The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, July 23, edition that Michael Barth, an analyst at Raymond James, commenced coverage on ACT Energy Technologies, one of North America's largest directional drilling companies, with an "outperform" ranking and a $9 share target. The Globe's Darcy Keith writes that Mr. Barth notes that the stock is down about 30 per cent this year -- more than most of its peers -- and trading near two-year lows on the back of commodity price weakness and a related decline in drilling activity. He thinks that creates an attractive buying opportunity. Mr. Barth says in a note: "In our view, risk to industry drilling activity is skewed to the upside into 2026 while implied expectations suggest investors are pricing in further erosion to the active rig count. We also see an ACX-specific opportunity for margin expansion on the shift away from MWD rentals, which creates a significant EBITDA tailwind through 2025. The stock is trading at a about 17 per cent free cash flow yield on both our 2025 and 2026 estimates, and the company has ample capacity to max out an NCIB while continuing to grow the business." Mr. Barth believes additional M&A could represent significant upside to his estimates.