For investors, Exxon was a port in the market storm

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Exxon Mobil Corp.’s report today of the biggest-ever quarterly profit for a U.S. company -- $14.8 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30 -- will trigger the usual torrent of curses from consumers.

But the company’s shareholders, large and small, may be more grateful than ever for Exxon’s success: Relatively speaking, the stock has been a good place to hide amid this year’s market meltdown.

The shares, up 40 cents to $75.05 today, are down 20% year to date. That compares with a 33.9% drop in the average energy stock in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, and a 35% decline in the S&P 500 itself.

The selling wave that engulfed Wall Street this month took Exxon down as well. The stock hit a 52-week closing low of $62.35 on Oct. 15.

But buyers swarmed each time the shares dipped to the low-$60s in recent weeks. Even at the depths of the market’s despair, nobody was going to bet against the long-term survival of Exxon.

Still, despite the company’s massive profit take in recent years (a function of its equally massive sales), Exxon’s shares didn’t generate the kind of gains that many smaller energy issues racked up as oil prices soared.

From the end of 2002 through Sept. 30 of this year, the stock was up 122% in price. With dividends, the total return was 150%.

That compares with a 167% price gain for the average S&P 500 energy stock in the same period (with dividends, a 197% return).

Smaller energy companies, however, have fallen much faster than Exxon this year as crude prices have collapsed. Since June 30, Exxon’s shares are down about 15% in price compared with the 39% dive in the average S&P 500 energy issue.

You’d expect all those billions of dollars in profit to provide something of a fortress for Exxon’s investors, and they did.

Of course, with oil prices now cut in half from their peak, Exxon probably won’t be repeating its latest quarterly earnings feat anytime soon. From a public relations standpoint, that may not be such a bad thing.