Asset sales pay off

Article Excerpt

CHESAPEAKE ENERGY $7.08 (New York symbol CHK; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (405-848-8000; www.chk.com; Shares outstanding: 887.4 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion; No dividends paid) continues sell non-core assets to focus on its low-risk, highreturn properties. That has cut its operating costs. The company has also renegotiated unfavourable contracts with pipeline operators. Those moves led the oil producer to a profit of $0.09 a share for the quarter ended September 30, 2016. It lost $0.06 a year earlier. Through its assets sales, Chesapeake has reduced its long-term debt to $8.7 billion from $11.7 billion a year earlier. The company plans to sell more non-core assets to further cut its debt. That should let it quickly raise funds to accelerate drilling when oil and gas prices further rise. Chesapeake Energy is a buy. buy…