The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Jan. 29, edition that AltaCorp analyst Tim Monachello sees improving fortunes for Canadian oil field services companies early in 2020. The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Monachello says in a note: "Over the first four weeks of January, Canadian rig activity is roughly 15 per cent higher year-over-year despite announced E&P budgets suggesting roughly 5-10 per cent lower spending in 2020 vs. 2019. In general, our conversations suggest most Canadian energy services providers are expecting activity to be at least flat from 2019 levels, with some expecting recent year-over-year industry activity gains to persist. We note that our analysis suggests that year-over-year activity gains in January have been most concentrated in shallow delineation activity in the heavy oil/oil sands regions and shallow developments in the Viking region where service intensities are significantly below regions like the Montney and Duvernay where activity is up 5 per cent and down 3 per cent respectively year-over-year." Mr. Monachello reiterated his "outperform" and $2.25 share target on Akita Drilling. Analysts on average target the shares at $1.88.