Berenberg Lifts Price Target, Estimates for Thales After 'Strong' H1 Defense Performance; Hold Maintained

07:01 AM EDT, 07/28/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Berenberg raised its price target and earnings projections for Thales (HO.PA), saying the "strong" first-half performance of the company's defense business helped offset weakness in its space and digital identity units. "We update our Thales estimates following the company's H126 results on 23 July. We are encouraged to see greater confidence from management regarding the outlook in the Defence segment, although we wait for firmer signs of a recovery in the Cyber & Digital segment before turning more positive. We raise our EPS estimates by 1-4%, increase our price target to EUR275 (from EUR265) and reiterate our Hold rating," the research firm said Tuesday. For the first six months of 2026, the defense technology company's total reported sales climbed 6.7% year over year to 10.95 billion euros, up 7.8% at constant scope and exchange rates. The growth was primarily attributed to sustained double-digit growth in defense, which analysts said counterbalanced "weaker" results in other divisions. Against this backdrop, analysts boosted their full-year 2026 free cash flow forecast by 432 million euros to 2.41 billion euros and lifted their sales projections for 2026 through 2028 by 1.3%, 1.3% and 1.4%, respectively.