[ET Net News Agency, 5 November 2018] Jefferies Research lifted its target price for
China Telecom (CT)(00728) to HK$10.63 from HK$4.35, and maintained its "buy" rating.
The research house said CT offers the same 2x upside as China Unicom (CU)(00762) in the
event of a CT/CU merger, which Jefferies views as increasingly likely and assumed is done
via a share swap.
Jefferies' new target price is based on CT having a 54% share of the merged company,
which it valued at HK$1,552bn on DCF, close to China Mobile's (00941). Upside would come
from an estimated Rmb384bn of cost savings (2020-2026) in capex, marketing, network
operations and tower leasing.
Without a merger, Jefferies said its CT valuation would fall to HK$4.80-5.09. (KL)