Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) is set to report earnings on Wednesday morning before the opening bell. The natural gas giant has remained of interest to investors even if the stock has largely been range bound in the post-Aubrey McClendon era.
The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters are $0.44 earnings per share and $4.9 billion in revenues. These estimates loom in news of Chesapeake swapping land rights with RKI Exploration and expanding its operations in Wyoming. Estimates for the following quarter are $0.45 earnings per share and $4.86 billion in revenues.
At $26.07, its 52-week range is $22.63 to $29.92 and its consensus price target from analysts is $32.21. The stock is up over 8% since the start of the year, Chesapeake’s shares have been weak technically since mid-July. After breaking under the 50-day moving average in July, the stock price has bounced three days in a row ahead of earnings off of its longer-term 200-day moving average. The current 50-day moving average would be considered resistance on the upside at $27.92 and the 200-day moving average is currently at $25.81.
Chesapeake currently trades at just under 11 times expected 2015 earnings. One word of warnings for any company that has been involved in restructurings and involved in divesting properties and acquiring properties — Chesapeake’s numbers may not necessarily be reflective of its purchases in Wyoming and elsewhere or its plan to repurchase the outstanding preferred shares of its subsidiary CHK Utica LLC.
With so much action going on with Chesapeake in its current transactions, it might be hard for analysts to come to an accurate conclusion given all the moving parts needed to accurately predict the company’s earnings.
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