STOCKCHASE

(A Top Pick Feb 18/11. Down 22.69%. (See commentary at beginning.)) Oil service business and he likes it a lot.

2012-01-13

TOP PICK

8.350

John O'Connell, CFA

7% bonds due May 2018. Likes the drilling companies. Feels they are in a sweet spot for a number of years. This company has drilling operations in Canada and Australia. Yielding 7.75% for 7 years.

2011-11-02

TOP PICK

9.200

Oil/gas services. Have over 160 rigs and just made a couple of acquisitions. Operate in Canada, US, Mexico and are moving into Australia.

2011-07-08

TOP PICK

10.460

(3 Top picks are in the energy services sector.) BV of $9.90. Have 166 rigs, of which 40 to 50 were idle giving them potential operating leverage on the way up. Now supplying rigs to Australia at higher margins. Just acquired Performance Energy and got 17 rigs.

2011-04-27

TOP PICK

8.990

Drilling services with over 100 rigs. About 40 of them are hybrid rigs which are being converted to working rigs with some of them going to Australia where rates are double Canadian rates. Drilling has been a laggard so this company has fallen between the cracks. Very cheap BV of $8.92.

2011-02-18

SELL

6.200

Laura Lau

One of the most expensive drillers because they have some fantastic rigs, which tend to drill shallow gas. However, the biggest driller of shallow gas is Encana (ECA-T), which will be splitting this off and won't be spending much money on it.

2009-11-18

PAST TOP PICK

6.090

(A Top Pick June 9/08. Down 71.74%.) Largest coil tubing driller, a technique used for drilling shallow wells. As a driller, a lot of their equipment will be sitting on the sidelines. Just got $110 million, which is encouraging. Consider selling for tax losses.

2009-05-20

SPECULATIVE BUY

15.470

US drilling at all time record levels. Prefers services in the pumping business. Savanna is vulnerable with shallow oilrigs. Well run. Likes Gas potential down the road. Should benefit from prices as we got into the winter. Drilling is taking place on Bay street through M&A vs. in Alberta.

2008-09-30

TOP PICK

22.950

Natural gas trailer. Picked on the basis that shallow gas will become much more popular given the high price of gas. Relatively undervalued.

2008-06-09

DON'T BUY

16.860

John Stephenson

This is probably the weakest of the group. Has the highest earnings cash flow multiple and is primarily domestic focused. Doesn't see any upside. He would prefer to look at Saxon Energy (SES-T) or Calfrac (CFW-T).

2008-03-05

PAST TOP PICK

16.720

Jeff Parent B. Eng. FCSI

(A Top Pick Mar 9/07. Down 14.7%.) Got out of his position last June/July.

2008-02-20

DON'T BUY

15.500

Bill Carrigan

This stock is going down, so he would avoid it.

2007-11-13

WEAK BUY

15.800

Brian Acker, CA

His model price is $33.60, a 110% positive differential, but the earnings estimates are coming down.

2007-11-01

PAST TOP PICK

23.050

Jeff Parent B. Eng. FCSI

(A Top Pick March 9/07 Up 19.8%.) Still looking good. A great stock.

2007-05-23

BUY

18.850

Kyle McKay

If you are looking to the energy service space, this is the name you should own. Valuation is reasonable. Margins held in pretty well in the last quarter. Well diversified across shallow and deep drilling.

2007-03-19

TOP PICK

19.490

Jeff Parent B. Eng. FCSI

Had a tremendous range. Whole energy services sector is completely oversold. Hit the bottom near $17 after 2 major drops. Rising steadily. In the recovery mode. Reduce positions at $18.75 and close out at $18.

2007-03-09

WAIT

18.030

Kyle McKay

Definitely one of the premier names. Moving up from an intermediate to a senior level driller. Did a very strategic merger with Western Lakota late last year. If you need to be in this space, this would be the one to own. Expect the price could be better if you wait.

2007-01-08

BUY

18.550

Has a nice fleet of deep rigs. This is probably the bottom of the market for gas.

2006-12-27

PAST TOP PICK

18.900

Robert Lauzon

(A Top Pick June 2/06. down 33%.) Very levered to gas drilling. Looking out 6 months can see more drilling activity. Way oversold.

2006-10-20

DON'T BUY

20.000

Michael Smedley

Pretty well everything in the oil services sector is down. Just had a good merger with Western Lakota (WLE-T). A little cautious about recommending any companies in this sector for anything near term.

