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To own Saipem, you need to be comfortable with a contractor that leans heavily on offshore asset based services and a large Middle East and North Africa footprint, while trying to keep capital light. The MoU with Modern Drilling Company in Egypt fits that story, but on its own it does not change the near term picture in a material way.
The key short term swing factor is still execution on the record order backlog and maintaining the 11.4% adjusted EBITDA margin seen in H1 2026, in the face of conflict related costs and higher depreciation. The biggest risk remains pressure on net margins if conflict linked charges and weak offshore drilling EBIT persist longer than expected.
The MoU around offshore drilling in Egypt links most closely to Saipem’s shift toward a capital light offshore fleet and partnerships that already support Asset Based Services revenue of €12,488m and a 16% adjusted EBITDA margin in H1 2026. Investors are watching whether this model keeps utilization healthy without stretching the balance sheet.
With offshore drilling only expected to be breakeven at EBIT in 2026 after downsizing and outages, any Egypt related work that feeds deepwater activity becomes part of the same rehabilitation story for that segment. The collaboration appears incremental to existing catalysts tied to backlog conversion, cost discipline and higher margin energy transition and infrastructure work.
Analysts are effectively treating Saipem as a margin rebuild story rather than a top line growth play. Forecasts point to broadly flat revenue over the next three years, while profit margins are expected to move from 1.7% today to 4.2% by 2029 as newer contracts and tighter project selection feed through.
On the earnings line, the consensus outcome sits at €660.7m by 2029 compared with €267.0m today. That implies roughly a 2.5x step up in profit, even though the analyst group is split between a low case of €435.8m and a high case of €1.1b. The MoU driven Egypt drilling opportunity would slot into these broader assumptions rather than redefine them.
Valuation work in the analyst report uses 2029 as the reference year. The current price targets assume Saipem could be earning €660.7m on revenue of €15.9b by then and trading on a P/E of 18.9x compared with 33.8x today, with a discount rate of 10.0% used to pull those cash flows back to 2026 prices.
Saipem's narrative projects €15.9b revenue and €660.7m earnings by 2029. This requires revenue to remain broadly flat and about a 2.5x earnings increase from €267.0m today.
Uncover why Saipem's fair value indicates a 13% potential upside to its current price that may not last much longer.
You might view the Egypt MoU as a modest add on, yet the most optimistic analysts already framed Saipem as a much bigger earnings story, pencilling in €17.1b revenue and €1.1b profit by 2029 before this update. That view leans on offshore strength. You can now decide whether this new drilling angle nudges your own expectations closer to, or further from, that bullish camp.
Explore 4 other Saipem fair value estimates, including one that suggests potential upside of up to 142% from the current price.
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If the Saipem story has sharpened your thinking about risk, balance sheets, and earnings rebuilds, it can be useful to line it up against other companies with very different profiles. The Simply Wall St Screener lets you scan for stocks that match your preferred mix of quality, valuation, and resilience in just a few minutes.
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