Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Telecom Company (STC) achieved better than expected profits worth SAR 2.53 billion in the first quarter of this year, with a rise of 5.4% year-on-year.

STC’s results beat NCB Capital’s (NCBC) and consensus’ estimates of SAR 2.25 billion and SAR 2.10 billion, respectively, NCBC said.

The research firm maintained its “Overweight” valuation on STC, with a price target (PT) of SAR 68.9.

The stock is trading at a price-earnings ratio (P/E) of 14.0x for 2017, NCBC noted, reasoning it to the attractive sustainable dividend yield.

STC profits rose 5.42% to SAR 2.53 billion in Q1-17, compared to SAR 2.4 billion in the year-ago period.

The company’s results beat the estimates of eight research firms stipulating that STC's net profits would decrease 6.86% year-on-year.