Over $200 billion in profits. That’s how much the world's top energy firms are expected to earn in 2022. U.S. energy companies Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) led the way, with these two oil behemoths earning close to $100 billion last year, according to estimates. Flush with this cash, they delivered shareholders unprecedented returns through dividends and share buybacks in 2022. Here's the good news. . .the buoyant earnings and shareholder returns are set to roll through 2023! While oil companies' profits may slow a bit to $158 billion in 2023, that amount would still be well above the previous record for profits in 2011. Oil companies' record profits allowed them to cut their combined debt to just $100 billion, a 15-year low. Net debt had hit an all-time high of around $270 billion in 2020 when they borrowed heavily to weather the Covid-19 pandemic. This payoff of debt is one main reason 2023 will be another banner year for shareholder returns in the energy sector. Exxon and Chevron plan a 10% increase in capital investments this year. However, inflated prices for oil and gas combined with lower debt totals will still leave plenty of room for increasing payouts to their shareholders. Already, ExxonMobil has expanded its share buyback program twice in 2022. It will spend $50 billion by 2024. The latest expansion, announced in December, was an annual increase of 11%. The big shareholder returns and elevated energy prices have already been a boon to investors, lifting the companies’ share prices to new highs in 2022. Exxon’s stock closed the year at around $110 a share, up 80% since the end of 2021. Chevron’s stock rose 53% in 2021, closing at about $180 a share. It will be interesting to see what the companies report in their full-year results. Chevron reports its full-year results on January 27, while ExxonMobil reports on January 31. The stocks are up 3.8% and 6.6% respectively so far in 2023. I expect the outlook from the companies' executives will be buoyant as there is little economic slowdown so far and China is on the path to a full economic reopening in 2023. The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently forecast China's reopening would boost oil demand in 2023 to a new record high! It forecast demand for crude oil could rise 1.9 million barrels a day to reach a record 101.7 million barrels per day. It’s not surprising that Reuters reports that investors have piled back into oil futures and options at the fastest rate for more than two years as concerns about a global business cycle downturn have eased. Tony Daltorio Editor @ Wall Street Spy Tesla Reveals Secret Master Plan: Tesla’s founder is just days away from revealing his CONFIDENTIAL Master Plan 3.0. You could’ve earned 1,766% - 24,017% profits investing after he released Master Plan Part 1 & 2. Now it’s time for you to BUY these 5 stocks – before Elon reveals everything. Click here for details. Top Investment Ideas Goldman Sachs Top 3 Energy Stocks Energy remains one of the hottest sectors in the market right now, with Bloomberg recently reporting that “energy stocks will be hot again in 2023”. Some of Wall Street's top analysts are saying investors could make money hand over fist this year with energy stocks. That's due to a lack of exploration for new oil and gas fields over recent years, as well as China's reopening, leading to tight markets. Warren Buffett's Top 5 for 2023 Since taking the reins of Berkshire Hathaway decades ago, Buffett has nearly doubled the average annual total return of the broad-based S&P 500, including dividends (20.1% versus 10.5%). And 2022 was no different. While the S&P 500 got slammed 20% – Berkshire Hathaway’s stock rose 4%. That’s why it’s good to know what the Oracle of Omaha will do in 2023. According to 13F filings, his top 5 plays are Apple (AAPL), Chevron (CVX), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) and his own company too: Berkshire Hathaway. Top 5 Overnight Trades of 2023: Discover the NAMES and TICKERS of the top overnight trades for big profits. Just $5k invested per trade could multiply to $40,950! And it’s completely possible with these fast 3-hour trades. Should You Buy These Warren Buffet Stocks? One pearl of investment wisdom from Warren Buffet is that he says investors should be “fearful when other are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” And true to his word, many stocks got hammered last year, but Buffett used the selloff as an opportunity to buy stocks. One stock he bought heavily – and is now one of Buffett's largest positions – is Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM). Another is the oil and gas company, Occidental Petroleum (OXY). What No One Tells You About Jerome Powell Fed chairman Jerome Powell says he is serious about crushing inflation. Here’s the situation in a nutshell – the Federal Reserve “over-loosened” and caused massive inflation. Now they need to destroy demand in order to get it back under control. Destroying demand is a polite way of saying the Fed wants to cause a recession. But there are ways to outperform the market averages. |