Matt Kacur Ensign Resource Service Group ESI-T PAST TOP PICK Dec 21, 2017

From its recent results there is investor concern over whether they can pay down $200 million in debt that they had planned to do this year but management says they can. Total debt is $600 million. With a $500 million market cap, its free cash flow yields 40% and it trades at a decent value today.

It is paying down debt at $200 million per year and is half-way through the process of paying off the total of $600 million. When debt is paid off and it is generating $200 million excess capital it can use this capital for dividends and share buybacks. As they approach this point we should see the stock price increase. It is worth about $450 million today.          Buy 7  Hold 2  Sell 0

Will hold it. ESI is a play on them lowering their $600 million of debt, and they are on target.

It has been on an aggressive debt pay-down schedule which should be completed by next December. This would mean transferring value from debt holders to equity holders. It should have additional improvements on the operational front.          Buy 4  Hold 2  Sell 0

Oil/gas dipped on fears of US tariffs, but have recovered. ESI is diversified with half their rigs in the US. It's the third year of their 3-year debt repayment plan.

The oil and gas service sector has had a dip because of tariff concerns but has recovered. It continues to be very diversified and has half of its rigs in the U.S. It is expected to pay down another $200 million in debt this year.

He likes snakes and ladders but there are no ladders here. There is uncertainty with tariffs but this is oversold with the general market. It claims to have paid down $400 million of debt and is ahead of the plan.

He continues to hold. While there is little corporate insider buying in other stocks Ensign energy is the exception where the CEO has has made significant purchases recently. However ESI is commodity based.

A small-cap energy service stock caught in challenging times. Carries a lot of debt.

It is in its third year (of three years) of paying back $600 million in debt. It still has $158 million to pay back in the second, third and fourth quarters this year. Oil prices are off but management still thinks they can do it with flexibility in capital spending and a supportive banking syndicate. The CEO and CFO collectively bought $250 000 of stock recently. This could be significant since there has generally not been much insider buying in the last few months since the April sell-off. If the debt is paid off they will have all this free cash flow for other purposes including re-instating the dividend, which would lead to a stock price increase,