ConocoPhillips Profit More Than Doubles as the Broader Market Sells Off

ConocoPhillips said on Thursday that its third-quarter profit more than doubled from a year earlier, and it lifted its dividend. The stock rose. In afternoon trading the shares were up around 1%, an unusual splash of green on a day when a steep selloff in technology shares pulled the major indexes sharply lower.

The profit climbed to $4 billion

ConocoPhillips reported net income of $4.0 billion, or $3.34 a share, for the three months through September. A year earlier it had earned $1.7 billion, or $1.38 a share. Adjusted earnings, which strip out one-time items, rose to $3.9 billion, or $3.27 a share, from $2.0 billion the year before. That landed well ahead of the roughly $3 a share analysts had been looking for. Part of the headline gain came from a one-time tax benefit. The adjusted figure, which leaves such items out, still came close to doubling.

The cash story was the other headline. The company generated $7.2 billion from operations in the quarter and sent $3.4 billion back to shareholders, including $2.4 billion of stock buybacks. It raised its quarterly dividend 11%, to $0.93 a share, with the higher payout due December 1. ConocoPhillips also reaffirmed its plan to return 45% of its operating cash flow to shareholders this year.

Output fell even as profit rose

The gain did not come from pumping more. ConocoPhillips produced 2,302 thousand barrels of oil equivalent a day, down from 2,399 a year earlier. Less oil, more profit. In the release, chief executive Andy O’Brien said the company is “continuing to execute our differential strategy,” the shorthand it uses for wringing cash out of a low-cost production base rather than chasing volume growth.

The shares had been strong into the report. The stock has climbed 34% since early July and now trades below its 52-week high of $154.28, against a low of $79.88 over the same stretch. ConocoPhillips carries a market value of $166 billion, which places it among the larger U.S. oil and gas producers.

Almost nothing else was rising

The gain stood out because so little else was green. In afternoon trading the S&P 500 was down about 4% and the Nasdaq Composite had fallen more than 5%, as investors dumped the chipmakers and data-center names that have carried the market higher this year. A widely watched gauge of expected volatility jumped sharply. The mood was risk-off. The selling has been building for days, and it traces to fresh doubts about whether the industry’s heavy spending on artificial intelligence will pay off. An oil producer posting a doubled profit and a bigger dividend was, for one afternoon, the kind of large-cap name investors still wanted.

For the final quarter of the year, ConocoPhillips guided to production of 2.32 million to 2.36 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, a step up from the quarter it just reported, and left its full-year capital spending plan unchanged. Investors will get the broader market’s closing levels after 4 p.m., and the company’s next dividend arrives December 1.

This is a general-market summary for information only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation regarding any security.