Chesapeake upgraded, stock climbs

Chesapeake Energy Corp. received its strongest bit of good news in two weeks on Monday when it’s stock received an upgrade.

BMO Capital Markets analysts Dan McSpirit upgraded the stock to “outperform.”

Chesapeake has drawn scrutiny from Wall Street over the past two weeks after revelations that CEO Aubrey McClendon used his personal stake in Chesapeake wells as collateral for personal loans without fully disclosing the information.

Despite the potential conflicts of interest, McSpirit said Chesapeake “is a company with a deep and wide asset base, and one that has fundamental value, in our opinion.”

Chesapeake’s stock price has tumbled 48 percent since August largely because of falling natural gas prices. McSpirit said the stock price is too low.

Chesapeake “presents an attractive opportunity for investors looking to venture out on this risk curve,” he said.

The stock price jumped after the upgrade, closing up 72 cents, or 4 percent, to $18.44 on the Nasdaq.