United Securities Keeps stc's Hold Rating Post-Q2 Earnings

12:51 AM EDT, 08/14/2026 (MT Newswires) -- United Securities LLC reiterated its hold rating on Saudi Telecom Co (SASE:7010), d/b/a stc, with a price target of 44 Saudi riyals, following the telecommunications company's second-quarter results. "STC's financial performance remained steady in the current quarter and came in marginally ahead of our forecast. Its core telecom operations reported an improvement, supported by consistent growth in its subscriber base. Subsidiary performance also remained encouraging, with cumulative revenue growing 8.4%, while gross profit grew by a higher 16.7%," the research firm said Thursday. For the three months ended June 30, the Tadawul-listed company's revenue rose 3.7% year over year to 20.17 billion riyals, aligning with United Securities' forecast. Meanwhile, stc reported a net profit of 3.62 billion riyals, down 5.2% due to a zakat reversal but above analysts' estimate by 3.8% on lower-than-anticipated tax provisions. "Looking ahead, we forecast STC's revenue to continue improving, driven by steady performance in its telecom operations and continued high growth from its subsidiaries. EBITDA margin for 1H26 came in at 32.3%, and we forecast it to slightly moderate in 2H26. At 15.5x its 2027E EPS, we see limited upside to the stock from current levels," the note said.