Oryx Energy News

Kerr-McGee Transformation Attracts Little Notice

Kerr-McGee Corp.'s chief executive Luke Corbett has been on a spending spree in recent years, building his company's oil and chemicals businesses, but the top executive has yet to catch the attention of Wall Street. "We've essentially transformed our company, particularly over the last two and half or three years," said Corbett, who is also chairman of the Oklahoma City-based energy and chemicals firm. Still, its transformation has attracted little notice from investors, even in spite of several industry analysts haven given Kerr-McGee glowing recommendations. Since hitting a high of about $67 in mid-January, shares of the company have fallen about 20 percent. The drop comes even as the company has posted first-quarter profits that rose more than twenty-fold from a year earlier.