RBC Capital provided their views on Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:CHK), noting that increased line pressures and well-completion timing could put production at the low end of Q3 guidance.
According to the analysts, stock buybacks were not significant during Q3 related to black-out periods. They estimate the Q3 declared quarterly variable dividend at $2.45/share, up from $1.77/share in Q2.
According to the analysts, the key investor debates are infrastructure and operations logistics in Haynesville and implications for the growth trajectory, early color on the Eagleford sale process, updated hedging with improvements in the back-end of the natural gas forward curve, and the appetite to be aggressive with stock buybacks at current equity valuations.
The analysts raised their Q3 EPS/CFPS estimates by $1.11/$1.09 to $4.27/$7.87 mostly reflecting final benchmark commodity prices that were above their prior natural gas price forecast. Street estimates stand at $4.64/$8.11.