Head-To-Head Review: Chesapeake Energy (EXE) and Its Peers

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 peers? We will compare Chesapeake Energy to related businesses based on the strength of its earnings, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Dividends

Chesapeake Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. 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 10.5% and pay out 115.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Chesapeake Energy lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Volatility & Risk

Chesapeake Energy has a beta of 0.46, meaning that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chesapeake Energy’s peers have a beta of -14.34, meaning that their average stock price is 1,534% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Chesapeake Energy and its peers’ 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	-2.96%	2.60%	6.52%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Chesapeake Energy and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chesapeake Energy	0	3	4	1	2.75
Chesapeake Energy Competitors	2174	11701	16257	634	2.50

Chesapeake Energy presently has a consensus target price of $101.71, suggesting a potential upside of 3.00%. As a group, “Crude petroleum & natural gas” companies have a potential upside of 20.72%. Given Chesapeake Energy’s peers higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Chesapeake Energy has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Chesapeake Energy and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chesapeake Energy	$8.72 billion	$2.42 billion	60.96
Chesapeake Energy Competitors	$10.73 billion	$1.07 billion	17.14

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.9% of Chesapeake Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.5% of shares of all “Crude petroleum & natural gas” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Chesapeake Energy shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.6% of shares of all “Crude petroleum & natural gas” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

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

Chesapeake Energy Company Profile

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.