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Chesapeake Energy (CHK) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Chesapeake Energy (CHK - Free Report) closed at $74.30 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.57% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.56% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.41%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.35%.

Coming into today, shares of the oil and gas company had lost 9.6% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector lost 8%, while the S&P 500 lost 1.48%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Chesapeake Energy as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.86, down 39.81% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.29 billion, up 38.33% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $6.45 per share and revenue of $4.16 billion. These totals would mark changes of -62.54% and -64.56%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Chesapeake Energy. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 29.48% lower. Chesapeake Energy currently has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

Looking at its valuation, Chesapeake Energy is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 11.35. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 5.23, so we one might conclude that Chesapeake Energy is trading at a premium comparatively.

Also, we should mention that CHK has a PEG ratio of 0.48. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. CHK's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.29 as of yesterday's close.

The Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 226, which puts it in the bottom 11% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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