Chevron Earnings Surprise the Street as Oil Price Falls

Chevron posted better-than-expected adjusted earnings and revenue in its third quarter. (James MacDonald/Bloomberg)

Key Points

• Chevron posts better-than-expected third-quarter earnings.
• But profit falls to $3.54 billion from $4.49 billion a year earlier, driven by lower crude oil prices.
• Total revenue climbs to $49.73 billion in the quarter, surpassing forecasts of $47.23 billion.

Chevron is weathering a slide in the price of oil better than Wall Street expected, its latest results show.

For the third quarter, Chevron’s adjusted earnings of $1.85 a share topped the $1.71 analysts had anticipated, according to FactSet. Total revenue climbed to $49.73 billion in the quarter, surpassing forecasts of $47.23 billion, even though the price of oil has dropped about 13% on the year to a recent $65 per barrel.

Earnings totaled $3.5 billion in the quarter, down from $4.5 billion last year.

The company’s oil and gas production in the third quarter surged 21% to a record 4.1 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, largely due to its acquisition of oil producer Hess and higher production in Kazakhstan.

Chevron shares were up 2.8% in early trading.

The company plans to stick to its spending plans even if oil falls into the $50s, said CFO Eimear Bonner in an interview with Barron’s.

“I can’t see us making any major changes to the program we have,” she said. “We’re positioned to be resilient through low prices.”

Bonner pointed out that the company has been able to increase its cash flow even at lower oil prices because it has gotten more efficient at oil production. Chevron is also in the process of cutting 15% to 20% of its workforce.

“Underlying, there are encouraging signs of growth…and a financial framework that looks reasonably well adjusted to a potentially lower oil macro in 2026,” wrote Citi analyst Alastair Syme.

The company has achieved several of its goals in 2025, including pumping out more than one million barrels of oil a day from the Permian Basin and finalizing its deal to acquire Hess. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said that the Hess integration is “progressing well.”

The company held its pace of share buybacks steady at $2.6 billion in the quarter after reducing it earlier this year.

Bonner said the company will give more updates, and financial projections out to 2030, at an investor update on Nov. 12. One area where Chevron could make a splash is in its nascent power business.

The company has said it is working on plans to build power plants that could power AI data centers. Investors will also be watching closely to see if Chevron changes its buyback policy too. Shareholder returns are one of the main reasons to buy the stock, given the company’s 4.4% dividend yield.

Shares of peer Exxon Mobil declined 0.1% on Friday after its also reported earnings. Exxon posted lower profit in its third quarter, citing weaker crude prices and higher costs.

Write to Avi Salzman at avi.salzman@barrons.com and Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com