Shares of oil stock bellwether ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) hit a gusher on Friday, rising 4.3% through noon ET after reporting a mixed quarter in which sales greatly underperformed expectations, but profits exceeded them just as greatly.

Heading into its fiscal second-quarter 2022 report, analysts had predicted Exxon would earn $3.74 per share on sales of $132.7 billion. It missed that latter projection, reporting just $115.7 billion in sales, but it crushed the former projection, earning $4.14 per share.  

Increased production, near-record high oil prices and margins, and aggressive cost controls all helped ExxonMobil deliver its most profitable quarter ever, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Earnings for the second quarter of 2022 grew more than 280% year over year. At $17.85 billion in net income, Exxon eclipsed its previous record ($15.91 billion in the second quarter of 2012) by 12%.  

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Source Fool.com