Europe’s largest oil company Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS.A) reported second-quarter earnings per ADS (on a current cost of supplies basis, excluding items — the market’s preferred measure) — of $1.42. The bottom line came in ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.31 and dwarfed the year-ago profit of 16 cents per ADS.The Hague-based Shell reported revenues of $$61.8 billion that surged 90.1% from the second-quarter 2020 sales of $32.5 billion.The outperformances were mainly backed by stronger commodity prices.Royal Dutch Shell hiked its quarterly dividend by 38.3% to 24 cents per share and launched a $2 billion stock repurchase program to be completed by the end of 2021. The company’s earnings and cash flows have been steadily improving on the back of higher crude realizations and a recovery in consumption. Royal Dutch Shell PLC Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Royal Dutch Shell PLC price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Royal Dutch Shell PLC QuoteOperational PerformanceUpstream: The segment recorded a profit of $2.5 billion (excluding items) during the quarter, turning around from a loss of $1.5 billion (adjusted) reported in the year-ago period. This primarily reflects the impact of higher oil and gas prices.At $62.53 per barrel, the group’s worldwide realized liquids prices were 155.2% above the year-earlier levels while natural gas prices were up 123.3%.Shell’s upstream volumes averaged 2,262 thousand oil-equivalent barrels per day (MBOE/d), down 6.3% from the year-ago period due to maintenance activities and seasonal impacts. Liquids production totaled 1,558 thousand barrels per day (down 3.2% year over year) and natural gas output came in at 4,082 million standard cubic feet per day (down 12.6%).Oil Products: In this segment, the Anglo-Dutch super-major reported adjusted income of $1.3 billion, 46.1% lower than the year-ago period. The unfavorable comparison was due to higher operating expenses and lower refinery processing. Meanwhile, refinery utilization came in at 76%, up 6% from the June quarter of 2020.Integrated Gas: The unit reported adjusted income of $1.6 billion, jumping from $362 million in the April-June quarter of 2020. Results were primarily impacted by higher realized commodity prices. On a somewhat bearish note, LNG liquefaction volumes decreased 10.4% from the second quarter of 2020 to 7.49 million tons. Meanwhile, the total Integrated Gas production increased 3.8% year over year to 938 MBOE/d.Chemicals: The segment recorded a profit of $670 million (excluding items) during the quarter compared to the year-ago earnings of $206 million on the back of higher realized margins in base chemicals.Financial PerformanceAs of Jun 30, 2021, the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company, which trimmed its payout for the first time since World War II in April last year, had $34.1 billion in cash and $100.1 billion in debt (including short-term debt). Net debt-to-capitalization was approximately 27.7%, down from 32.7% a year ago.You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.During the quarter under review, Shell generated cash flow from operations of $12.6 billion, returned $1.3 billion to its shareholders through dividends and spent $4.4 billion cash on capital projects.The company’s cash flow from operations rocketed 392.3% from the year-earlier level. Meanwhile, the group raked in $9.7 billion in free cash flow during the second quarter, up significantly from a mere $243 million a year ago.GuidanceShell expects third-quarter 2021 upstream volumes of 2,100-2,250 MBOE/d, while Integrated Gas production is expected between 870 MBOE/d and 920 MBOE/d. The company also foresees Oil Products sales volumes of 4,300-5,300 thousand barrels per day, Chemicals sales volumes of 3,600-3,900 thousand tons and refinery utilization in the range of 73-81%.Earnings Schedules of Other Oil SupermajorsAmong the big integrated players, ExxonMobil XOM and Chevron CVX are scheduled to release tomorrow, while continental rival BP plc BP will come up with quarterly numbers early next week. 5 Stocks Set to Double Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2021. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth. Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BP p.l.c. (BP): Free Stock Analysis Report Chevron Corporation (CVX): Free Stock Analysis Report Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM): Free Stock Analysis Report Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research