| HOLD | 23.660 | John Stephenson | The biggest issue with the services sector right now is that they have had a very good run off a very low base. The time to look at them is in the late fall period just before they get into the drilling season. | 2008-07-16 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 21.450 | David Baskin | Calfrac Well Services (CFW-T), Precision Drilling (PD.UN-T), Ensign Resource (ESI-T). Involved in fracturing, an expensive exploration/production service, which basically fractures rocks to release petrochemicals. With higher natural gas, companies are starting to use this service. Bullish on natural gas. These companies can be very cyclical and will fall off the table when energy prices weaken. | 2008-06-10 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 22.190 | Robert Floyd | (A Top Pick May 30/07. No change.) Oil/gas service. International side of business has been doing well. Cdn operations has been weaker than expected, but better than what analysts had been looking for. Wait a month to buy on a pullback. Could take profits. | 2008-05-30 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 21.550 | Robert Floyd | (A Top Pick May 30/07. Up 2%.) Can still see some upside on this one. The real knock on some of the energy service companies has been the drilling for gas but with a stronger improvement in the price, some of them will show stronger cash flows. Might add on a pull back. | 2008-04-29 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 22.200 | David Baskin | (A Top Pick May 8/07. Up 9%.) Feels energy services are going to do pretty well, particularly now that natural gas has bounced back. | 2008-04-22 | |
| BUY | 20.920 | Joseph Schachter | Likes the story on this one. | 2008-04-04 | |
| BUY | 18.250 | Brian Acker, CA | Model price is $27.41, a 50% upside to the model price. There has been a huge move off the $12 area but there is still more value. | 2008-02-27 | |
| BUY | 16.150 | Brian Acker, CA | Model price of $27.96, an upside of around 74%. Earnings are coming down. Would chance it here, but it could drop further if things get ugly. | 2007-11-20 | |
| Comment | 18.780 | David Cockfield | Service/drilling area is still in very bad shape out west. Rig count is under 50%. Not a very rosy future for them. If it gets close to $20, considered lightening up. | 2007-09-28 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 18.920 | Robert Floyd | (A Top Pick Aug 18/06. Down 16.2%.) Drilling has been a little soft on the gas side. Reported numbers were down. Trying to diversify their assets internationally. Very well run company. | 2007-08-10 | |
| DON'T BUY | 19.950 | Bill Harris | The best financially managed drilling stock in Canada. Has US exposure. Doesn't look like there's going to be a big ramp up. Too much built into the price. Prefers the producers rather than the drillers. | 2007-06-25 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 22.050 | John Stephenson | Then 21.60
Still holds and likes them. They are a service provider. Half of it's revenue comes from abroad.
| 2007-06-06 | |
| BUY | 23.430 | Joseph Schachter | Activity levels are very low, so there are no earnings. It's a self healing process in that oil will start costing more. He doesn't own it but he owns one very similar, and has no problems with this one. | 2007-06-04 | |
| TOP PICK | 21.990 | Robert Floyd | Involved in drilling and servicing of oil/gas. 2nd largest in Canada but also have international operations. 1st quarter numbers where a little weak in Canada but showing strength in US and international. | 2007-05-11 | |
| TOP PICK | 20.830 | David Baskin | Driller and well service company in both Canada and the US. Bargain price. There may be a poor quarter or two. Looking for substantial drilling in 07-08 and even more in 08-09. | 2007-05-08 | |
| WAIT | 19.300 | John Zechner | Drilling companies had a light quarter because of early spring break up. Expect there will be some warnings of missed numbers. They’re well positioned for gas drilling. Valuation is a little bit high but there will be buying opportunities over the next couple of months. | 2007-04-02 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 19.470 | John Stephenson | (A Top Pick June 28/06. Down 9.8%.) With gas prices falling, drilling has been cut. Half its revenue comes from outside of Canada. Still a Hold. | 2007-03-27 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 18.690 | David Cockfield | (A Top Pick Dec 7/06. Down 3.2%.) Still a buy under $19. Well-run company. Have a good mix of rigs. | 2007-03-15 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 18.430 | John Stephenson | (A Top Pick Feb 3/06. Down 23.7%.) Gas related. Nothing fundamentally wrong with the company. Utilization of rigs has gone from the high 90% to the mid-60%. | 2007-02-21 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 18.000 | John Stephenson | (A Top Pick Jan 25/06. Down 26%.) Basically what is happening with the service companies in Canada is the big pull back in natural gas. | 2007-01-05 | |
