Updating PRECISION DRILLING CORP. and SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC.

Article Excerpt

PRECISION DRILLING CORP. $10 (www.precisiondrilling.com) has raised its quarterly dividend by 20.0%, to $0.06 a share from $0.05. The new annual rate of $0.24 yields 2.4%. Volatile oil and gas prices and a lack of pipelines have hurt drilling activity. As a result, Precision plans to spend $504 million on new drilling rigs and other upgrades in 2014, down 10.2% from $561 million in 2013. Most of this spending will go toward building its Super Series rigs, which can reach deeper pockets of oil and gas. Due to strong demand, Precision charges higher rates, and earns higher profits, for these models than its older rigs. Demand for Super Series rigs should continue to rise, particularly as gas producers increase production to take advantage of new terminals in B.C. that will ship liquefied natural gas to Asia. Buy. SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $50 (www.snclavalin.com) continues to win new oil and gas engineering contracts. Recent deals include an agreement to design pipelines and…