Why BP Is Not Toyota

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- One thing has become especially clear watching the BP BP saga over the last two-and-a-half months: BP isn't Toyota. The British oil giant is far removed from the consumer in its dirty business of exploring, accessing and selling oil, and its public perception has relatively little impact on its business. But we've been so deeply engaged in the story of the Macondo oil spill -- and its environmental and economic impact on the Gulf -- that most of us have mistakenly translated that consumer outrage into perception of share value, as we did with Toyota TM and even Goldman Sachs GS. The public just doesn't matter much in the pollution business, which to be quite frank, is the business of BP. And the recent quarter report proves this. It might also prove just how good a value BP shares, and many of the other integrated oil companies still to report this week, may still be. It was clear that Tony Haywood wasn't going to survive the year-end as the BP CEO -- he had made too many mistakes in the handling of the Gulf oil spill. But it is wrong to assume that the change was made in an effort to shore up their public relations. BP has shown few tangible effects from a public perception as bad as any ever seen in the corporate world. Indeed, their second-quarter report showed an increase in revenues, from an estimated consensus of $72.6 billion to a reported $75.9 billion, a monumental and ignored $3 billion beat. To read the rest, head over to TheStreet.com