After reporting an incredible quarter before the bell, shares of Dawson Geophysical Co. (NASDAQ: DWSN) surged 23% during trading yesterday. For the quarter, Dawson earned 98 cents per share vs. analyst expectations of 76 cents per share. The company also handily beat revenue expectations. According to a statement by Dawson, the incredible results "reflect continued brisk domestic exploration activities by Dawson's clients, particularly those seeking natural gas."

This is no surprise -- Dawson beat expectations in four of the last five quarters. Like any company that consistently beats analyst expectations, shares of Dawson are up big in the last couple years. However, even at these levels I think the stock could make for an interesting momentum play.

Even after its surge in share price, the company's total market cap is only around $500 million without even considering the remarkably strong balance sheet. I expect Dawson to do about $290 million in sales next year -- slightly above the consensus estimate. On those sales, I expect an operating margin between 15 and 17%. This gives us an EBIT estimate of about $46.4 million. Assuming the company's cash balance remains roughly the same, this creates an "earnings yield" of about 9.2%. For a company growing at the ridiculous rates that Dawson is, I think this is a rather cheap price to pay.

Similarly, I think the technical perspective for the stock is very interesting:

Continue reading Dawson Geophysical in play

Dawson Geophysical in play originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.