Excerpt from our One Page Annotated Wall Street Journal Summary (receive it by email every morning by signing up here):
Total's Net Profit Rises 16% On Increase in Oil Prices
- Summary: Despite a 9% daily drop (2.29 million barrels/day) in output, French oil company Total SA (TOT) reported second quarter profits of $4.4 billion, up 16% from the same period last year. Various maintenance projects, plus production disruptions in Venzuela & Nigeria were blamed for the decline in production. A 35% rise in the price of oil over the same period, averaging $69.90/barrel, more than offset decreased production.
- Comment on related stocks/ETFs: With yesterday's close of $66.27 below Total's 52 week high of $72.27 (May 11) directly supports Chad Brand's opinion that oil companies appear to be cheap vs. the commodity. Marc Gerstein's recent post investigates the strategy of investing in Oil ETFs.
