Chesapeake Earnings Miss Forecasts; Shares Fall

Chesapeake Energy reported quarterly earnings and revenue that missed Wall Street's expectations on Tuesday, sending its shares lower in trading after the closing bell.

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After the earnings announcement, the company's shares fell 1 percent in extended-hours trading. (Click here for after-hour quotes.)

The natural gas producer posted first-quarter earnings excluding items of 18cents per share, down from 75 cents a share in the year-earlier period.

Chesapeake reported its net loss narrowed to $71 million, or 11 cents per share, from a loss of $205 million, or 32 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue rose 49 percent to $2.4 billion from $1.61billion a year ago.

Analysts had expected the company to report earnings excluding items of 29 cents a share on $2.75 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

Chesapeake's earnings report follows an announcement earlier in the day from the company that it will split the jobs of chairman and chief executive. It will also bring an early end to a program that grantedCEO Aubrey McClendonstakes in company wells, an arrangement that sparked investor anger and potentially created serious conflicts of interest.

The well program has come under the scrutiny of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissionand the Internal Revenue Service.

Chesapeake, which has broad exposure to natural gas prices, said it would significantly reduce spending on drilling and acreage purchases this year. During the first quarter, Chesapeake's average daily oil and gas output rose 18 percent.