Chesapeake Energy sunk to a $4.69 billion net loss in the third quarter but still manged to beat analysts earnings expectations.
The company reported on Wednesday that its third quarter net income available to stockholders dropped to $4.69 billion, a significant slide from the $169 million in net income booked in the year ago quarter.
Oklahoma-based Chesapeake took a $44 million charge for restructuring and other termination costs, a $4.51 billion impairment on its oil and gas properties and a $66 million impairment tied to fixed assets.
Third quarter adjusted net income fell to a loss of $83 million, or a loss of $0.05 per diluted share, down from an adjusted income of $251 million in the third quarter of last year.
Analysts had expected the company to post a loss of $0.13 per share, Dow Jones Business News said.
Third quarter revenue fell to $2.89 billion, missing analyst forecast of $3.02 billion.
Cash flow provided by operating activities plummeted to $318 million from $1.18 billion a year ago.
Operating cash flow dropped to $476 million compared to $1.29 billion in the third quarter of last year.
The company reported a net loss of $4.63 billion, a steep fall from $692 million in net income a year ago.
Third quarter EBITDA fell to a loss of $4.96 billion from a gain of $1.87 billion in the year ago period, with adjusted third quarter EBITDA falling to $560 million from $1.23 billion in the prior year quarter.
The company’s third quarter daily production jumped 3 percent to 667,000 barrels of oil equivalent, with production consisting of 114,100 barrels of oil, 2.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 76,200 barrels of NGL.
Chesapeake increased its total 2015 production guidance to between 670,000 to 680,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a 6 percent to 8 percent boost over its 2014 results.
The company also reduced its estimated total capital expenditures for 2015 to $3.4 to $3.9 billion, down from its previous guidance of $3.5 to $4.0 billion.
Chesapeake had $5.7 billion in cash and undrawn credit facilities as of September 30.
“While the current price environment presents many challenges for our industry, we will continue focusing on our capital and operating cost efficiency, enhancing our cash flow and financial flexibility and optimizing our base production,” Chesapeake Energy CEO Doug Lawler said.
