Wal-Mart edged out ExxonMobil for the top spot in this year's rankings, with Chevron, Phillips 66, and Berkshire Hathaway also ranking ahead of Apple and its $156.2 billion in revenue. In looking at profits, Apple ranked second among Fortune 500 companies at $41.7 billion, trailing only ExxonMobil at $44.9 billion.
- WMT
- XOM
- CVX
- PSX
- BRK
- AAPL
In profits:
- XOM
- AAPL
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Someone pointed out that the oil companies got bigger mostly through mergers (ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips) and, of course, BRK, is not a conglomerate/index fund. WMT and AAPL stand alone among the top six as their "own" company. Not completely accurate, but not too far off.
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PSX 66 -- nice story at The Wall Street Journal.
Phillips 66 certainly fits that trend, with its stock up 86% in the last year.
But while the new company may be a revenue giant, its profits are slim, reflecting the thin margins on offer in the fuel refining business. On $169 billion in revenue, the company made just over $4.1 billion in profit; its former parent Conoco Phillips, now focused on more profitable oil exploration and production, earned more than double that much in profit from less than half the revenue.
The company also markets gasoline via about 7,000 independently-owned gas stations sporting its logo. And it does have some fingers in more profitable pies --
- 7,000 service stations
- 11 domestic refineries; 4 refineries outside the US
- 50% interest in Chevron Phillips Chemical
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