[ET Net News Agency, 14 October 2019] Jefferies Research believes China Tower (00788)
could beat consensus in the next two quarters, driven by 2G re-farming at both China
Mobile (00941) and China Unicom (00762), and 5G build.
For 3Q (reporting on 18 October), the research house estimated YoY growth of 7.5% in
revenue, 8.8% in EBITDA (pre-IFRS16) and 166% in net profit. Its 2H operating profit
forecast is 4% above consensus, but net profit is 29% above, owing to lower-than-consensus
capex driving lower interest expense.
Jefferies maintained its "hold" rating on Tencent, with a target price of HK$1.93. (KL)
Jefferies believes the network sharing plan between China Unicom and China Telecom
(00728) will not affect China Tower's near-term prospects for strong earnings growth. It
said the stock may have corrected too much recently. (KL)