Two picks for a resource rebound

Article Excerpt

MAJOR DRILLING $7.26 (Toronto symbol MDI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-866-264-3986; www.majordrilling.com; Shares outstanding: 80.1 million; Market cap: $586.6 million; No dividends paid) is a large contract driller that mainly serves the mining industry. The company believes that mining companies continue to deplete the world’s more easily accessible mineral reserves. That means attractive deposits will increasingly be in remote locations. Those areas are difficult to access or they’re deep in the ground. For this reason, Major’s strategy is to focus on providing highly specialized drilling services. In the three months ended January 31, 2017, the company’s revenue fell 2.5%, to $70.1 million from $71.9 million a year earlier. Revenue from Canada and the U.S. fell 20.3%, to $37.8 million. However, revenue in South and Central America rose 42.6%, to $19.0 million; and in Asia and Af rica, it rose 20.2%, to $13.3 million. Major continues to report positive cash flow despite the industry downturn. Its latest quarter is typically its slowest, but in the…