The Ausdrill Limited (ASX: ASL) share price has only seen minor movement in trade so far today, despite announcing a company rebrand late this morning.
What did Ausdrill announce?
The Aussie drilling group said it will adopt the name "Perenti" and "Perenti Global" as its new trading name and listed entity name from today.
Ausdrill said its evolution from primarily a drilling group to today's diversified global mining services offering as a key reason behind the proposed change.
According to the release, the Ausdrill name will be retained for the group's surface drilling operations in Australia, despite the new logo and rebranding for the company.
As part of the rebrand, Ausdrill is looking to change its ASX name and ticker, with "PRN" currently reserved by the company for this purpose.
How has the Ausdrill share price performed this year?
The Ausdrill share price is currently trading at $1.78 per share, having surged 58% higher since the start of January.
A strong earnings result in February and a broader rebound from its peers within the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO) have certainly helped, while recent company news has also boosted investors' hopes.
Ausdrill was announced as the preferred contractor for both West African Resources Ltd (ASX: WAF) and Atomos Ltd (ASX: AMS) in recent months, with strong signs of further upside for investors.
Foolish takeaway
The Ausdrill share price has certainly delivered for investors so far this year, but the real test will be the company's full-year August results.
While there is signs of further growth for Ausdrill or "Perenti" in the future, the company will need to post strong earnings given it currently yields just 2.70% per annum.
However, given the Ausdrill share price trades at just 11x earnings, it could be worth a look in a diversified portfolio in 2019, but I would remain wary of the notoriously cyclical mining sector at the minute.
The US–China trade war escalation has seen risk-off moves in both domestic and global equities, which has hit the Aussie resources and tech stocks hard so far in August.
