Exxon Mobil Corp's stocks dipped late Monday to its lowest in 10 years, after Goldman Sachs analyst Neil Mehta disclosed that it was time for stakeholders to sell.
The analyst cited lingering worries that the oil titan is on course to end up miserably below its target price for investment returns.
Exxon's shares faltered 2.6 percent in mid-day sessions to buck the advance in the broader investment market. Exxon was the biggest retreater in the Dow Jones Industrial, which soared 179 points with 22 of 30 components gaining strong support.
Exxon's shares were on track for their 13th straight collapse in the past 14 days. They have crashed 14 percent during that stretch and are headed for its worst settlement since September 2010.
The Goldman Sachs analyst gave the oil giant a rare "Sell" rating, after staying in the Neutral zone for the last three years. Mehta cut his share price target by 18 percent, to $59 from $72.
The DJIA component Exxon missed its modest fourth quarter 2019 earnings per share estimates by $0.04, marking the sixth time in the last nine quarters that the company has fallen short of Wall Street projections.
Exxon's sales were down 6.7 percent year on year to $67.17 billion, adding to a 15 percent decline in the third quarter last year. Annual profits have now collapsed in each of the past four quarters.
With the company frustrating Wall Street analysts with a belt-tightening program to build cash flows during the longest expansion in US history, a heavy 5.60 percent forward dividend yield has failed to attract buyer interest.
Market observers took notice of falling fourth quarter results, with downgrades issued by Cowen and Goldman Sachs. Investors are bracing for more of these declines in the next sessions.
Rival Chevron Corporation has not fared any better during the past years as well, posting a 14.2 percent drop in revenue year on year last week, but the company's shares still hold above critical support at a low level in December last year.
Analysts have also downgraded this stock Monday morning, highlighting increasing sector headwinds that have dragged the Dow Jones's only two energy plays to the bottom of the results list of its key components.
Meanwhile, the selloff has breached support at the 50 percent retracement of the 12-year uptrend, exposing continued downside into the 2010 low, which is resting on the 62 percent retracement -- a level that indicates that the downtrend could end six to eight points below Friday's closing print.
