Is Anyone Paying Attention? XOM's Share Re-Purchases And Increased Dividends For 2022 -- August 1, 2022

ExxonMobil:

• annual dividend: $3.52; yields 3.63%.

Now look at this, link here or here:

Exxon Mobil’s pledge to return approximately $30 billion via share repurchases and a nearly equivalent amount via dividends in 2022.

Let's do the math.

That statement clearly states $30 billion ... share repurchases and a nearly equivalent amount via dividends in 2022.

A nearly equivalent amount: that would be $30 billion.

First question: how many outstanding XOM shares? 4.21 billion shares outstanding. 

The arithmetic isn't that difficult to do:

$30 billion / 4.21 billion shares = 30/4.21 = $7.125 per share.

First two quarters:

• ($3.52 dollars/2) x 4.21 billion shares = $1.76 x 4.21 billion shares = $7.4 billion dollars paid so far this year in dividends (two quarters).

For the full year (2022): $30 billion.

$30 billion  - $7.4 billion = $22.6 billion for the last two quarters.

$22.6 billion / 4.21 billion shares = $5.37 / share for two quarters = $2.68 / quarter (for the last two quarters) vs the current ($3.52 / 4) = eighty-eight cents/share /quarter.

Disclaimer: I make a lot of simple arithmetic errors.

I guess a simpler way to check:

$30 billion / 4.21 billion shares = $7.125 per share.

So, for the entire year, "we" have to get to $7.125 per share.

So, far, 88 cents x 2 = $1.76 / share has been paid.

$7.125 - $1.76 = $5.365 / share yet to be paid, divided by two quarters = $2.68 / share per quarter for the remaining two quarters (vs 88 cents) in the last two quarters of 2022. 

 I'll believe it when I see it.

The Streaming Wars: Focus On Apple -- August 1, 2022

Streaming: link here. Streaming wars.

• Apple TV+ gaining traction; link here.

 From the linked article:

Service revenue, which includes businesses like Apple TV+, along with the App Store and Apple Music, climbed to $19.6 billion for the period, a June quarter record and a 12% increase year-over-year.

On the earnings call, Apple executives praised the streaming platform, noting it has earned 250 wins and over 1,100 award nominations since its 2019 inception.

Earlier this month, Apple TV+ nabbed 52 Emmy Award nods across 13 titles, led by "Severance" and "Ted Lasso." The service is also the first streaming platform to take home an Oscar best picture win (thanks to "Coda.")

Additionally, Apple has leaned into sports content, announcing joint partnerships with both Major League Baseball (MLB) and Major League Soccer (MLS).

Moving forward, Apple said it's continuing to "improve the breadth and the quality" of the platform, noting "a constant flow of new content on Apple TV+."

Although the company does not break out individual performances (Apple TV+ is estimated to have anywhere from 30 million to 40 million subscribers), the tech giant revealed that transacting accounts, paid accounts, and accounts with paid subscriptions all grew double digits year-over-year.

Paid subscriptions, in particular, "showed very strong growth" with more than 860 million paid subscriptions across all of the services, an increase of more than 160 million during the last 12 months.

Much, much more at the linked article.

Investors Only -- August 1, 2022

Earning schedule:

Earnings wrap for August 1, 2022, link here. Of those that interest me, ticker, actual vs expected:

• DVN: $2.59 vs $2.38; earnings growth: 332%
• FANG: $7.07 vs $6.66; earnings growth: 195%
• VNOM: 43 cents vs 43 cents; earnings growth: 378%
• WMB: 40 cents vs 37 cents; earnings growth: 48% (whoo-hoo)
• OTTR: $2.05 vs $1.27; earnings growth: 103%: (wow)

Dividend wrap for August 1, 2022:

• NOG declares a quarterly dividend of 25 cents; a 32% increase over prior quarter
• at an annual $1.00 per share, and trading at $30, that's $1/$30 = about 3.3%

The Apple page, link here, exactly how it's done:

Intel: to introduce Wi-Fi 7 in 2024; probably not available to average consumer until 2025; link here.

