Accounting change masks strong quarter

Article Excerpt

PRECISION DRILLING CORP. $13 (Toronto symbol PD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resource sector; Shares outstanding: 292.7 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.precisiondrilling.comtarget=”_blank”) provides contract drilling services to land-based oil and gas producers, mainly in North America. It operates 333 rigs. Higher oil and gas prices have spurred demand for Precision’s drilling services. As a result, revenue rose 25.4% in the second quarter of 2014, to $475.2 million from $378.9 million a year ago. However, the company lost $7.2 million, or $0.02 a share. Precision recently changed the way it calculates depreciation on its rigs, and the new method cut its earnings by $14 million, or $0.05 a share. A year earlier, it earned $473,000, or nil per share. Precision now plans to spend $934 million to build and upgrade rigs in 2014, up 12.1% from its earlier forecast of $833 million. Drillers have already signed contracts for these new rigs, which cuts the risk…