oil and gas

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $41 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 151.6 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) replaced most of its senior management following the discovery of $56 million U.S....

Pulse Seismic, $3.53, symbol PSD on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 60.4 million; Market cap: $215.6 million; www.pulseseismic.com), buys, sells and licenses seismic data to clients in Western Canada. Pulse’s main business is seismic-data licensing. It has built a library of seismic research that it licenses to clients, mostly oil and gas companies. Pulse usually buys seismic-survey data from oil and gas firms. It also performs what it calls “participation seismic surveys.” Oil and gas producers pay Pulse to participate in these surveys in return for a perpetual, non-exclusive license to use the newly generated data. The company owns the data the surveys generate and adds it to its library. Oil and gas firms, which may use different scientific models in their exploration, can then lease various selections and combinations of the data....

Chinook Energy, $0.95, symbol CKE on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 214.2 million; Market cap: $203.5 million; www.chinookenergyinc.com), is a Calgary-based company that develops and explores for oil and gas. It has producing assets in the Peace River and Grande Prairie areas along the border of B.C. and Alberta and onshore and offshore Tunisia, in North Africa. About 58% of Chinook’s production is gas. The remaining 42% is oil. The company was formed when Storm Ventures International acquired Iteration Energy in June 2010. Chinook Energy began trading on Toronto on July 3, 2010....

BONAVISTA ENERGY $12.98 (Toronto symbol BNP; Shares outstanding: 181.5 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 6.5%; www.bonavistaenergy.com) explores for oil and gas in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. Its production is 62% gas and 38% oil.

In the three months ended June 30, 2013, Bonavista’s cash flow per share rose 28.6%, to $0.63 from $0.49 a year earlier....

PENGROWTH ENERGY $5.84 (Toronto symbol PGF; Shares outstanding: 516.1 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 8.2%; www.pengrowth.com) has sold several of its less important oil and gas properties in Western Canada for $700 million.

Including the company’s earlier $316-million sale of its 10.02% interest in the Weyburn oil project in Saskatchewan, Pengrowth has now reached its goal of raising $1 billion through asset sales in 2013.

The cash will help Pengrowth develop its $590-milllion Lindbergh oil sands project in Alberta....

Chinese stocks are down 20% since the start of 2013 due to concerns that China’s economic growth will continue to lag, along with its exports to Europe and the U.S. At the same time, China aims to control rising inflation and rapid growth in riskier bank lending with higher interest rates—without hurting its economy....

CARBO Ceramics, $85.09, symbol CRR on New York (Shares outstanding: 23.1 million; Market cap: $2.0 billion; www.carboceramics.com), makes and sells ceramic proppant, which is used in hydraulic fracturing. In 2010, the company began selling resin-coated sand. CARBO also sells, through its StrataGen subsidiary, what it believes is the oil and gas industry’s most popular fracture-simulation software. In addition, it provides fracture-design and consulting services and a range of technologies for spill prevention and containment. Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping fluids down a well at pressures sufficient to create fractures in oil- and gas-bearing rock formations. Proppant is a granular material that the fluid carries in to fill the fracture, thereby “propping” it open. The proppant-filled fracture creates a channel through which the oil and gas can flow more freely, increasing production rates....

SHERRITT INTERNATIONAL $3.70 (Toronto symbol S; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-800-704- 6698; www.sherritt.com; Shares outstanding: 296.9 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; Dividend yield: 4.7%) is a diversified natural resource company that produces nickel, cobalt, thermal coal, oil and gas. It also manages 356 megawatts of power generation capacity in Cuba, with an additional 150 megawatts starting up this year.

The company is a major nickel producer, with operations in Cuba and Canada. As well, it has started up its 40%-owned Ambatovy mine on the island nation of Madagascar, off Africa’s east coast. Sherritt also produces oil and gas in Cuba, Spain and Pakistan and is Canada’s largest thermal coal producer.

In the three months ended June 30, 2013, Sherritt’s revenue fell 10.2%, to $338.5 million from $377.1 million a year earlier. Lower nickel, cobalt and coal prices were the main reasons for the drop. Cash flow per share declined 10.0%, to $0.18 from $0.20.
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WAJAX CORP. $36.32 (Toronto symbol WJX; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (905-212-3300; www.wajax.ca; Shares outstanding:16.7 million; Market cap: $601.0 million; Dividend yield: 6.6%) sells and services cranes, forklifts and other heavy equipment. It also sells related parts (such as bearings, motors, hoses and fittings) and power systems (including diesel engines and transmissions).

In the three months ended June 30, 2013, Wajax’s revenue declined 6.4%, to $362.1 million from $386.6 million a year earlier. Earnings fell 26.8%, to $13.5 million, or $0.81 a share, from $18.5 million, or $1.11.

The declines mostly came from reduced activity in the Western Canadian oil and gas industry, which hurt results at Wajax’s power systems business. Lower mining equipment and construction sales more than offset strength in the materials-handling market.
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MCCOY CORP. $6.25 (Toronto symbol MCB; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (780-453-8451; www.mccoyglobal.com; Shares outstanding: 26.8 million; Market cap: $167.6 million; Dividend yield: 3.2%) operates through two divisions: Mobile Solutions and Energy Products and Services.

Energy Products and Services sells hydraulic equipment, including power tongs, for drilling rigs. Power tongs are large wrench-like tools that tighten and loosen the pipe in the drill hole.

Mobile Solutions builds heavy-duty trailers for U.S. and Canadian clients in the oil and gas, wind energy, infrastructure and construction industries.
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