Shares plummet for Canadian oil and gas company

Trainees roll pipe off the catwalk during a training session to lay down drill pipe on a rig floor at Precision Drilling in Nisku, Alta., on Friday, Jan. 20, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

CALGARY — Shares in Precision Drilling Corp. are trading lower after the oil and gas services firm reported lower first-quarter profits that missed analyst expectations.

The stock was 7.5 per cent lower in late-morning trading at $129.52 on the TSX.

The Calgary-based company says its net earnings attributable to shareholders for the period were $17.4 million versus $34.5 million a year earlier.

The profit amounted to $1.34 per share, lower than the $2.71 per share analysts had on average been expecting, according to LSEG Data & Analytics, and the $2.20 per share it earned in the first quarter of 2025.

Precision attributed the decrease to higher share-based compensation expense and increased depreciation expense from the change in useful life estimates.

Revenues increased to $526 million from $496 million a year earlier as higher activity in the U.S. and Canada offset a drop internationally.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2026.