Exxon Mobil 1Q profit up 17 pct, Wall Street expected more

Its shares fell 2.6 percent in premarket trading.

As expected, margins at the company's refining operations dragged heavily on the bottom line as the big jump in prices on refined products such as gasoline, while a menace to consumers, failed to keep pace with the rapid increase in crude prices.

Lower production to start the year hurt too.

Exxon Mobil, based in Irving, Texas, said earnings for the first three months of the year rose to $10.9 billion, or $2.03 per share, up from $9.3 billion, or $1.62 per share, a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for a slightly larger profit of $2.13 per share.

Revenue rose to $116.8 billion from $87.2 billion a year earlier. Analysts were looking for higher revenue of about $124 billion.

Given record oil prices, some had speculated Exxon Mobil would top its own record for the biggest quarterly profit for a U.S. company. But the latest results fell short of the record $11.7 billion profit Exxon Mobil earned in the final quarter of 2007.

Its shares fell $2.41, or 2.6 percent, to $90.66 in premarket trading.

Exxon Mobil said earnings at its exploration and production, or upstream, business rose 45 percent to $8.8 billion, lifted by higher oil and natural gas prices. Increased natural gas production was more than offset by lower crude volumes.