| Chesapeake Weakness An 'Opportunity' For Bulls, Wunderlich Says | |
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Following new reports that Chesapeake Energy Corp (NYSE: CHK) subsidiaries are in the process of selling $840 million of Anadarko Basin assets, Wunderlich analyst Jason Wangler took a look at Chesapeake’s continuing efforts to simplify and improve its balance sheet.
Wangler believes that opportunistic buyers of Chesapeake’s stock at recent low prices will be rewarded in the long run.
Balance sheet overhaul
The sale of the Anadarko Basin assets to privately-held FourPoint Energy LLC could potentially reduce Chesapeake’s CHK Cleveland Tonkawa LLC liability. Although a price of $40,000 per flowing boe is well below the price the assets would have fetched a year ago, Wangler believes the move is bullish for the stock, as it provides a much-needed boost to the company’s balance sheet without sacrificing much of the upside potential in Chesapeake’s core assets.
Cash issues
One of the major fears in the market surrounding Chesapeake is that the company will continue to out-spend its cash. However, Wangler does not see cash as an immediate concern.
“Considering that the company has $3 billion in cash and an undrawn $4 billion revolver, we believe these concerns are overblown; but, more importantly, as the year moves on we look for CHK to be near cash flow breakeven even in a weak commodity environment, though admittedly production will decline with lower activity,” Wangler explains.
Outlook
Wunderlich sees Chesapeake’s current depressed share price as a major buying opportunity. The stock is currently trading at just 3x 2016 estimated price/cash flow per share (P/CFPS), about half the 6x multiple of its peers.
Wunderlich has a Buy rating on Chesapeake and a $24 target for the stock.
Latest Ratings for CHK
Date | Firm | Action | From | To |
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Jun 2015 | Sterne Agee | Upgrades | Underperform | Buy | Jun 2015 | Sterne Agee | Upgrades | Underperform | Buy | Jun 2015 | UBS | Downgrades | Neutral | Sell |
View More Analyst Ratings for CHK
View the Latest Analyst Ratings
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Chesapeake Energy Corporation
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DEVELOPMENT STAGE |
CODE : CHK |
ISIN : US1651671075 |
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ProfileMarket IndicatorsVALUE : Projects & res.Press releasesAnnual reportRISK : Asset profileContact Cpy |
Chesapeake Energy is a producing company based in United states of america. Chesapeake Energy develops natural gas and oil in USA. Its main asset in development is DEEP BOSSIER in USA. Chesapeake Energy is listed in Germany and in United States of America. Its market capitalisation is US$ 83.7 billions as of today (€ 78.2 billions). Its stock quote reached its lowest recent point on March 13, 2020 at US$ 0.12, and its highest recent level on November 18, 2022 at US$ 99.94. Chesapeake Energy has 909 242 558 shares outstanding. |