This former trust is set to surge

Article Excerpt

PRECISION DRILLING CORP. $9.04 (Toronto symbol PD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resource sector; Shares outstanding: 275.7 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; No dividends paid since February 2009; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.precisiondrilling.com) provides contract-drilling services to land-based oil and gas producers. Precision owns 353 drilling rigs, including 202 in Canada, 148 in the U.S. and three in Mexico and other countries. Precision recently converted from an income trust to a regular corporation. Investors received one common share for each trust unit they held. The change is in response to Ottawa’s new tax on income-trust distributions, which comes into effect on January 1, 2011. Volatile revenue history Thanks to rising oil and natural-gas prices, Precision’s revenue rose 13.3%, from $1.3 billion in 2005 to $1.4 billion in 2006. Revenue fell 29.8%, to $1.0 billion, in 2007. That’s because lower gas prices cut rig demand. However, revenue rebounded 18.7%, to $1.2 billion, in 2009. That was partly due to Precision’s December 2008 purchase…