Pason Takes a Jump

Article Excerpt

PASON SYSTEMS $13.74 (Toronto symbol PSI) (403-301-3400; www.pason.com; Shares outstanding: 80.4 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion) rents instrumentation and provides data services to oil and gas companies and drilling contractors throughout Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Argentina. Its services include data acquisition, well site reporting software, remote communications and Internet information management tools. Pason reports 1.8% lower revenues in the three months ended December 31, 2007, to $60.5 million from $61.6 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were flat at $0.19. Cash flow per share rose 3.1%, to $0.33 from $0.32. Pason’s stock price has risen lately along with higher oil and natural gas prices. However, natural gas prices will need to remain high or even rise further in 2008 to significantly revive drilling activity. The long-term outlook for Pason is positive, but its revenue and profit growth will only resume when drilling picks up. Pason is still a hold. hold…