H2 was a better semester for the SA Telcos. Service revenue and EBITDA trends improved and capex – while still above historic levels – was contained. However, improvements were modest as the environment remains difficult and growth remains limited.
In this weekend update, we reconsider our initial takes on several events last week and how they could be affected by events this week. Specifically, we look at the interplay of the FCC’s Title II Order, the Second Circuit opinion upholding New York State’s mandate for ISPs to offer low-income households a low-cost broadband offering, Senator Cantwell’s draft spectrum bill, and how all are affected by the end of ACP funding in the next few weeks.
This note focuses mostly on model changes. Please see separate notes reviewing results and on thoughts following the earnings call. We lowered broadband adds, revenue and EBITDA. We also expect leverage to approach 4.25x by the end of the year. This likely rules out further repurchases this year, unless EBITDA is stronger than we expect. No change to thesis, though we expect Broadband stocks to be challenged for at least next few quarters. Price target is $431 (+69%).
What's new: in this note we cover the change to leverage and what it means for management’s confidence in the business, our evolving thoughts on broadband market growth, our outlook for 2Q24 for broadband adds, ARPU, and EBITDA, and thoughts on long-term pricing strategy.
What's new: Revenue and EBITDA in-line; FCF low due to working capital drag (timing); subscriber metrics worse than expected. Leverage down very slightly, as expected. Investors will be very focused on what management says about leverage targets on the call. We don’t have a lot to add on results, at this stage. We touch briefly on the following: Broadband market growth Charter's broadband growth Broadband ARPU growth EBITDA growth FCF and Leverage Lumos overhang
>Disposal of Spain, ahead of the upcoming divestment of Italy - We have downgraded our forecasts to reflect the disposal of Spain (but our forecasts do not include the divestment of Italy pending the regulatory agreement): we have reduced our sales estimates by 15% from FY 2025 (to € 40bn), by 5% for EBITDAal (to € 12.2bn) and by 12% for FCFaL (to € 2.6bn). The EPS impact is, however, not significant, as the Spanish unit is not profitable.Pro-forma FY 202...
>Cession de l’Espagne, avant celle à venir de l’Italie - Nous révisons à la baisse nos prévisions pour intégrer la cession de l’Espagne (nos prévisions n’intègrent toutefois pas encore la cession de l’Italie dans l’attente de l’accord réglementaire) : nous abaissons de 15% nos estimations de CA à partir de FY 2025 (à 40 Md€), de 5% en EBITDAal (à 12,2 Md€) et de 12% en FCFaL (à 2,6 Md€). L’impact BPA est toutefois non significatif, l’activité espagnole n’étant pas pro...
Despite a delay in our mix-driven earnings and FCF rebound case, Ericsson’s Q1 gross margin showed early signs of trends we believe should accelerate through 2024 and ultimately drive Infront consensus EPS revisions closer to our full-year adj. EBITA (17% above consensus), potentially triggering a re-rating. In our view, Ericsson’s soft market outlook commentary and implicit Q2 guidance should be seen in light of its ongoing union negotiations in Sweden amid lay-offs. We reiterate our BUY and SE...
>Underperform rating maintained, target price raised to SEK 52 vs SEK 50 - Following the publication of Q1 2024 results, we have raised our forecast for 2024 EPS by 7%, and our target price to SEK 52 vs SEK 50. The market and the timing of the recovery remains very uncertain. Furthermore, the group has not yet settled its cases with the US DoJ, meaning the threat of a further fine still hangs over it. Based on our new estimates, the valuation is relatively undemanding...
>Opinion Sous-performance maintenue, OC relevé à 52 SEK vs 50 SEK - Suite à la publication des résultats T1 24, nous relevons notre BPA 2024e de 7%, ainsi que notre OC à 52 SEK vs 50 SEK. Le marché et le timing de sa reprise reste très incertain. De surcroit, le groupe n’a pas encore réglé ses affaires juridiques avec le DoJ Américain, laissant peser la menace d’une amende supplémentaire. Sur la base de nos nouvelles estimations, la valorisation est assez peu exigeant...
We are initiating coverage of the mining equipment segment with Metso on Outperform, Sandvik on Neutral and Epiroc on Underperform. We have adopted a cautious scenario with demand stable or slightly up in the short term (mining business sales up +3% on average between 2024 and 2026), pending positive signals indicating a rebound in greenfield investments (not before 2027, in our view). In this scenario, we think that Metso should confirm the progress achieved in 2023 (margin improveme...
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