Despite the Coronavirus, Exxon's Balance Sheet Remains Rock Solid
ExxonMobil's (NYSE: XOM) stock has fallen by more than a third so far in 2020, and its yield is up to a historically high 7.7%. There are very real issues facing this energy giant today, which is why the shares are down and the yield is up. But despite the headwinds, it's still managing through a rough period in pretty good form. How's it doing that? It's relying on one of its biggest strengths. Here are some key numbers to show what that means.
There's really no way to sugarcoat what's going on in the energy sector today. With the industry already working through a supply/demand mismatch, the global efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 by effectively shutting down economic activity added a brutal hit to demand. In fact, at one point oil was trading below zero. There were technical reasons for this, but it basically meant that drillers were paying customers to take oil off their hands. Oil prices have recovered materially since that point, but they are still at levels that make it hard for drillers to turn a profit.
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Source Fool.com