Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK): Can Asset Drain Ever End?

A new report from Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) (LON:BARC) concerning Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) upgrades the firm’s shares and reinstated an equal weight rating on the company with a price target of $24. The reason behind the positive report is, as always, asset sales. The real question is, however, when the firm’s asset drain will end, if ever. Chesapeake was in such a poor position last year that it needed to shed $20 billion in assets in 2012 and 2013 in order to restore investors’ confidence. By the fourth quarter the company had divested itself of $11.4 billion in assets, below management’s…