| BUY | 18.490 | David Cockfield | A Buy under $20. This is probably the bottom of the market for gas. Prefers Savanna Energy (SVY-T). | 2006-12-27 | |
| DON'T BUY | 18.930 | Bill Harris | Since the beginning of this bull market in energy, the play is that you either go with producers or service. Right now, the ball is back in the producers’ court. This is one that you just play on the cycle. | 2006-12-22 | |
| TOP PICK | 19.530 | David Cockfield | Has come off quite nicely. Have an excellent fleet. Rigs are all booked. Pays a dividend. Under $20 is a good price. | 2006-12-07 | |
| BUY | 19.490 | Robert Floyd | Had been sold off too far. Earnings expectations are pretty strong. Good price. | 2006-12-01 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 18.000 | John Stephenson | (A Top Pick June 28/06. Down 13.9%.) With the pullback in commodities, the service sector has been hardest hit. A Hold at this time. | 2006-11-16 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 18.240 | Robert Floyd | (A Past Top Aug 18/06. Down 18.9%.) Numbers reported were very strong. Outlook for drillers has been a little bit suspect. This company’s outlook is looking fairly good for next year. | 2006-11-13 | |
| WEAK BUY | 18.220 | Stephen Carlin | Stuck in a trading band, $16.50 to $19.50. A lot of operating difficulties going into 2007 for the drilling sector. Cautious on this sector. | 2006-11-08 | |
| BUY | 19.160 | David Cockfield | Took profits when it got to $25. One of the better companies in Canada. Good array of rigs, both deep and shallow. Shallow gas drilling has been curtailed which has hurt. A buy at $17-$19. You will have to trade the service stocks. | 2006-10-26 | |
| BUY | 18.450 | David Baskin | Every time there is a cyclical downturn in natural gas, investors think there will be no more drilling. There will be, and they're giving stocks away. This includes all the drillers such as Ensign (ESI-T), Precision Drilling (PD.UN-T) and Calfrac Well Services (CFW-T). | 2006-10-23 | |
| TOP PICK | 17.680 | Robert Floyd | A good seasonal trade. Earnings are still looking quite strong at $1.95 going to $2.15 next year. 2nd largest driller and 3rd largest service company in Canada. | 2006-10-13 | |
| BUY | 17.070 | Larry Berman CFA, CMT, CTA | It is now back in the area of 52-week lows and that is always a critical test. If oil holds at these levels, this would be a great buying opportunity. Risk/reward is okay. | 2006-10-11 | |
| DON'T BUY | 21.060 | Glenn MacNeill, P.Eng. | Drillers have had a great run. Had a lot of pricing power the 1st and 2nd quarters. A lot of the problems have disappeared and they no longer have the pricing power. Making good money, but won't see the type of earnings growth in the recent past. Prefers some of the others. | 2006-09-08 | |
| WAIT | 23.180 | David Cockfield | The “oil service companies” is one of his favourite sectors. Can see three more years of upside. Would add more are at $20/21. | 2006-08-30 | |
| TOP PICK | 22.480 | Robert Floyd | 2nd largest driller and 3rd largest service company in Canada. Likes the oil service sector. Earnings progression is looking quite strong at $1.95 to grow to $2.15 next year. | 2006-08-18 | |
| BUY | 22.480 | Peter Gibson | Likes the oil service sector. This one looks good on profit growth. | 2006-08-18 | |
| BUY on WEAKNESS | 23.450 | David Cockfield | Reasonably fully priced. Reduced his holdings in the $25 range. Excellent management. A buy around $20/21. | 2006-08-16 | |
| HOLD | 23.810 | Bruce Campbell | Just reported and numbers where as expected. The problem here is with weak gas prices. There is a lot of postponing of drilling that has affected the service guys. Can see it flattening out here for a while. | 2006-08-10 | |
| TOP PICK | 24.830 | Robert Floyd | 2nd largest driller and 3rd largest service company. Looking for strong cash flows from them. | 2006-08-02 | |
| WAIT | 20.350 | John Zechner | Would like to get through the next couple of quarters on gas related stocks. This company has a lot of gas drilling, so would like to see how some of the drilling results look in Q2 and into Q3. One of the best drillers in Canada. | 2006-07-24 | |
| TOP PICK | 21.600 | John Stephenson | On a “return on capital” basis, it is very attractive. Has one of the lowest levels of debt of the service companies. | 2006-06-28 | |
| HOLD | 21.500 | John Zechner | Gas focused so there is a lot more pricing pressures. | 2006-06-27 | |
