Reviewing Chesapeake Energy (EXE) and Its Rivals

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

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	-3.32%	2.56%	6.48%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Chesapeake Energy and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chesapeake Energy	$8.72 billion	$2.42 billion	58.64
Chesapeake Energy Competitors	$10.94 billion	$1.07 billion	16.81

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.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

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

Dividends

Chesapeake Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. 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 10.7% and pay out 117.0% 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets 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	2165	11655	16228	626	2.50

Chesapeake Energy presently has a consensus target price of $99.20, suggesting a potential upside of 4.43%. As a group, “Crude petroleum & natural gas” companies have a potential upside of 23.06%. Given Chesapeake Energy’s competitors higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Chesapeake Energy has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Volatility and 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 competitors have a beta of -14.20, meaning that their average stock price is 1,520% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Chesapeake Energy beats its competitors on 9 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.