Chesapeake Energy's Stock Falls After Profit Miss

Chesapeake Energy's stock fell 1.9% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the oil and natural gas producer missed fourth-quarter profit expectations, although revenue rose above forecasts. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, net earnings rose to $586 million, or 81 cents a share, from $169 million, or 26 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as a $552 million unrealized gain on oil and natural gas derivatives, per-share earnings were 11 cents, below the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of 23 cents. Revenue rose to $5.05 billion from $4.54 billion, beating the FactSet consensus of $4.58 billion, as average daily production increased 12%. For 2015, the company plans to cut capital expenditures to $4 billion to $4.5 billion from $5.8 billion in 2014. The stock has lost 16% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.3%.