NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. are lower by 1.52% to $89.63 in pre-market trading on Thursday, as the commodity petrochemicals manufacturer and marketer will have to keep its Torrance, CA refinery closed while investigators look into what caused the explosion that injured four workers, Reuters reports. Just before 9 a.m. PST an explosion, which the Los Angeles Times reports was equivalent to a 1.7 magnitude earthquake, and fire tore through the refinery. Torrance Fire Captain Steve Deuel told Reuters they haven't found evidence of foul play. Exclusive Report: Jim Cramer's Best Stocks for 2015 "All personnel have been accounted for. Four contractors have been taken to Long Beach Medical Center for evaluation for minor injuries," Reuters noted Exxon said in a statement after the blast. Another factor that could be driving Exxon Mobil's stock down this morning is yesterday's announcement that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway pulled its $3.7 billion investment in the company as a result of the continuing decline in oil prices. Oil prices have fallen more than 50% since June as a result of the global over supply. Prices dropped further in November after OPEC announced it had no intentions of cutting its production rate despite the supply glut. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates EXXON MOBIL CORP as a Buy with a ratings score of B. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate EXXON MOBIL CORP (XOM) a BUY. This is driven by a few notable strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strongest point has been its strong cash flow from operations. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: Regardless of the drop in revenue, the company managed to outperform against the industry average of 20.6%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 17.9%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share. In its most recent trading session, XOM has closed at a price level that was not very different from its closing price of one year earlier. This is probably due to its weak earnings growth as well as other mixed factors. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year. EXXON MOBIL CORP's earnings per share declined by 18.3% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. We feel it is likely to report a decline in earnings in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, EXXON MOBIL CORP increased its bottom line by earning $7.60 versus $7.37 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 53.1% in earnings ($3.56 versus $7.60). The change in net income from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry average, but is less than that of the S&P 500. The net income has decreased by 21.3% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, dropping from $8,350.00 million to $6,570.00 million. Net operating cash flow has decreased to $7,499.00 million or 26.53% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing the cash generation rate to the industry average, the firm's growth is significantly lower. You can view the full analysis from the report here: XOM Ratings Report
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