| DON'T BUY | 47.200 | David Cockfield | The oil/gas servicing companies are doing extremely well and will continue to do so. However, this one has got a little ahead of itself. If it pulled back into the low $40's or even under, he would buy. Has been selling at these prices. | 2006-05-15 | |
| DON'T BUY | 48.750 | Bill Carrigan | Has gone too far to get into it now. If you own it, do not let it fall below the low in March. | 2006-05-02 | |
| BUY | 48.410 | David Driscoll | An indirect way of playing energy. If oil/gas prices continue to rise, they will continue to make good money. Prefers Trican Well Service (TCW-T) as it is more weighted to gas and he feels this is where supplies could be short. | 2006-04-06 | |
| BUY | 47.910 | John Stephenson | All the drillers have probably been the most severely impacted with natural gas prices backing down. They are also the most levered to the price of natural gas going up which is very likely. | 2006-04-05 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 42.110 | John Stephenson | (A Top Pick Jan 25/06. Down 9%.) Some of the drillers and service companies have been badly hit because of the high leverage to the natural gas story. The likelihood of another warm winter and cool summer is very remote. A good chance to pick up more. | 2006-03-22 | |
| DON'T BUY | 41.500 | Chris Smith | The service stocks got a bit ahead of themselves. Starting to see overcapacity on the land based drillers witches and early warning sign that prices/margins could come under pressure. | 2006-03-21 | |
| WAIT | 40.850 | Wilf Gobert | Seasonality wise, this is the time of the spring breakup and oil drilling ceases. The second quarter is the weakest one for oil field service companies. They have a large proportion of their rigs in the Rocky Mountain region which is one of the growth areas in drilling activity. Likes their story and their future. You could probably wait a couple of months for a better price. Prefers this over Trinidad Energy Services (TDG.UN-T). | 2006-03-20 | |
| TOP PICK | 40.950 | Ron Meisels | This is an oil service company. It is the most attractive oil stock, but predicts all oil stocks will go higher (except Encana who is having problems) He owns ESI and is planning on buying more in mid March.
His average cost is $40.70. | 2006-03-02 | |
| VAGUE | 38.850 | Robert Floyd | Good managment. Stock has traded up. Strong growth on the drilling side. Past growth is strong. | 2006-02-27 | |
| BUY | 40.250 | John Zechner | He likes this stock and the drilling sector. He believes there will be decent flows.
Evaluarion is on the high end. | 2006-02-22 | |
| BUY | 48.250 | John Stephenson | Reversing on balance sheets so a lot of flexibility to make acquisitions. Recommending drillers. Bull market ended at the end of 1980’s and 70% of names have gone out of business or merged. One of the worst hit groups was the drilling. Likes it because it trades lower. | 2006-02-03 | |
| TOP PICK | 48.250 | John Stephenson | Trading in line but less than peer group. Less expensive. Adding more rigs. More revenue coming in. Higher margins. Right sector and the right time. | 2006-02-03 | |
| BUY | 48.060 | Peter Hodson | Well run. International focused. Strong cash flow. | 2006-02-01 | |
| TOP PICK | 46.880 | John Stephenson | Second largest contract driller in the country. Drilling is increasing over all. Have increased the number of rigs. Rates are increasing. Expenditures in the sector are increasing. | 2006-01-25 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 47.500 | David Cockfield | (A Top Pick Oct 12/05. Up 24%) very experienced management. A good stock. Add to it on dips. | 2006-01-23 | |
| HOLD | 46.920 | David Cockfield | The oil service industries are the ones that are going to be making most of the money. They are increasing their rates by 15% and nobody can say no because if you want something done, you have to hire them. This one is one of the best out there. Lots of rigs and building lots more. Would like to see a little pullback. | 2005-12-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | 46.850 | Brian Acker, CA | Trading around his model price of $48. Wouldn't initiate a position here. Wait for a pullback. | 2005-12-21 | |
| BUY | 46.800 | David Baskin | With natural gas where it is, companies like this are going to have fabulous years. With energy at these kinds of prices, everybody is going to be drilling like crazy. This is partly reflected in the prices. Everybody should all at least one of these companies. | 2005-12-19 | |
| TOP PICK | 43.180 | David Cockfield | Feels this is the oil services company, that really has momentum. Looking for a 20/30% increase in earnings in ’06. A little on the high end of the range and would rather buy it at $40. | 2005-11-25 | |
