Did Buffett Miss Out When Buying Exxonmobil?

By Tyler Crowe – Nov 21, 2013 at 4:18PM

NYSE: XOM

ExxonMobil

Market Cap

$480B

Today's Change

(0.02%) $0.02

Current Price

$121.05

Price as of April 24, 2024, 4:00 p.m. ET

Its hard to argue against Warren Buffett buying Exxonmobil, but there is one big oil company that may have been a better purchase: Chevron.

After selling its stake in Exxonmobil (XOM 0.02%) almost 30 years ago; Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B -0.68%) is reunited with the worlds 2nd largest company after Berkshire picked up $3.4 billion worth of shares in Exxon over the past couple of quarters. Not so say that Exxonmobil is a poor decision, but it may not be the best purchase in the big oil space today. Instead, Mr. Buffett should have looked at Chevron (CVX 0.44%) instead.

There are three reasons that Chevron is a better pick than Exxonmobil today. One of those reasons is that Chevron generates a much better return per barrel of oil equivalent than Exxon and all of the other members of big oil today. The reason for that is because Chevron produciton mix is much more concentrated on oil than on natural gas like Exxon and other big oil players BP (BP 0.13%) and Total (TTE -0.32%). Tune into the video below to learn the two other reasons that Chevon is a better buy today than Exxonmobil.

Fool contributor Aimee Duffy has no position in any stocks mentioned. Fool contributor Tyler Crowe owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway. You can follow them on Twitter @TMFDuffy and @TylerCroweFool, respectively.

The Motley Fool recommends Berkshire Hathaway, Chevron, and Total SA. (ADR). The Motley Fool owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.