Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) Digging Deeper Down the Chart

[[tagnumber 0]][[tagnumber 1]]The coal industry has seen better days and so has Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU). Speak of the latter, BTU shares are currently traded around the $2.30 – $2.40 range, which is exactly 85 per cent away from the stock’s 52–week high value of $17.21 per share registered in mid–August 2014. Is there an end in sight for this free–fall, though?[[tagnumber 2]] [[tagnumber 0]]As it is, the huge recent slump in oil prices has adversely affected coal businesses and many companies have had to close operations. While this was not solely due to the oil debacle, it is what entities such as Peabody Energy have had to cope with. Considering the global trend towards more eco–friendly energy sources is still gathering pace, the prospects for the coal industry seem bleak at best.[[tagnumber 2]] [[tagnumber 0]]So is it all doom and gloom, especially in the light of the mounting losses in BTU’s latest quarterly reports? Even though the industry has suffered a few heavy blows already, it will take a while before the world economy’s coal consumption comes to a permanent halt. This in turn means that there will still be a market for the most efficient producers. Whether BTU is one of them or not is another question. The company has been in the red for the last three fiscal years on record with its cumulative let loss exceeding $1.8 billion.[[tagnumber 2]] [[tagnumber 0]][[tagnumber 8]]In this respect, Peabody’s latest decision to cut costs by optimizing the corporate structure doesn’t really come as a surprise. Maybe it is exactly what needs to be done, or maybe not. On the one hand, the company will reportedly save $40–$45 million as a result of this act. On the other hand, it has been incurring an average annual loss of $600 million for the last three fiscal years and there is little to suggest that this year will make any difference. What is more, BTU’s loss for the first 2015 quarter alone is four times as big as the amount CEO Glenn Kellow expects to save. Altogether, there are still a lot of issues to be solved for BTU’s market value to recover at least some of the market value it used to have less than a year ago.[[tagnumber 2]] [[tagnumber 0]]From a technical standpoint, BTU shares might seem poised for a minor recovery based on the fact that they are practically oversold now. As a matter of fact, this is the fifth time BTU has entered the oversold area for the last 12 months. And even though BTU’s market price would go up again as a result thereof, none of those rallies would prove strong enough to buck the overall downtrend.[[tagnumber 2]]