Market Insider

Chesapeake Energy drops after earnings miss, asset sale plan

A floor crew pull steel pipe out of a natural gas well in the Barnett Shale of Fort Worth, Texas that is owned by Chesapeake Energy Corporation.
Robert Nickelsberg | Getty Images

Shares of Chesapeake Energy fell 3 percent Thursday after its earnings were worse than expected and it raised its asset sales target.

Chesapeake now expects to sell more than $2.0 billion in assets this year, well above the upper end of the prior $1.2 billion to $1.7 billion range. The firm said that it plans to sell "selected" Haynesville Shale acreage, located in northwest Louisiana, according to Reuters.

The second-largest producer of natural gas posted a bigger-than-expected adjusted quarterly loss of 14 cents a share. Total revenue fell more than 50 percent from the same period last year to $1.62 billion and missed estimates of $1.93 billion, according to Reuters. The energy company also raised its full-year production forecast by about 3 percent.

As of Wednesday's close, shares were up 17.5 percent year-to-date but nearly 34 percent lower over the last 12 months.