Topic: Growth Stocks

CHESAPEAKE ENERGY $25.35 – New York symbol CHK

CHESAPEAKE ENERGY $25.35 (New York symbol CHK; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (405-848-8000; www.chkenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 665.8 million; Market cap: $16.9 billion; Dividend yield: 1.4%) is one of the largest U.S.-based oil and natural gas explorers and producers. Its production mix is 72% gas and 28% oil.

Chesapeake’s shares have nearly doubled since mid- 2012, when activist investor Carl Icahn bought a stake in the firm. Icahn, who has a history of pushing companies to make changes that raise shareholder value, subsequently replaced four of Chesapeake’s eight board members with his nominees. The company also pushed out controversial co-founder, CEO and chairman Aubrey K. McClendon.

The company continues to restructure by selling non-essential properties and assets. That lets it pay down debt and focus on areas with strong potential.

Most recently, the company set up its oilfield services division as a separate publicly traded firm. In June 2014, Chesapeake handed out shares in this new company, called Seventy Seven Energy, as a taxdeferred dividend. The new stock trades on New York under the symbol SSE.

Chesapeake’s $11.5 billion of debt is a high, but manageable, 68% of its market cap. It also holds cash of $1.5 billion, or $2.29 a share, and expects to get another $700 million from asset sales by the end of this year.

The company’s daily production averaged 632,000 barrels of oil equivalent in the quarter ended June 30, 2014, up 2.6% from 616,000 a year ago. Cash flow per share rose 3.5%, to $2.05 from $1.98.

The stock trades at just 3.1 times its annual cash flow of $8.20 a share, based on the latest quarter.

Chesapeake Energy is a buy.

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