| BUY | 43.950 | David Baskin | Oil field service sector, drilling in particular. All the drilling companies are going to be really busy this winter. Don't think you can go wrong in the sector with the caveat that they've all gotten really expensive. Has both a seasonal and cyclical aspect to it. | 2005-11-24 | |
| BUY | 38.950 | John Stephenson | A great name to hold. A service company and this is the area were you want to be, where you are coming off very low capital stock in terms of equipment. There is increased drilling activity. | 2005-11-07 | |
| TOP PICK | 37.700 | David Cockfield | One of the largest drillers. Hasn't moved up as fast as the oil/gas companies. A good diversification in the energy sector. Their fleet is growing and are building new amazing drilling rigs. Drilling rates are going up and they are fully booked. Pays a dividend. | 2005-10-12 | |
| BUY | 37.080 | Bill Harris | Sometimes you get these wild swings in these cycles, especially with the drillers, but this time they never pulled off that much. No reason not to buy into the service industries, he just doesn't like the cyclicality of it. Right now they are in a pinch point going into the winter, where they have run out of rigs and crews. Expect these stocks will keep going. | 2005-09-13 | |
| BUY | 38.690 | John Stephenson | All the well drillers and services have done incredibly well. This one is a little more reasonably valued at 5.5/6 X cash flow. No debt. Has managed to expand its margins. | 2005-09-09 | |
| BUY | 37.810 | John Stephenson | A good way to invest in the energy sector. You're not worrying about a production miss in a given quarter that might take the stock down. Day rates are going up. Trading a little bit cheaper than some of its peers at 5.6 X multiple of cash flow. Debt free. | 2005-09-01 | |
| BUY | 37.400 | Ron Meisels | Has hit a new all time high and is going higher. Put your stop/loss at $33. | 2005-08-31 | |
| BUY | 34.420 | Laura Wallace | Although she doesn't own any at present, the oil services is a good sector. Just reported good earnings, particularily strong on the US side. | 2005-08-24 | |
| TOP PICK | 32.500 | David Cockfield | (A Top Pick Jun 15/05. Up 9%.) An alternative to the straight oil and gas stocks. The drilling industry is doing extremely well. A stock you should own if you want to be in the energy industry. They'll have a long and happy run. Would buy more under $30. | 2005-08-18 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 31.250 | David Cockfield | (A Top Pick May 12/05. Up 15%.) All oil service companies such as Ensign (ESI-T), Precision (PD-T), Trinidad (TDG.UN-T) and Wellco (WLL.UN-T) are doing extremely well. Had a very wet spring which tied up some of the rigs and could affect the earnings. Would look to buy under $30. Still good value. | 2005-07-28 | |
| TOP PICK | 30.110 | David Cockfield | (A Top Pick March 10/05. Up 11%.) A good way to be diversified in the oil/gas sector on a broader sense. One of the best in service companies. Coal bed methane will require a huge amount of drilling. They will be making money for the next 3/4 years easily. | 2005-06-15 | |
| BUY | 29.780 | John Zechner | Looks good right now. Not overly bullish on oil and gas, but expects this will become Canada's top drilling company which would give them a premium valuation. Starting to get some traction on some of their non-Canadian drilling rigs. | 2005-06-14 | |
| TOP PICK | 29.780 | Ron Meisels | In general, he likes the oils which very recently have started a new major upleg. Good price and should have a good upside potential. The technical breakdown point would be $26/27. | 2005-06-14 | |
| TOP PICK | 27.080 | David Cockfield | If you believe in the oil/gas, particularily the gas side, should have a service stock in their portfolio. Good management. Will continue strong even if the price of oil goes back to $35 because the supply of gas in North America has hit some very finite limits. | 2005-05-19 | |
| TOP PICK | 27.000 | David Cockfield | (A Top PIck Mar 10/05. Up 1%.) Hoping on the current market weakness it will pull back a little, say under $26 or even $24 if it gets down there. They have their day rates up and are building more rigs and the demand is huge. It will remain huge for years and years. Now a growth industry rather than a cyclical industry. | 2005-05-12 | |
| TOP PICK | 25.800 | David Cockfield | Likes it at under $25. Drilling stocks continue to be undervalued and underloved. The risk is that the sector is running out of decent crews. | 2005-04-21 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 25.950 | Ron Meisels | (A Top Pick Feb 1/05. Down 7.5%) It had a correction the same as the rest of the oils. Not worried. | 2005-04-11 | |
