NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Whiting Petroleum (WLL) - Get Report are soaring, sharply up 11.14% to $37.82 on heavy volume in late morning trading Monday, following a report from late Friday that the company is seeking a possible buyer amid plunging crude prices, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Whiting Petroleum, which has an equity value of $5.8 billion, is in the midst of an auction process as it puts itself up for sale, the Journal added.

The oil producer is suffering from the decline in oil prices as it begins the process of taking over Kodiak Oil & Gas in its $3.8 billion acquisition deal, leaving Whiting with more than $2 billion in additional debt.

TheStreet's Jim Cramer says Whiting is worth more than its current value on CNBC's "Mad Dash" segment. Cramer, the co-manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio, said that Whiting should get a good price for its business, since it has "terrific" assets in the Bakken shale rock formation.

About 11.22 million shares of Whiting have exchanged hands as of 11:28 a.m. ET today, compared to its average trading volume of about 9.48 million shares a day.

Denver, CO-based Whiting Petroleum is an independent oil and gas company engaged in exploration, development, acquisition and production activities in the Rocky Mountains and Permian Basin regions. Whiting is one of the largest producers in the Bakken Shale formation in North Dakota.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates WHITING PETROLEUM CORP as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate WHITING PETROLEUM CORP (WLL) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed, some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. Among the primary strengths of the company is its expanding profit margins over time. At the same time, however, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, feeble growth in the company's earnings per share and deteriorating net income."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• Despite the weak revenue results, WLL has outperformed against the industry average of 19.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 4.3%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• The gross profit margin for WHITING PETROLEUM CORP is currently very high, coming in at 71.37%. Regardless of WLL's high profit margin, it has managed to decrease from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, WLL's net profit margin of -52.00% significantly underperformed when compared to the industry average.
• Net operating cash flow has declined marginally to $466.00 million or 5.01% when compared to the same quarter last year. Despite a decrease in cash flow of 5.01%, WHITING PETROLEUM CORP is in line with the industry average cash flow growth rate of -11.94%.
• WHITING PETROLEUM CORP has experienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. Earnings per share have declined over the last two years. We anticipate that this should continue in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, WHITING PETROLEUM CORP reported lower earnings of $0.81 versus $3.07 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 194.4% in earnings (-$0.77 versus $0.81).
• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 496.8% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from -$59.27 million to -$353.68 million.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: WLL Ratings Report