As I've written in the past, Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) CEO Aubrey McClendon has come under some well-deserved fire for his high compensation in the face of poor results and a declining stock price. He was paid a one-time $75 million bonus at the end of 2008 -- suspicious timing given that the stock had lost most of its value in recent months and Mr. McClendon had lost his entire stake in the company to margin calls.

The company also made the extremely unusual decision to use $12.1 million of company money to buy some of McClendon's collectible maps to decorate the company's offices.

Continue reading Chesapeake Energy CEO feebly defends himself

Chesapeake Energy CEO feebly defends himself originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Chesapeake CEO faces heat on pay package

Chesapeake CEO faces heat on pay package originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Chesapeake retains CEO Aubrey McClendon originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This oil trade takes the cake.

At the zenith of the speculative bubble in the oil patch -- when crude hit $147 per barrel in July -- you had everyone from T. Boone Pickens to Prince Alaweed touting $200-per-barrel oil by the end of the year.

Crude is now trading around $40 -- down $107 per barrel in less than six months. Unbelievable!

And this latest drop comes after OPEC voted to cut daily production by an eye-popping 4.2 billion barrels per day.

Looks like the world is awash in crude oil.

Needless to say, those euphoric longs in the oil stocks got destroyed. Most energy stocks lost 50% to 70% of their value during the course of the sell-off in crude.

And remember those television commercials with T. Boone and Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) CEO Aubrey McClendon pushing for the expansion of natural gas?

Well, natural gas prices are down 60% from their mid-year highs.

If you put money into T. Boone's Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE) as recently as September, when the stock was trading at $20, you now own Mr. Pickens' vision for $5.

Continue reading 2008 Trades Gone Bad #5: The peak oil trade

2008 Trades Gone Bad #5: The peak oil trade originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Energy stocks are getting hammered today, thanks in no small part to renewed demand concerns following the Labor Department's gruesome nonfarm payrolls report. Natural-gas concern Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) is blazing the path lower, with the shares hitting a new 5-year low of $9.86 earlier today.

In fact, CHK has been reeling since late November, when the commodity firm filed a shelf registration to issue $2 billion worth of shares in a bid to raise cash. The move sparked anxiety among investors about share dilution, and it also raised questions about Chesapeake's liquidity position. In response to the news, brokerage firm Calyon Securities on Wednesday slashed the stock's rating from Buy to Underperform, and cut its price target from $41 to $15.

Other analysts are concerned, too; Phil Weiss of Argus Research told Reuters today that "the stock could easily go to $2 a share on fear and panic." Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon asserted yesterday that his company is "in excellent position to weather the current difficult economic situation in the U.S.," but it remains to be seen whether this comment will be sufficient to soothe an increasingly emotional market.

Plus, CHK looks highly vulnerable to more downgrades in the near future. Zacks reports a staggering 16 Strong Buy ratings from analysts, along with one Buy, six Holds, and absolutely no Sells. Any further negative notes from brokerage firms could potentially smack the shares deeper into single-digit territory.

Elizabeth Harrow is an analyst and financial writer in the research department at Schaeffer's Investment Research. She is featured in the video series Schaeffer's Daily Q&A on SchaeffersResearch.com.

Chesapeake Energy plunges to five-year low as dilution, demand concerns weigh heavy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.