It’s really feeling like a dose of déjà vu for former fracking superstar Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK). It was just a year or so ago, when many analysts and pundits thought CHK was careening towards filing for bankruptcy after the shale boom imploded and it was left with massive debts. And with oil prices drifting lower, CHK stock price is certainly acting like this is the potential outcome once again.

But, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Today’s CHK is in a much better position than before and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. For investors, Chesapeake Energy remains a great turnaround try in the energy patch.

Why The Sudden Hate At CHK?

So far this year, Chesapeake Energy stock has fallen about 40% and CHK shares have now once again drifted below $4 per share. And the pain continues to come for the energy stock. Much of that pain continues to be the focus on the firm’s debt load and lower oil prices.

During the oil bust at the end of 2014, the full weight of CHK’s huge $21 billion debt load came crashing down on the fracker. Having a large balance is easy to managed when $100+ per barrel oil are creating abundant cash flows. No so much, when those same barrels can be had for under $30.

So it’s not surprising that during the depths of the oil bust, CHK shares were trading for under a dollar and the yields on Chesapeake bonds were in the double digits.

But a funny thing happened. CHK didn’t die, oil rebounded and the firm began reducing that debt load by quite a bit. Which is why the current drop in CHK stock is puzzling. We’re basically looking at a similar scenario as before. Energy prices have sunk and investors have abandoned Chesapeake Energy stock. And there has even been talk of the dreaded “B word” once again.

CHK Will Be Alright

The thing is, CHK is in much better shape today than it was during its darkest days. The firm has smartly used the upswing in energy prices and the extra cash flows they afford to reduce its debts by a significant amount.

That once $21 billion debt is now $9.1 billion. Perhaps more importantly, Chesapeake has reduced its interest rates on what it owes. Such as during this past spring, CHK was able to raise $750 in additional notes to replace higher cost debt. In addition to reducing its overall debt load and the cost of paying off that debt, CHK has “kicked the can” on when much of its debt matures.

For example, in 2015, CHK had about $3.2 billion worth of debt coming due over the next three years. Today, that number is just $450 and the bulk of that won’t come due until 2019. Chesapeake won’t see real debt maturing until after 2020.

That gives it some real time — and the company will definitely need it.

With oil once again dipping lower, cash flows at CHK haven’t exactly been as robust as they were just a few months ago. And in some cases, they have been negative recently. That put a stop to its recent debt reduction plans. But Chesapeake has been successful at filling the hole with its large revolver, cash on hand and assets sales.

Roughly $360 million of expected asset sales closed or had under signed purchase agreements on them so far in 2017. Add that to the continued focus on CAPEX and cost reductions and bankruptcy is well off the table.

Don’t believe me? Just take a look at CHK’s bonds — not one sky-high mega-double-digit yield among them. Bond investors are certainly not pricing in bankruptcy like they were before.

CHK Stock Could Be a Buy

With that, investors may be looking at an interesting bargain in the energy space. CHK has dwindled because of lower oil prices. But Chesapeake still has some moves to make and has been able to kick the can down the road. Bankruptcy isn’t imminent and there’s still plenty of time for energy prices to recover before investors need to worry.  Under that scenario, CHK stock could be a big buy.

As of this writing, Aaron Levitt did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. 

Aaron Levitt has no position in the aforementioned stocks.