| BUY | 25.660 | John Stephenson | In general, he likes the servicers and the drillers. A way to play the whole commodity story without taking so much of a specific risk on properties and the development of them. This one trades in line with its peers. Has expanding free cash flow. Trading at a discount to US comparables. | 2005-03-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | 26.730 | Bill Harris | Drilling in Canada is sort of a duopoly between this and Precision Drilling (PD-T). An exceptionally well run company. Stunning free cash flow. The problem is the drilling cycle, so far, has a record number of wells looking like another record being set. The stock reflects that. Historically juniors have just thrown money at the drillers, but are more disciplined now. Would rather play the producers than the drillers. | 2005-03-21 | |
| TOP PICK | 27.150 | David Cockfield | Good management. Hands on guys. Probably buying it today. | 2005-03-10 | |
| VAGUE | 27.970 | Michael Smedley | Thinks the market is trying to walk the stock up. He's going to look into it, ask next week. | 2005-03-09 | |
| TOP PICK | 28.890 | David Cockfield | All the drilling companies have had big runs, and probably need a little rest. They should be part of everyone's portfolio. Would buy on pull- backs. Day rates are going up and their rigs are being utilized. Have had good drilling weather. Should show some good earnings growth. Coal bed methane requires lots of wells, so there should be a lot of drilling in future. | 2005-02-21 | |
| BUY | 28.750 | John Stephenson | A very attractive name. The drillers and service companies are one way to not have specific risks. Reasonablt valued with very little debt. | 2005-02-15 | |
| BUY | 28.000 | Ross Healey | Would cheerfully buy anything that has oil attached to it. Safe to buy and hold and the stock will do well. | 2005-02-04 | |
| BUY | 28.320 | Brian Prokop | All the drillers are going flat out. Have had record number of rigs working in the last few weeks. When there is more demand than there is supply, rates go up. | 2005-02-02 | |
| TOP PICK | 27.890 | Ron Meisels | Has broken into new all time high levels. Above the 200 day moving average. Will buy on any pull back. | 2005-02-01 | |
| BUY | 27.050 | David Cockfield | Things are going very, very well in the service area. Beginning to see a better winter in terms of the conditions. Not expensive. | 2005-01-21 | |
| BUY | 23.340 | Mark Jackson, CFA | Likes the drillers. Cash flow that is being generated out west by oil companies is being poured back into drilling. Prefers over Precision Drilling as vauations look a little more attractive. | 2004-12-07 | |
| BUY | 23.780 | Ross Healey | Has pulled back to good solid support around $22. Should bounce here and has good value. | 2004-12-01 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 22.750 | David Cockfield | (A Top Pick July 26/04. Up 7%.) Still likes. | 2004-10-14 | |
| BUY | 23.420 | Mark Jackson, CFA | Was considering Precision Drilling, but the recent runup caused him to look elsewhere. Chose Ensign which trades at a significant valuation discount to Precision. Expects drilling activity will be high. | 2004-10-04 | |
| BUY | 23.150 | Gavin Graham | Long term likes the whole oil services side. A very attractive area. | 2004-09-30 | |
| BUY | 22.100 | John Stephenson | Oil/gas will stay a hot sector, so they should do fairly well. | 2004-09-27 | |
| BUY | 20.450 | Ian Nakamoto | Should eventually do very well. | 2004-09-14 | |
| BUY | 20.210 | Brian Acker, CA | Model price $32. | 2004-09-10 | |
| TOP PICK | 20.500 | David Cockfield | Revenue up 21%. Quality stock. Lousy weather this summer, which made some problems. However, it is only a short term issue. Does not see any downside. | 2004-09-03 | |
| TOP PICK | 21.600 | David Cockfield | Has been a top pick several times but hasn't done much. Regardless of what happens to the price of oil, this company would still have work. A lot of cash on the sidelines for drilling. | 2004-08-10 | |
| BUY | 21.920 | Robert Lyon | Results have been pretty good and the stock has lagged. A buy at these levels. Activity remains stunningly strong. | 2004-08-05 | |
| TOP PICK | 21.260 | David Cockfield | (Past top pick Apr 26/04. Down 6%.) Still likes. A good idea to diversify into the service companies in the oil/gas sector. Fully booked. We'll be busy for the next 2/3 years. Day rates are up. | 2004-07-26 | |
| HOLD | 21.350 | Brian Acker, CA | Hasn't done well. Model price is showing $33. Need patience and you need a portfolio of similar stocks as a hedge. Building value. | 2004-07-06 | |
Experts that have talked about Ensign Resource Service Group
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