2006-09-21

PAST TOP PICK

23.700

Robert Lauzon

(A Top Pick Jun 2/06. Down 16%.) Very gas weighted and the drop-in gas affected its price. Also made an investment in Western Lakota and investors that own both, where selling. On its way back up.

2006-09-08

DON'T BUY

21.710

David Baskin

He is high on the drillers. Feels that the panic on the natural gas prices is way overdone. There will be demand for drilling services. Prefers Precision Drilling (PD.UN-T), Ensign Resources (ESI-T) and Calfrac (CFW-T).

2006-08-24

WEAK BUY

21.540

Merged with Western Lakota. These are rig companies. It's a good situation for both of them. We are going into a slower period for the service companies in the oil patch, especially on the gas side. Well managed.

2006-07-19

HOLD

20.810

In the process of merging with Western Lakota (WLE-T). Uses a flexible coil drilling which means they can drill a lot faster and more efficiently in shallow depths. The lower gas price is a definite black cloud on their horizon. We'll do okay, but wouldn't buy service stocks until there is some stabilisation in the price of gas.

2006-07-13

WEAK BUY

21.600

Peter Hodson

Acquiring Western Lakota Energy Services (WLE-T). He is a fan of Western Lakota and together they will be a pretty good company. Getting hit with the low price of natural gas. Would be a good one to pick away at over the next several months as gas will go back up.

2006-07-11

HOLD

24.850

Peter Brieger

Likes this sector and Calfrac (CFW-T) and Savanna (SVY-T) are the 2 cheapest. However, he has elected to go with Trican Well Service (TCW-T) instead although he hasn't bought it yet.

2006-06-12

TOP PICK

28.200

Robert Lauzon

An energy services company including drilling and servicing. Making substantial amounts of cash. Some of its peers pay dividends so expect it will either pay a dividend or become a trust.

2006-06-02

BUY

30.810

Wilf Gobert

Their big story is coiled tubing drilling. A new technology for the oil patch. It's faster, cheaper and extremely well suited to shallow gas and coal bed methane drilling. There is some talk of it turning into a trust which has boosted the price.

2006-04-25

BUY

25.300

Peter Hodson

Savanna Energy Service is an exceptional managed company. He prefers this stock over Ensign. It is worth holding.

2006-03-09

WEAK BUY

27.000

They are in the coil tubing side of the oil service sector. Was interested in it at $20 but would have to have another look at it at this price. They had some problems on patents. Likes the technology.

2006-02-17

HOLD

31.470

Ross Healy

Not one of the cheaper energy stocks. His fair market value shows $85.

2006-02-06

BUY

31.010

Wilf Gobert

Heavily involved in coiled tubing drilling which is the type used for shallow wells and especially coal bed methane. They are ideally suited for the most rapid growing sector of the drilling business. Prospects are excellent.

2006-01-23

BUY

25.700

Peter Brieger

They have revolutionized the process by having continuous piping rather than sectional pipes. This makes the process very much faster.

2005-11-15

BUY

26.250

Greg Guichon

Energy prices are going to stay very high for a very long time because of the basic supply/demand characteristics of the world.

2005-09-09

TOP PICK

17.800

Chris Fernyc

A technology/drilling company. They only have a fleet of about 20 drilling rigs, they are the #1 driller in terms of the number of meters drilled and in the top 5 in terms of total due to their technology. They have a quicker, lower cost solution for coal bed methane and shallow gas drilling. Growing their fleet out by about 50% per annum.

2005-04-25

BUY

20.750

David Burrows

Has relatively new technology which allows them to drill a little more efficiently using continuous drilling. They have a competitive advantage.

2005-03-14

BUY on WEAKNESS

19.300

Under $20 is not a bad acquisition. Doing some new drilling technology. If it works could be quite good, but still has to be tested. A bit speculative.

2005-03-10

HOLD

20.850

Michael Smedley

Nothing wrong with this company, dip is probably due to profit taking.

2005-03-09

BUY

18.000

Looking very seriously at this one. Into coiled tubing so they don't have the fixed piping that has to be taken out, but the coil has a weakness in that it is a relatively weaker type of tubing to drill with. Has worked very well in shallow drilling. In the process of testing down to 2,200 feet which opens up a lot more drilling.

2005-01-21

BUY

11.000

Steve Gold

Bullish on the oil services industry. Have sold their holdings, but are looking at it again.

2004-07-07

WEAK BUY

8.900