After CHK filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy (realigning funding within the company due to debts, from my understanding) their stock froze and, as of this morning, have officially disappeared off the Robinhood platform.

I find this quite interesting for a number of reasons. First, being from Oklahoma (the state Chesapeake Energy is based in), it brings up questions about where the company will go, if it attempts to continue production after having filed for bankruptcy. The company brought over 2k jobs to the state and the OKC Thunder stadium is currently called Chesapeake Energy Arena. As someone from the state and the presence of a professional sports team still being relatively new, it’s brought the state to a somewhat unprecedented circumstance. Honestly I don’t know what all would happen with all of this. If anyone has seen this occur in your local neighborhood or city, please let me know in the comments, I would be highly interested in reading your thoughts.

Second, if the company survives and continues production, will it be listed as a penny stock that could be worth buying into as soon as it returns? If it does make a comeback and is extremely cheap, it may be worth dropping like $20 or so into a number of extremely cheap stocks to see if the price surges after investors see the company actually did make a return. Then selling at a higher price, perhaps a much higher price if things go extremely well. CHK being a part of the energy sector, it seems a bit unlikely to me that an energy company would just completely collapse after a single bankruptcy (I’m not an expert on these types of situations, but originally being a local of this company’s market, this brings a unique possibility of positives and negatives in my mind).

Third and final, this could give a boost to a number of other energy companies local to Oklahoma. With homes and businesses relying on this company for energy, other local companies could be sweeping in and increasing their customer base. Some companies include Devon Energy (DVN, which in my mind is probably the most successful energy company in OKC, seeing how their main offices are the lone skyscraper in Oklahoma City. A bit shallow of course, but it’s a prominent figure in the kinds of locals) Continental Resources (CLR), and Sandridge Energy (SD). It will be very interesting to see if any of these companies’ stock values jump if Chesapeake can’t or simply doesn’t make a come back.

Thoughts?

Edit: Robinhood has Chesapeake Energy labeled as CHKAQ but does not allow purchases or sales of stocks at this time.