Exxon Mobil profits down 66 percent, missing estimates

As oil prices in the second quarter retreated to about half of what they were a year ago, many observers were watching to see whether Exxon Mobil's (XOM) profits would also be halved. It seems the answer to that is a resounding yes as the oil giant's profit tumbled 66 percent, missing Wall Street estimates by a mile.

Analysts had been expecting Exxon Mobil to report a second-quarter profit of $1.02 a share, half of last year's $2.03 EPS, on sales of $71.3 billion, according to Thomson Reuters estimates. The oil giant reported earnings of 84 cents per share, excluding items, not even coming near those projections. Exxon didn't even manage to post better earnings than in the first quarter when oil prices were about 35 percent lower than the second, something BP (BP), for example, had accomplished.