Chervon profit soars; investors unimpressed

SAN RAMON, Calif. — Chevron said Friday its second-quarter earnings soared to a new high, but that wasn't enough to satisfy investors whose expectations have been raised by the oil industry's recent run of eye-popping profit.

Chevron earned $4.35 billion, or $1.97 per share, for the three months ended in June. That represented an 18 percent increase from net income of $3.68 billion at the same time last year.

It marks the largest three-month profit in Chevron's 127-year history, eclipsing earnings of $4.14 billion registered in last year's final quarter after energy prices spiked in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Revenue for the period was $53.5 billion, an 11 percent increase.

As mammoth as it might appear to motorists weary of $3-per-gallon gas prices, Chevron's profit let down Wall Street. The average earnings estimate among analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had been $2.21 per share.

"It was still like they were printing money. They just weren't printing as much as everybody thought," said industry analyst Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer.

The company's shares fell $1.68 to close at $66.05 Friday.

Chevron would have come closer to hitting analysts' target if not for a $300 million charge stemming from the company's uninsured costs for equipment and oil wells ravaged by last year's hurricanes.

Earlier this week, Exxon Mobil, BP, ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell reported second-quarter profits ranging between $5.18 billion and $10.36 billion.

Combined with Chevron, the companies earned $34.6 billion in the second quarter, 36 percent more than the same period last year.