Which is better? Code comparsion of performance and style

Question

Recently I run into a discussion over a small piece of code. Could help me which is better, either in performance or coding style? The code is not complete, the question is the use of local cancellationNumber variable.
public String cancelAction(/**/) {
/* some code */
        String cancellationNumber = result.getCancellationNumber();
        if (empty(cancellationNumber)) {
            throw new Exception("Did not receive a cancellation number!");
        return cancellationNumber;
    }or
public String cancelAction(/**/) {
/* some code */
        if (empty(result.getCancellationNumber()) {
            throw new Exception("Did not receive a cancellation number!");
        return result.getCancellationNumber();
    }

Answer 1

Yes, I know profiling can be misleading, also compiler optimization adds to the picture. However seeing the numbers differentially, I think there is still some information, which is faster, even if taking it completely out scope. I didn't paste the code, because it's so trivial. I run the two methods in a loop with same arguments.
With increased loop count, the difference is 6-7%, cancelActionWithLocal being faster. But this can be pointless, I know.
package org.helloprofile;
import static org.helloprofile.Util.empty;
import java.util.Locale;
public class CUT {
    public String cancelActionWithoutLocal(Locale locale, String email, long itineraryId, String confirmationId) throws Exception {
        Result result = new Result();
        if (empty(result.getCancellationNumber())) {
            throw new Exception("Did not receive a cancellation number!");
        return result.getCancellationNumber();
    public String cancelActionWithLocal(Locale locale, String email, long actionId, String confirmationId) throws Exception {
        Result result = new Result();
        String cancellationNumber = result.getCancellationNumber();
        if (empty(cancellationNumber)) {
            throw new Exception("Did not receive a cancellation number!");
        return cancellationNumber;
}Thanks for the comments!