Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM said it expects changes in liquids and gas prices to reduce fourth-quarter earnings by up to $4.1 billion when compared with third-quarter results. The oil giant’s stock rose 0.7% in premarket trading. The company provided late Wednesday factors that affected fourth-quarter earnings, since the company reported third-quarter net earnings of $19.7 billion. Changes in liquids prices are expected to reduce fourth-quarter earnings by $1.7 billion to $1.3 billion and gas price changes are expected to reduce earnings by $2.4 billion to $2.0 billion. Among other factors seen affecting Q4 results, estimated year-end inventory effects are seen reducing earnings by $1.0 billion to $800 million and changes in unsettled derivates are expected to boost upstream earnings by $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion but lower energy products earnings by $1.1 billion to $900 million. The FactSet consensus for fourth-quarter net income is $13.93 billion, down from $19.7 billion in the third quarter, while EPS is expected to decline to $3.27 from $4.45. Exxon’s stock has gained 7.8% over the past three months through Wednesday, while crude oil futures CL00 have dropped 15.4% and natural gas futures NG00 have tumbled 46.8%. The S&P 500 SPX has tacked on 1.8% the past three months.
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