Rex Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:REXX) Crushes to a New 52-Week Low

[[tagnumber 0]][[tagnumber 1]]Rex Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:REXX) has been suffering a lot on the stock market for quite a while. Closing trade at $2.43 per share yesterday, REXX registered yet another 52–week low and continues to dig deeper. The stock is exactly 85 per cent away from its 52–week high peak hit on Aug. 26, 2014. What is more, the stock has lost a whopping 57 per cent of its value over the last four weeks alone. The situation requires managers‘ attention and the press release that has just been issued might bring the meltdown to a temporary stop.[[tagnumber 2]] [[tagnumber 0]]Roughly two hours before market open, REXX‘s investors caught a brief glimpse of what to expect in terms of production and financial figures for the second 10–Q report of this year. Marking a mild increase in almost every aspect of the company‘s business operations, the news is expected to allow the stock to take a breather on the charts. Will this prove sufficient to buck the negative trend, though?[[tagnumber 2]] [[tagnumber 0]][[tagnumber 6]]A quick overview of Rex‘s overall state provides little incentive to guarantee a full–blown recovery at this stage. The independent oil and gas explorer generated $54 million of revenue in Q1 2015, down 34% on an annual basis, which resulted in a net loss of $0.37 per share against earnings of $0.17 per share in Q1 2014. Over the first three months of 2015, Rex Energy‘s cash reserves dwindled by $12.8 million, thus opening a working capital gap of $27 million. And even though the company announced some minor improvements in terms of production and realized prices in Q2, we have yet to see the actual 10–Q to assess what the real effect is.[[tagnumber 2]] [[tagnumber 0]]While analysts forecast a net loss close to $1.00 per share for 2015 and 2016, they recommend the stock as a ‘buy‘ or a ‘hold‘ at least, hinting at a long–term potential for the company‘s business. Insiders also tend to be confident of Rex‘s future chart performance if the net purchases of 1.5 million shares for the last twelve months are anything to go by. However, when exactly (and if) the stock will skyrocket remains to be seen.[[tagnumber 2]] [[tagnumber 0]]Anyway, investors don‘t seem to envisage a price rally in the short term. With more than 22 million shares currently sold short, the vast majority of REXX traders have bet against the stock going up. If a price surge occurred nonetheless, it could take a shorter 5 or 6 days to close out their position, hardly an encouraging time frame.[[tagnumber 2]]