Shares of Bharti Airtel fell after two sessions of gains today as broader market corrected in line with global equities. The telecom stock slipped 3 per cent to Rs 810.25 against the previous close of Rs 835.35 on BSE. Despite today’s fall, Bharti Airtel shares are trading 3.52 per cent away from the 52-week high of Rs 841.3.
Market cap of the firm fell to Rs 4.52 lakh crore on BSE. A total of 3.01 lakh shares of the telco changed hands amounting to a turnover of Rs 24.49 crore on BSE.
The share has gained 14.05 per cent in one year and risen 18.89 per cent since the beginning of this year.
Meanwhile, JM Financial has a buy call on Bharti Airtel with a target price of Rs 930.
The brokerage believes tariff hikes are likely to be more frequent, going forward, with Jio more willing to participate in tariff hikes given that it also needs to start focusing on profitability (and not just on subs additions) as it prepares for its potential IPO in the next 1-2 years and given the high capex for 5G rollout. In this scenario, it believes the sector could see significant re-rating, and Bharti could gain significantly given its sticky and premium quality of its subscribers, ensuring that tariff hikes flow through to ARPUs.
The Sunil Bharti Mittal-led firm reported a stellar set of earnings for the quarter ended September. Airtel on October 31 reported an 89.1 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,145.20 crore compared with Rs 1,134 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
Revenue in Q2 climbed 21.9 per cent YoY to Rs 34,526.80 crore compared with Rs 28,326.40 crore in the same quarter last year. The telecom operator said the revenue growth was driven by strong and consistent performance delivery across its portfolio. The global customer base crossed the 50 crore level during the quarter, Bharti Airtel said.
Global brokerage firms Morgan Stanley, Citi and JP Morgan are positive on Bharti Airtel with target prices of Rs 825, Rs 955 and Rs 860, respectively.
“Strong revenue growth in India business across multiple segments, better-than-expected ARPU (Average revenue per user) in India mobile are among key positives,” Morgan Stanley said.
Meanwhile, Sensex fell 267 points or 0.44 per cent to trade at 60,855 and Nifty lost 74 points or 0.41 per cent to 18,072.
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