Exxon Mobil shares rose 3.4% in morning trading.The oil giant swung to a net profit, with adjusted results beating estimates, and reported a more than 80% rise in revenue, although it came up shy of forecasts. Net income was $8.87 billion, or $2.08 a share, after a loss of $20.07 billion, or $4.70 a share, in the year ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to $2.05 from 3 cents, topping the FactSet consensus of $1.94. Total revenue grew 82.6% to $84.97 billion, but was below the FactSet consensus of $85.01 billion. Oil-equivalent production was 3.8 million barrels per day, and rose 2% when excluding entitlement effects, divestments and government mandates. For downstream refining throughput was the highest since 2013, and refining margins improved from the third quarter amid increased transportation demand and easing mobility restrictions.
Separately, the company said it has initiated share repurchases as part of the previously announced buyback program of $10 billion.