(Bloomberg) -- It will go down as wildest of the shale wildcatters, the overreaching pioneer of fracking techniques that minted vast fortunes and, now, have left behind ruin.At long last, financial reality has caught up with Chesapeake Energy Corp., avatar of the boom and subsequent bust of North American shale.Chesapeake’s spiral toward oblivion accelerated this week with executives said to be preparing for a potential bankruptcy filing, signaling the imminent end of Chief Executive Officer Doug Lawler’s 7-year campaign to turn around the troubled gas explorer. For a company that’s been skirting disaster for most of the past decade, the Covid-19-driven collapse in world energy prices merely added one more exclamation point to a tale of risk, hubris and debt.Chesapeake may be shale’s biggest corporate casualty, but it is hardly the first -- and won’t be the last. Its self-inflicted wounds have sapped confidence across the entire industry, leaving many smaller...
Speculators that bet on airline stocks bottoming in March needed to wait until last week for the trade to pay off. The encouragement that flight bookings and passenger traffic are on the rise rewarded Delta Airlines (NYSE:DAL) shareholders. DAL stock also has valuations are too compelling to ignore. This might explain why the recent rally unfolded.Source: Markus Mainka / Shutterstock.com What about Delta's fundamentals? The near-term prospects still look poor, even if bookings are slowly improving. DAL Stock Lifted by Flight ScheduleIn early May, Delta consolidated various operations in the U.S. served by multiple airports. This will align flight supply with weaker demand but would maintain the airliner's connectivity. The company already planned to add more flights to its Atlanta and New York schedule. It also planned to increase its services in the Caribbean and Latin America. But most importantly, Bill Lentsch, Delta's chief customer experience officer, said that "our survey...
