Exxon stock rout deepens to worst since 2015 after earnings miss

The plunge follows fourth-quarter results that missed expectations on Friday, disappointing investors who had hoped the oil giant would have cashed in more from crude’s rally. Additionally, the Irving, Texas-based company said share buybacks that were halted in 2016 remain suspended.

“It’s a follow up trade from Friday, there’s nothing incremental that’s come out since the earnings call,” said Jason Gammel, a London-based analyst at Jefferies LLC, with a ‘hold’ rating on the stock. “There were pretty weak cash flow numbers. It was a pretty big miss.”

Stock in the world’s biggest oil explorer by market value traded down 4.7% to $80.53 at 1:42 p.m. in New York, compounding Friday’s 5.1% decline. The slump was the driller’s steepest two-day plunge since August 2015. Trading volume exceeded the three-month daily average by 23% at 1:42 p.m. in New York.

Exxon has an “aggressive” growth strategy in each of its upstream, downstream and chemicals businesses that will be detailed to investors on March 7, Jeff Woodbury, Exxon’s vice president of investor relations, said during a call with analysts on Friday. Key to its upstream expansion is a more than 3-Bbbl discovery in Guyana, a ramp up in U.S. shale fields plus recent acquisitions in Mozambique and Papua New Guinea, he said.