While it’s still too early to declare that Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) has completed a 180-degree turn, there are definite signs of progress. The latest is the company’s first-quarter earnings announcement.

Chesapeake posted an adjusted net loss per share of $0.10, in line with the consensus estimate, and net revenues of $1.95 billion, well below the consensus estimate of $2.55 billion. But neither of these data points is responsible for the 11% jump in Chesapeake’s share price at the opening bell Thursday morning.

The proximate cause for the jump was the company’s announced sale of 42,000 net acres in the so-called STACK play in Oklahoma. The acronym stands for Sooner Trend Anadarko Basin Canadian and Kingfisher Counties, and the region is one of the top shale plays in the country, and Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE: NFX), the announced buyer of Chesapeake’s acreage, is one of the STACK’s top operators.

Newfield paid $470 million for the acreage, which includes 400 wells producing about 3,800 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day, of which 55% is liquids. As a percentage of Chesapeake’s daily production that amounts to less than 1%. Barron’s cites Citigroup’s analyst who said, “[T]he deal should be very accretive to our valuation metrics. Newfield placed a value of $50mm on the proven and producing reserves and $10k/acre for the undeveloped acreage.”

A year ago, Newfield was paying $4,500 an acre for lease rights in the STACK. Last December, Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) paid Felix Energy approximately $20,000 per surface acre for 80,000 net acres in the STACK that included wells producing nearly 9,000 boe per day. Four years ago, late Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon was paying $400 an acre lease rights. Chesapeake made a nice bit of change on the sale, but Newfield didn’t fare too badly either.

Chesapeake also said that it has either closed or has signed sales agreements valued at about $1.2 billion so far in 2016, and from which the company expects to realize about $950 million in net proceeds.  The net impact to Chesapeake’s production is projected to be a reduction of approximately 35,000 boe per day (about 60% natural gas). That pencils out to around 5% of daily production.

The company still needs help from natural gas pricing. Chesapeake’s first-quarter average realized price for natural gas was $2.29 per thousand cubic feet, compared with the year-ago quarter’s average realized price of $3.67. In mid-April, Chesapeake succeeded in negotiating a delay in its next asset redetermination until June of 2017. Thus, the company won’t see any impairment charges on its properties at least until next March.

While it is still too early to declare Chesapeake’s turnaround, the moves the company has made are beginning to add up. We haven’t even mentioned capital spending, which totaled $365 million in the first quarter compared with $1.49 billion last year, or cost savings, where average per barrel expenses are down 31% year over year.

In the noon hour Thursday, Chesapeake stock traded up about 3.6%, at $5.86 in a 52-week range of $1.50 to $15.76. The consensus price target on the stock is $4.23.

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