Pioneer Drilling Company (PDC)

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Pioneer seen gaining as winter boosts natural gas
Sun Jun 11, 2006 2:03pm ET
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NEW YORK, June 11 (Reuters) - Shares of Pioneer Drilling Co. (PDC.A: Quote, Profile, Research), which are off by almost half from their high in February, could recover as prices of natural gas look set to rise during winter, according to Barron's June 12 edition.

Barron's cited Delphi Management's Scott Black, who is bullish on U.S. natural gas, as saying Pioneer Drilling's stock is trading cheap.

Black has a 12-month price target of $22 for Pioneer Drilling. The stock, which reached its year's high of $23 on Feb. 1, closed at $13.46 on Friday.

Pioneer, which beat Wall Street expectations in fiscal 2006 on strong demand for its drilling rigs, has healthy finances, but its stock has taken a hit as the price of natural gas fell from post-Hurricane Katrina levels, Barron's said.



But the price of natural gas, which is around $6 per million British thermal units -- down from around $15 last fall -- is likely to rise again in the winter, the weekly said.