March 7 (Reuters) - Shares of Chemours rose 17% on Thursday after the chemical maker said its preliminary results would not be impacted by an internal review, which showed manipulation by its senior executives to meet free cash flow targets.

The company late on Wednesday said the executives altered some vendor payments and collections of receivables in the fourth quarter of 2023 in part to meet the targets, tied to their incentives.

"We think the audit committee providing a timely, substantially complete update on the matter helps ring-fence investor concerns... nothing in the substantially complete report that materially changes our views on Chemours's asset value," said Barclays analyst Michael Leithead.

Chemours shares plunged to a more than three-year low last week after it placed its top three executives, including CEO Mark Newman, on administrative leave and said it was looking into potential "material weaknesses" in its financial reporting.

Leithead added that while it was an unfortunate development overall that probably leaves a black-eye around management, controls, and may require some restatements, a $1 billion equity hit was much too punitive and would expect shares to react favorably.

The internal review had prompted the company to delay the reporting of its fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 results. Chemours is yet to provide a date for the official release.

"We believe that while these actions are unacceptable and senior management and all those involved should be held accountable, we do not believe that Chemours has lost over 30% of its earnings power and hence we would use the recent decline in the stock as a buying opportunity," RBC Capital Markets analyst Arun Viswanathan.

Chemours on Wednesday also reiterated that as of Dec. 31, its cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash and cash equivalents was about $1.8 billion.

The preliminary unaudited fourth-quarter sales and net income results reported last week are unchanged, and the thesis on the company remains intact, Jefferies analyst Laurence Alexander said.

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)