Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of oil and gas company Quicksilver Resources (NYSE: KWK) jumped as much as 41% in early trading today after announcing an asset sale. The stock settled in at a 15% gain later in the day.
So what: The company will sell a 25% stake in its Barnett Shale asset to Tokyo Gas Co. for $485 million. The money will be used to pay down debt, which has been strangling the company.
Now what: This is progress toward management's planned deleveraging and analysts are now looking to see if the company can do the same with its Horn River assets. I don't think this makes the stock a buy, but gross profit has been improving and a reduction in debt is a positive sign. I've just seen too many mistakes by Quicksilver over the past few years to be aggressive right now.
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