By MarketNewsVideo Goldcorp Incorporated (GG) maintained its monthly dividend of 5 cents per share. Shareholders of record at the close of business on Thursday, April 18, 2013 will be entitled to receive payment of this dividend on Friday, April 26, 2013. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets
By Tyler Crowe, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
The shale gas revolution in the U.S. has rocked the energy industry like a hurricane, and in its wake there have been a lot of lessons we have learned along the way. With natural gas prices stabilizing and some natural gas producers eking out profits again, it seems as good of a time as ever to reflect on what the boom in natural gas has taught us about the energy space. Let’s look at three lessons that should shape the industry for the next couple years to come.
1. Take a deep breath and pace yourself. We could also call this lesson “Ode to Chesapeake Energy “, because it serves as the quintessential example of what not to do. When horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing proved to be a viable way to access scores of shale gas, exploration and production companies bought exploration leases from anyone within earshot of a shale play. In doing so, they put themselves in a bit of trouble because they broke three crucial rules:
. The U.S. has some inherent disadvantages against global competitors. We have a mature consumer market with relatively high manufacturing costs. Surprisingly, though, the emergence of cheap natural gas has emerged as a strong competitive advantage for the United States. Many might point directly to production increases, but what is just as important is America’s method for pricing natural gas. The U.S. is one of the very few countries in the world that dictates natural gas prices based on a spot price. Much of Europe …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Filed under: Investing
U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning but worries about a resolution to the banking crisis in Cyprus soon took over and pushed shares down. In other parts of Europe, Spain’s bad loan ratio rose to 10.78% in January and eurozone economic sentiment came in far below expectations. German 10-year bond yields fell on a rising dollar. In Asia, China’s central bank will drain 39 billion yuan in liquidity with a short-term repurchase agreement after foreign direct investment fell less than expected in the month. In the U.S., the report on housing starts was somewhat better than last month, with an annualized 917,000 new homes being built (more coverage here). The Cypriot parliament rejected a revised tax proposal on bank deposits (more coverage here), so it’s anyone’s guess what tomorrow may bring.
The U.S. dollar index rose 0.35% today, now at 82.983. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.3% at 650.30, with commodities prices mixed today. WTI crude oil closed down 1.7% today, at $92.16 a barrel. Brent crude trades down 1.8% at $107.50 a barrel. Natural gas is up 2.1% today at about $3.96 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.4% today at $1,611.30 an ounce.
The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 4 points to 14,455.90 (0.03%), the NASDAQ fell more than 8 points (-0.26%) to 3,229.10, and the S&P 500 fell -0.24% or nearly 4 points to 1,548.35.
There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) cut to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs; Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) cut to ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs; Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) cut to ‘underperform’ at Sterne Agee (more coverage here); eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) raised to ‘buy’ with a price target of $56 at Cantor Fitzgerald; and Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) cut to ‘hold’ at Needham.
Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: FutureFuel Corp. (NYSE: FF) is down 9.2% at $12.40; Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ: SBLK) is up 5.7% at $6.50; FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE: FDS) is down 5.6% at $92.52; and Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) is up 5.2% at $44.65 (more coverage here).
Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE), Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS), Fuel Tech Inc. (NASDAQ: FTEK), Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM), FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS), and Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN).
Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:
Affymax Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY) is down 62.6% at $1.09 after posting a new 52-week low of $1.02 earlier today. The drugmaker fired 75% of its workforce today and will begin exploring “strategic alternatives” including bankruptcy. More coverage here.
Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is up 2.9% at $6.05 after posting a new 52-week high of $6.09 earlier today. The telecom company had no big news today, but led a sector that was up on a down day.
Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) is down 3.4% at $39.36. The oil field …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Taylor Muckerman and Joel South, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Based on the low price of natural gas, many companies have been switching their drilling operations from targeting natural gas to drilling plans that are heavier on crude oil. This is evident in the fact that the quantity of land rigs drilling for natural gas has reached the lowest point since May of 1999. Meanwhile, oil rigs are at a 12-week high at the moment. As this production of natural gas begins to wane, demand and supply could approach a better balance, which should help the price return to a profitable level for the key players in the industry.
