BofA Bullish on Saipem Growth Amid Contract Awards; Buy Maintained

10:26 AM EST, 01/05/2026 (MT Newswires) -- BofA Global Research reaffirmed Saipem's (SPM.MI) buy rating, supported by the Italian oilfield services company's $4.1 billion worth of contract awards in the last few days of December 2025. "This almost doubles the value of individually announced contracts year to date. We see this implying c.EUR5.4bn of new contracts for 4Q25 which brings the FY25 total to EUR12.9bn. After a 'slow' first nine months we see this bettering consensus by 6% and above Saipem's implied annual guidance of EUR12.5bn," the research firm said Monday. "Despite lower oil prices we see strong growth into 2026e, and beyond, with a high degree of visibility offered via a record contract backlog as well as a record pipeline of offshore bidding opportunities. We see its margin expansion story stretching into 2030 and see a <3x EV/EBITDA for FY26e versus a peer average of ~7x as an unwarranted discount gap." Analysts expect Saipem to see 5% year-over-year increase in revenue for 2026 and a 20% rise in EBITDA. The price objective for the company was also left unchanged at 3.40 euros.