Exxon Mobil earnings come up a little short

The world's largest oil company, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), reported its second quarter earnings this morning, and the oil giant came up a little short this quarter. Analysts had been expecting to see the company post earnings of $1.96 per share, but the actual numbers came in at only $1.83 despite higher than expected revenue.

The stock has been trading down between 1 and 2% in the premarket in reaction to the lower earnings despite the fact that the company outperformed revenue estimates. Analysts had been predicting that the company would be showing $97.6 billion in revenue during the quarter while the company was actually able to achieve revenues of $98.4 billion. But earnings are what really counts, and it looks like Wall Street is going to push the stock lower at the open.

The main culprit behind the weaker than expected quarter was lower natural gas prices which negatively impacted the company's earnings.

The company is going to be hosting its quarterly conference call today starting at 11 AM EDT and we will be able to get a better insight into the quarterly numbers at that time. We are going to be liveblogging this mornings conference call in its entirety so be sure to check back for live, up to the minute action.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer. DISCLOSURE: Mr. Fowlkes owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that include holdings in XOM.