Another area of flux is the way in which companies in the midcontinent plays, like the Bakken Shale, are transporting the crude oil once it has been pumped from the ground. Pipelines have been all the rage over the last few years, but due to the amount of time it takes to construct them, and the amount of political red tape companies must deal with, railroads have been taking a bite out of the market share. Better access to the West Coast and Canada are also both prime reasons why this transport via rail could continue.
After switching a decent amount of production to natural gas, is CHK ready to take off? Energy investors would be hard-pressed to find another company trading at a deeper discount than Chesapeake Energy. Its share price depreciated after negative news surfaced concerning the company’s management and spiraling debt picture. While these issues still persist, giant steps have been taken to help mitigate the problems. To learn more about Chesapeake and its enormous potential, you’re invited to check out The Motley Fool’s brand new premium report on the company. Simply click here now to access your copy.
var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; FoolAnalyticsData.push({ eventType: “TickerReportPitch”, contentByline: “Taylor Muckerman and Joel South“, contentId: “cms.23008”, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
On 2/27/13, Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s 4.50% Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock (NYSE: CHK.PRD) will trade ex-dividend, for its quarterly dividend of $1.125, payable on 3/15/13. As a percentage of CHK.PRD‘s recent share price of $87.34, this dividend works out to approximately 1.29%, so look for shares of CHK.PRD to trade 1.29% lower ? all else being equal ? when CHK.PRD shares open for trading on 2/27/13. On an annualized basis, the current yield is approximately 5.15%, which compares to an average yield of 6.26% in the “Energy” preferred stock category, according to Preferred Stock Channel.
Click here to learn which S.A.F.E. dividend stocks also have preferred shares that should be on your radar screen » …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets
Like another crosstown oil and gas exploration company based in Oklahoma City, Sandridge Energy (SD) is exhibiting the same shareholder inimical corporate governance practices. The good news is the abusive reign of Chesapeake Energy (CHK) king Aubrey McClendon last week came to an abrupt end. The bad news is that Sandridge founder and CEO Tom Ward (also a CHK co-founder) continues presiding unchecked as an autocrat. Like at CHK, Mr. Ward instituted his own analogue version of Aubrey?s Founders Well Participation Program (FWPP), the Sandridge Executive Well Participation Program (SEWPP). While Aubrey got to cherry pick and invest in a 2.5% interest in CHK wells, Mr. Ward felt even more generosity towards himself, upping his take to 3%. Like Aubrey in the past, Mr. Ward is obscenely overpaid. Mr. Ward presides over a sycophantic board that obsequiously bows to Caesars commands. Thanks in large part to the activism of Carl Icahn, Chesapeake, being free of Aubrey and most of his cabal of board members now has a chance to ?right the ship? and create value for shareholders. Now come along hedge fund TPG Axon and CEO Dinakar Singh. Mr. Singh?s hedge fund has acquired a 6.7% stake in the common shares of Sandridge and has undertaken a ?consent solicitation? to replace the entire Sandridge board and the subsequent ouster of Mr. Ward. Sandridge laughably claims the TPG Axon director slate lacks requisite energy experience. Each of the seven potential directors have held high positions at companies like BP, El Paso Eastern Pipeline, Oryx Energy or currently serve on boards of major NYSE companies such as Kraft Foods and AOL. The only commonality of current Sandridge board of directors is a blind obeisance to a CEO who compensates each one around $375,000 annually or for perspective, $80 to $90,000 more than is received by directors of integrated giant Exxon-Mobil, a company over 130 times its market capitalization. Put another way, in just a little more than every two days, Exxon takes in more in revenue than the entire market cap of Sandridge. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets
By Richard Finger, Contributor Who would have thought? Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake Energy’s (CHK) founder and only CEO ever, who ran the company like a personal piggy bank despite owning just over 1/4 of 1% of shares outstanding, is finally gone. Ostensibly, Aubrey and the board suffered pangs of “philosophical” differences. Aubrey has for all these many years been chief of the tribe, so taking directions from the board and Carl Icahn probably doesn’t peacefully coexist with his habit of giving orders. It’s tough to be an Indian when you have been the big chief for so long…..More on philosophy in a moment.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
