Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Stock Price & How to Invest

Science Applications International Corporation is a Reston, Virginia contractor that designs, integrates and runs technology systems for federal agencies. It calls itself a mission integrator, which in practice means systems engineering, mission IT, enterprise IT and professional services delivered under roughly 1,700 active contracts by about 23,000 employees. The business reports in two segments. Defense and Intelligence produced about $1.47 billion of revenue in the quarter ended May 1, 2026, serving the Department of War (the renamed Department of Defense) and the intelligence community. Civilian produced about $440 million, covering federal civilian agencies plus state and local customers in areas like travel, trade and public health. In fiscal 2026, about 52% of revenue came from the Department of War and about 46% from intelligence and other federal agencies, with 98% of the total tied to prime contracts or subcontracts for the U.S. government. This is the company that kept the SAIC name in the 2013 separation; the parent renamed itself Leidos.

The investment picture is unusual because the two halves of it point in opposite directions. Revenue fell from about $7.48 billion in fiscal 2025 to about $7.26 billion in fiscal 2026, and management's fiscal 2027 guidance calls for organic growth of negative 4% to negative 2%. Profitability moved the other way. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 9.7% in fiscal 2026 and is guided to 10.1% to 10.3% for fiscal 2027, and the first quarter came in at 11.6%. Diluted share count dropped from 47.8 million to 44.0 million over the year on roughly $445 million of fiscal 2026 repurchases plus $188 million more in the first quarter. That combination took adjusted diluted EPS guidance to $9.90 to $10.10, up sharply, on a revenue base that is expected to be smaller. Backlog of roughly $22.9 billion covers about three years of revenue, free cash flow is guided above $600 million against a market capitalization near $5.3 billion, and a new leadership team drawn from Leidos took over in early 2026.

The central risk is stated in the guidance itself: management expects organic revenue to decline 2% to 4% in fiscal 2027, so the earnings growth on offer comes from margin and share count rather than demand. Customer concentration is close to total, with 98% of revenue tied to the U.S. government, which means appropriations lapses, agency efficiency reviews and program cancellations hit the whole business at once rather than a division of it; the 10-K notes the government shut down for 43 days beginning October 1, 2025 and that the Department of Homeland Security was still awaiting fiscal 2026 appropriations. About 62% of revenue comes from cost-reimbursement contracts, which limits downside on any single job but also caps how far margins can travel. Recompete losses are the structural threat in federal services, since large multi-year awards come up for rebid on a schedule and a single loss can remove hundreds of millions of revenue with no replacement in hand. Finally, the balance sheet carries roughly $2.4 billion of net debt and $2.94 billion of goodwill against about $1.4 billion of book equity, so a sustained revenue decline would compress leverage headroom and the buyback capacity that is currently doing much of the work.

10 analysts publish price targets on SAIC, averaging $121.50 against a $126.29 price as of August 2026, or -3.8%. The published targets run from $93.00 to $137.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 2 buy, 8 hold, 1 sell. Over the last six months there have been 6 raises and 5 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full SAIC forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Science Applications International Corporation. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Margin repair under new leadership. James C. The most optimistic published target, $137.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. The central risk is stated in the guidance itself: management expects organic revenue to decline 2% to 4% in fiscal 2027, so the earnings growth on offer comes from margin and share count rather than demand. The most pessimistic target, $93.00, is roughly what SAIC is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on SAIC, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Science Applications International Corporation's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$7.29B, versus ~$7.26B in fiscal 2026 and ~$7.48B in fiscal 2025
• Adjusted EBITDA: ~$708M in fiscal 2026 (9.7% margin); fiscal 2027 guided to ~$720M to ~$730M (10.1% to 10.3%)
• Diluted EPS: ~$8.89 trailing GAAP; ~$7.70 in fiscal 2026; fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS guided to ~$9.90 to ~$10.10
• Total backlog / book-to-bill: ~$22.9B at May 1, 2026 (~$3.7B funded); Q1 book-to-bill ~1.1x, trailing twelve months ~1.0x
• Market cap / valuation: ~$5.3B at ~$126 per share, about 14x trailing GAAP EPS and roughly 12.6x the midpoint of fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS guidance
• Balance sheet and capital return: ~$2.49B gross debt against ~$109M cash (~$2.4B net); free cash flow guided above ~$600M; dividend ~$1.48 annualized (~1.2% yield)

The multiple looks undemanding on earnings and less so on cash flow: an enterprise value near $7.7 billion against guided adjusted EBITDA of roughly $725 million works out around 10.6 times, which is a normal price for a stable federal services book and a full one for a business guiding revenue lower. The stock traded around $126 in late August 2026 inside a 52-week range of roughly $81 to $130, so most of the margin story has already been repriced. What the numbers do not settle is whether fiscal 2027 is the trough of a portfolio reset or the start of a slower drift, and backlog conversion over the next few quarters is the thing that answers it.

Other names that sit close to SAIC: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get SAIC exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so SAIC sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where SAIC fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

SAIC is a cash-generative federal services contractor whose earnings per share are rising on cost discipline and buybacks while its top line is guided lower, so the question is how long that arithmetic holds.

Whether SAIC is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is SAIC a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the SAIC stock forecast.

For income investors, whether SAIC pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does SAIC pay a dividend? And to weigh SAIC against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: SAIC vs LDOS and SAIC vs BAH.