thought it referred to basis point drop in something but wasn't sure what.

Also then, it would be helpful to present some conclusions as to what the data or change in data may mean or predict for stock price.

2008 Dec 03 07:34 AM