Contrasting Chesapeake Energy (EXE) & Its Competitors

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) is one of 286 publicly-traded companies in the “Crude petroleum & natural gas” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Chesapeake Energy to similar businesses based on the strength of its risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Chesapeake Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Chesapeake Energy pays out 142.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Crude petroleum & natural gas” companies pay a dividend yield of 11.0% and pay out 120.2% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Chesapeake Energy lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Chesapeake Energy and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chesapeake Energy	$8.72 billion	$2.42 billion	51.64
Chesapeake Energy Competitors	$12.35 billion	$1.07 billion	-602.70

Chesapeake Energy’s competitors have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Chesapeake Energy. Chesapeake Energy is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Chesapeake Energy and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chesapeake Energy	6.07%	2.74%	2.08%
Chesapeake Energy Competitors	-3.61%	7.68%	6.82%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.9% of Chesapeake Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.3% of shares of all “Crude petroleum & natural gas” companies are held by institutional investors. 58.0% of Chesapeake Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.9% of shares of all “Crude petroleum & natural gas” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Chesapeake Energy has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chesapeake Energy’s competitors have a beta of -13.27, indicating that their average share price is 1,427% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Chesapeake Energy and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chesapeake Energy	0	2	3	1	2.83
Chesapeake Energy Competitors	2147	11590	16189	623	2.50

Chesapeake Energy presently has a consensus price target of $99.20, suggesting a potential upside of 18.58%. As a group, “Crude petroleum & natural gas” companies have a potential upside of 28.90%. Given Chesapeake Energy’s competitors higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Chesapeake Energy has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Summary

Chesapeake Energy beats its competitors on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Chesapeake Energy

Expand Energy Corporation is an independent natural gas producer principally in the United States. Expand Energy Corporation, formerly known as Chesapeake Energy Corporation, is based in OKLAHOMA CITY.