• Wi-Fi 7 is the successor to Wi-Fi 6E
• meanwhile, Apple is likely to release Wi-Fi 6E in the iPhone 14 to be release later this year
• I may be reading it wrong, but it sounds like Apple will have Wi-Fi 7 at same time as Intel, as well as Qualcomm, Broadcom, and MediaTek
• in other words, this Intel announcement is just another Pat Gelsinger press release

The Mercedes page, link here: thee EQE electric sedan is as profitable as the E-Class --

• has only just started selling the sedan and apparently it's already as profitable, if not more, than the curent E-Class
• cost, in Germany to the buyer:
• E-Class: under $50,000
• EQE: starts at $70,000
• the "hotter" EQE 43 AMG: over $100,000
• E still stands for "elite"
• Mercedes will build four battery plans in Europe and one in the US
• it will also build the EV SUV in the US

Sempra, per Morgan Stanley:

• Texas heat positioning Sempra very, very well;
• Sempra owns 80% stake in the state's largest utility, Oncor Electric
• some readers tell me that Texas heat is resulting in $5,000 / MWh at peak peeriods (whoo-hoo)
• MS sees a potential for SRE to have a ten-cent beat
• the best thing SRE ever did was diversify out of California
• second best thing: partner with Mexico 
  

Streaming: link here. Streaming wars.

• Warner Bros. Discovery begins house-cleaning this month, August, 2022
• already CNN+ was scuttled just after one month of operation
• expect big layoffs at CNN
• TBS "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" has just been canceled
• big changes could also come to HBO Max streaming service
• one possibility: HBO Max being folded into a combined entity along with Discovery+.

Streaming: link here. Streaming wars.

• Apple TV+ gaining traction; link here.
• and, here.
  

Personal note:

• Hulu seems to be a real winner
• even Roku may be seeing its end not too far in front of its headlights

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. Full disclaimer at tabbed link.

All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.

IRS Changes For Inherited IRAs -- We Will Get Back To This Later -- August 1, 2022

Link here to The WSJ.

The rules on inherited IRAs were most recently changed in the 2019 Secure Act, which introduced a new 10-year payout rule for inherited accounts. The previous rule said those who inherited an IRA, Roth IRA or 401(k) could spread out withdrawals over their lifetime.

Many tax professionals interpreted the new 10-year rule to mean that these heirs could wait until the 10th year before taking any payouts, and that is what the IRS said in a May 2021 revision to Publication 590-B, a 69-page guide to IRA distributions. But then, in February, the IRS issued new guidance that would require heirs to take annual withdrawals in cases where the original owner died on or after his required beginning date for taking distributions. 

Briefly, The WSJ says these are the new rules:

Instead, the new IRS guidance would require heirs subject to the 10-year rule to take annual withdrawals from the accounts during that period if the original owner died on or after his or her “required beginning date” for payouts. Under current law, that’s April 1 after the year in which the IRA owner turns 72.

For example, say that a 50-year-old inherits a traditional IRA from her 77-year-old mother, who died early this year. According to the new rules, this heir must take annual IRA payouts based on her life expectancy as prescribed in IRS Pub. 590-B. Then she must withdraw the remainder when she’s 60. (She could, of course, take larger withdrawals earlier.)

Four New Permits; Two Permits Canceled; Two DUCs Reported As Completed -- August 1, 2022

WTI: $94.07.

Natural gas: $8.213.

Four new permits, #39117 - #39120, inclusive:

• Operators: Oasis (3); Crescent Point Energy
• Field: Todd  (Williams); Blue Ridge (Williams)
• Comments:
• Crescent Point Energy has a permit for a permit for a CPEUSC Szarka well in lot 1 section 2-158-100, 
• to be sited 265 FNL and 385 FEL;
• Oasis has permits for three Osprey wells in SWSE 23-154-101; 
• to be sited between 677 FLS and 743 FSL and 1411 FEL;

Two permits canceled:

• CLR: a Chloe permit in Williams County, and a Pasadena Federal permit in McKenzie County;

Two producing wells (DUCs) reported as completed:

• 38553, 82, CPEUSC Pankake 6-6-7-157N-99W-MBH, Dublin, no production data,
  
• 36245, 195, BR, Maverick 2D MBH, Dimmick Lake, no production data,