Riyadh – Mubasher: Albilad Capital placed a "Neutral" rating on Saudi Telecom Co. (STC), maintaining the fair value to SAR 68 per share.
STC posted a net profit of SAR 2.15 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016, 10.26% up from SAR 1.95 billion for Q4-15.
The research firm said that STC Q4 profits beat its estimate of SAR 1.9 billion, and the market consensus of SAR 2.08 billion.
The improvement in the company's Q4 earnings stemmed from non-operating items such as interest income, income from equity-method investments among others, Albilad Capital said.
The report added that the decrease in the cost of sales and doubtful debts provisions offset the rapid decrease in sales, the growth in general and administrative expenses and mounting depreciation and amortization expenses.
