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Monday, November 5, 2007

PetroChina Becomes World's Most Valuable Company

The day after its stock was made available for trading on the exchange in Shanghai, the price nearly tripled, raising the company's valuation to $1 Trillion dollars and making the Chinese energy giant the world's most valuable company. Even though PetroChina has only a quarter of the revenue claimed by Exxon-Mobil (the largest US company, valued at a sneeze-worthy $488 Billion dollars), it is now valued higher than the entire Russian stock market; PetroChina is worth more that Exxon-Mobil and General Electric combined.

However, PetroChina's stock fell more than 8% on Hong Kong's index, and some speculators are classifying this huge valuation (55 times earnings, to be precise) as a stock market bubble; Warren Buffett said two weeks ago that Chinese share prices have risen too fast. Analyst Larry Grace, with Kim Eng Securities Co. in Hong Kong, had this to say:

"Production is static with limited upside for the next three to four years... As for the downstream, the price controls and overall regulatory trend limit the company's earnings."


Image depicts a PetroChina Filling Station; click to enlarge.

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