Recently, when discussing large-cap stocks with strong price gains, one notable name is PTT Public Company Limited (PTT). The share price has not only risen steadily but has pushed the market capitalization back to around 1.12 trillion baht.
Looking back at the closing price on 13 Aug 2026, PTT shares had gained 22.66% since the start of the year. Over the past year, the stock increased by 20.77%, and over the last three years, it rose by 9.79%.
The momentum for PTT appears ongoing, as on the morning of 14 Aug 2026 at 10:56 a.m., the share price stood at 39.75 baht, up 0.50 baht or 1.27% further.
This followed the announcement of the Q2/2026 financial results, which were notably strong, with PTT posting a net profit exceeding 52 billion baht, a robust 144% increase compared to the same period last year.
For Q2/2026, PTT and its subsidiaries reported total sales revenue of 830.389 billion baht, up 22.7% year-on-year (YoY) and 15.5% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).
Net profit soared to 52.525 billion baht, growing 144% YoY and 104% QoQ. Excluding special items, core profit reached 63.144 billion baht, up 278% YoY. Consequently, PTT's net profit for the first half of 2026 totaled 78.263 billion baht, a 74.5% increase.
The main supporting factors were the petrochemical and refining businesses' remarkable recovery. The refining business saw its Market Gross Refining Margin (GRM) rise to 16.2 USD per barrel, driven by higher product price differentials.
Meanwhile, the petrochemical business improved due to a wider spread between product prices and raw material costs. Additionally, the petroleum exploration and production group (PTTEP) delivered excellent results, with increased production volume and average selling prices reflecting global market trends.
Another key engine was the natural gas business, which showed significant operational gains. The gas separation business's gross profit rose due to lower gas costs under the new pricing structure (Gulf Price) introduced early in 2026, along with higher average selling prices and product sales volumes, especially from power plant customers with increased electricity demand.
However, some pressures remained in the quarter, including oil inventory losses of about 21.7 billion baht, unrealized foreign exchange losses of 1.321 billion baht due to a weaker baht, and net non-recurring losses of approximately 1.4 billion baht.
These mainly stemmed from estimated business plan adjustment expenses at GC's GCP subsidiary. Nevertheless, efficient control of selling and administrative expenses (SG&A) reduced their ratio to sales to 4.1% from 5.6% the previous quarter, helping sustain strong net profits.
From analysts' perspective, PTT's Q2/2026 results significantly surpassed both market consensus (Bloomberg) and broker forecasts.
Bualuang Securities' analysts said this better-than-expected performance led their research team to raise PTT's 2026 net profit forecast by 36% to 137.084 billion baht, representing 52% growth over the prior year, reflecting the strong Q2 results.
They maintained a "buy" recommendation and increased the sum-of-the-parts (SOTP) price target for the end of 2027 to 47.00 baht from 46.00 baht previously.
Looking ahead to Q3/2026, core profits are expected to continue growing year-on-year, benefiting from strong results in the gas, exploration and production (E&P), refining, and petrochemical businesses.
Although profits may decline slightly quarter-on-quarter following commodity price trends, overall growth remains a key factor supporting further share price appreciation.
Beyond profits, Bualuang Securities also highlighted PTT's very strong financial structure, with a low net debt-to-equity ratio of only 0.3 and cash holdings of 426 billion baht.
These factors not only reduce risks from commodity price volatility but also provide a cushion allowing PTT to sustain an attractive dividend yield of around 5-6% annually amid current valuations, which remain reasonable with a price-to-book value (PBV) of just 0.9 at the end of 2027, below the long-term average.
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