Their 10% profit margin (% of sales) doesn't look too huge. But compare [link|http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=xom:US|XOM]'s Return on Equity (26.4%) versus [link|http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=msft:US|MSFT]'s (19.9%) and [link|http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=wmt:US|WMT]'s (22.1%) and [link|http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=goog:US|GOOG]'s (23.0%). XOM is doing very well - better than many big names out there.

They're not making tiny percentage profits by other measures.

I don't know how their recent RoEs compare to previous times.

Cheers,
Scott.