Exxon Mobil Corporation engages in the exploration, production, transportation, and sale of crude oil and natural gas. It also involves in the manufacture, transportation, and sale of petroleum products. The company manufactures and markets commodity petrochemicals, including olefins, aromatics, polyethylene and polypropylene plastics, and other specialty products. XOM pretty much operates in all parts of the world such as United States, Canada, Europe, Africa, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Russia/Caspian region, and South America. Exxon Mobil Corporation was founded in 1870 and is based in Irving, Texas.
XOM is a part of the dividend aristocrats, S&P500 index, and DJIA index. It has been raising its dividend for last 28 years. The latest increase in dividend was 4.8% in April 2010. My objective here is to analyze XOM to determine fair price range for buying and how will it rate on my scale of risk-to-dividends.
Trend Analysis
Here I am looking at trends for past 10 years of corporation’s revenue and profitability. These parameters should show consistently growth trends. The trend charts and data summary are shown in images below. continue reading rest of the article….
One the benefit that dividend investors have is lower tax percentage (i.e. 15%) on qualified dividends. In case of lower tax brackets, the qualified dividends are not even subject to taxes. In 2003, President Bush signed into law the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act. One of provision in this law was to reduced the tax rates on certain dividends (known as qualified dividends) to 15% for the highest income earners. Furthermore, this provision are to expire at the end of 2010 if Congress fails to renew or modify. So far, it has not been extended. 
LOWE’s Company (LOW) is a home improvement retailer. It focuses on retail do-it-yourself (DIY) customers and do-it-for-me (DIFM) customers who utilize LOW’s installation services, and commercial business customers. Its product lines include products and services for home decorating, maintenance, repair, remodeling, and the maintenance of commercial buildings. It has approximately 1650 retail stores in US and Canada. 
The wheat is getting separated from the chaff. While big names were cutting dividends to manage their debt, there are slew of mid to small cap companies that are continuing to show resilience, and continuing to show how to manage sustainable and profitable business even in recession. Many companies are continuing to make sure shareholders have a stake in the business by increasing dividends. Among these dividend growers, following are three companies that have received by attention for the dividend increase.
Brown & Brown, Inc. (BRO) and its subsidiaries, provides insurance and reinsurance products and services, as well as risk management, employee benefit administration and managed health care services. It is a diversified insurance agency and brokerage firm, markets and sells to its customer’s insurance products and services, primarily in the property and casualty area. BRO has operations in 219 locations and in 37 states.
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