Precision increases drilling activity

Article Excerpt

PRECISION DRILLING CORP. $5.23 (Toronto symbol PD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resource sector; Shares outstanding: 293.2 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend suspended in March 2016; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.precisiondrilling. com) provides contract drilling services to land-based oil and gas pro ducers, mainly in North America. The company operates 255 rigs. Thanks to higher oil and gas prices, Precision has re-activated over 100 of its rigs since mid-2016. As a result, the company’s revenue in the quarter ended March 31, 2017, rose 14.6%, to $345.8 million from $301.7 million a year earlier. Due to one-time costs related to the startup of those rigs, Precision’s losses worsened to $0.08 a share from $0.07 a share. Precision Drilling is still a buy. buy…