Analysts Remain Bullish On Bharti Airtel After Fourth-Quarter Results
Of the 30 analysts tracking Bharti Airtel, 28 have a ‘buy’ rating while one each suggest ‘hold’ and ‘sell’.
Shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd. hit an all-time high after the telecom operator posted its biggest revenue growth in 30 quarters.
The carrier’s revenue rose 8.1 percent sequentially to Rs 23,723 crore in the quarter ended March, higher than the Rs 23,154-crore estimate, according to an exchange filing.
The Sunil Mittal and SingTel-backed operator’s average revenue per user—the amount Bharti Airtel earns per subscriber per month—also jumped to the highest in 12 quarters at Rs 154. Despite steep tariff hikes and lockdown, the company was able to add new 4G users on its network.
Bharti Airetel, however, reported a loss for the fourth straight quarter. Its net loss widened to Rs 5,237 crore from Rs 1,035 crore in the preceding three months.
But that didn’t deter analysts from maintaining their bullish investment recommendation for the operator and raising their target prices.
Of the 30 analysts tracking the stock, 28 have a ‘buy’ rating while one each suggest ‘hold’ and ‘sell’. The average 12-month price targets tracked by Bloomberg imply an upside of 2.3 percent.
Shares of Bharti Airtel jumped as much as 10 percent to Rs 591.95 apiece, an all-time high, compared with a 2.2 percent gain in the benchmark Nifty 50 Index.
Earnings highlights
- Operating profit rose 10.1 percent to Rs 10,202 crore
- Margin expanded 80 basis points to 43 percent
- India business’ revenue rose 16 percent over the previous quarter to Rs 12,953 crore
Bharti Airtel Q4 Results: Fourth Straight Quarterly Loss Even As ARPU Jumps To 11-Quarter High
Here’s what the analysts have to say about Bharti Airtel’s fourth-quarter performance:
Jefferies
- Maintains ‘buy’ and hike target price to Rs 660 from Rs 585 apiece
- Fourth quarter: stellar top line growth
- Strong data subscriber additions despite sharp tariff hikes
- Ability to attract data subscribers should support market share gains
Ambit Capital
- Upgrades to ‘buy’ from ‘sell’ and hikes target price to Rs 808 from Rs 440 a share
- Continued record stellar sequential revenue growth in the crucial India wireless segment
- Non-wireless businesses witness improving trends
- Well placed to monetise the market via urban-focused offerings of wireless, broadband, enterprise and DTH
Morgan Stanley
- Maintains ‘overweight’ with a target price of Rs 575 apiece
- Strong overall operational performance and in the Indian wireless business
- ARPU, overall subscribers and data subscribers were better than estimates
- Provision was the only negative surprise, though it is out of prudence and there is no immediate risk of cash outflow on this yet
UBS
- Maintains ‘buy’ with target price of Rs 615 a share
- Fourth quarter solid with strong ARPU growth
- Major impact of Covid-19, a key monitorable, to be felt in upcoming quarter
- Commentary on Covid-19 and adjusted gross revenue case important in conference call
CLSA
- Maintains ‘buy’ with a target price of Rs 670 a share
- India mobile revenue ahead of estimates
- Enterprise, home broadband and DTH ramped-up
- Leverage is comfortable at 2.9times its Ebitda