- U.S. Silica (SLCA +0.8%) is added to the U.S. Focus List at Credit Suisse, which argues that the company is in the “right place [at the] right time" to capitalize on frack and completion intensity through the course of the cycle.
- Credit Suisse says sand stocks should replace land drillers this cycle as the most levered to a recovery in North American activity, as it expects sand demand in 2018 to eclipse the demand level of 2014, while its rig count forecast is ~25% below the upper end of the consensus range, implying further potential upside for sales, margins, and the stock price.
- The firm says SLCA's acquisitions this year of a regional sand mine and supplier, and one of the leading last-mile logistics technology companies, were accretive and establish the company as the most aggressive acquirer of reserves and give it a first-mover advantage in the all-important last-mile logistics space.