Oil slump makes these four bargains

Article Excerpt

The four companies below sell gear and services to energy-exploration and mining firms. As a result, their shares have fallen with the recent drop in prices for oil, gold and other commodities. However, all four lead their niche industries and should rebound strongly when commodity prices recover. The drop also means they now trade at attractive multiples to their projected earnings. SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $40 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 152.5 million; Market cap: $6.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) is narrowing its focus to engineering projects in the oil and gas, mining and water treatment industries. As part of this plan, it recently paid $2.1 billion for U.K.-based Kentz Corp., which supplies engineering and construction services to oil and gas firms. Kentz increased SNC’s exposure to fastgrowing regions like the Middle East, Asia and Australia. To pay for Kentz, SNC recently sold AltaLink, which distributes electricity…