Chris, with NORT you have to expect the volatility. Here's a write-up from Briefing.com from Oct.:
NORTON DRILLING (NORT) 3 17/32 +1 1/32. Here is one the speculators are going to love. In fact, many are already riding this star to a pretty nice intraday gain of 41%. Last night, Norton Drilling reported that it expects stellar 3rd qtr results, due to the continued high level of activity in the oil and gas industry in general and the drilling industry in particular. Wait a minute, you say. Why I haven't I ever heard of this driller before? It's probably because Norton is the old DSI Industries (DSIC); the company's name change went into effect just this morning. Norton's preliminary indication is that 3rd qtr contract drilling revenues will come it at around $10.34 million, or about 42% above year-ago results and up 28% sequentially. More impressive is the company's forecast of income from continuing operations of $2.091 million, up sharply from the $174,000 earned in the prior year period. For the nine months ending August 31, the company's preliminary indication is that contract drilling revenues were approximately $25.35 million (up 37%) and net income from continuing operations as approximately $1.813 million (up +342%). Based on 23.21 million shares outstanding, Norton's 3rd qtr results will come in at around $0.09 a share versus year-ago's $0.01 a share. Based on 1996 revenues of $26.73 million, the stock trades at a trailing price-to-sales ratio of 3.07, which is well below the average for the sector. Unfortunately, we can't find any analysts who cover the stock, so no earnings projections are currently available. But even after today's sharp run-up, these shares appear to be extremely cheap. Moreover, today's impressive volume of over 1.5 million shares indicates that there will be liquidity. |
