Brean Murray Carret Maintains Hold on Chesapeake Energy

Brean Murray Carret reiterates its Hold rating on Chesapeake Energy CHK as it estimates the company will need $7 billion in funding requirements in 2012. Brean Murray Carret comments, "Our estimates indicate that the company must complete $7 billion in acreage and midstream monetizations during 2012 in order to achieve cash flow neutrality--a sum equal to the cash proceeds from all 7 of the JV transactions it has closed to date. While we agree that there is tremendous potential in Chesapeake's 15.8 million net acres, near-term concerns over dilution and late year timing of monetizations in the coming year keep us on the sidelines because management needs divestitures to fund more than 60% of its anticipated capital budget in 2012. CHK closed at $24.03 a share on Wednesday.