Topic: How To Invest

Stock investing: Pulse Seismic’s earnings soar on strong oil demand

Pulse Seismic, symbol PSD on Toronto, buys, sells and licenses seismic data to clients in western Canada. The company is one of the aggressive stock investing picks we analyze in our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter.

Pulse’s main business is seismic-data licensing. It has built a library of seismic research that it licenses to clients, mostly oil and gas companies. Pulse usually buys seismic-survey data from oil and gas firms. It also performs what it calls “participation seismic surveys.” Oil and gas producers pay Pulse to participate in these surveys in return for a perpetual, non-exclusive licence to use the newly generated data.

Pulse owns the data the surveys generate, and adds it to its library. Oil and gas firms, which may use different scientific models in their exploration, can then lease various selections and combinations of the data.

In the three months ended December 31, 2010, the company’s revenue jumped 85.2%, to $19.0 million from $10.3 million a year earlier. Seismic data sales rose 65.6%, to $16.9 million from $10.2 million. Revenue from participation surveys jumped to $2.1 million from $48,000.

The company’s earnings rose sharply in the quarter, to $4.0 million from $503,000. Earnings per share jumped to $0.06 from $0.01.

The continuing rise in oil prices encourages exploration and drilling, and with it a greater need for Pulse’s services. However, low natural gas prices have somewhat offset the company’s oil-related gains.

If you’re interested in investing in aggressive stock investing picks like Pulse Seismic, you should subscribe to our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter. What’s more, you can get one month of our aggressive stock investing advice free when you subscribe now. Click here to learn how.

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