[ET Net News Agency, 12 October 2017] Credit Suisse cut its target price for China
Mobile (00941) to HK$100 from HK$110, and maintained its "outperform" rating.
The research house said the latest bout of underperformance from China Mobile shares
does not seem to have coincided with any particularly negative developments in either
competition or government policies.
Credit Suisse therefore maintained its FY2017 revenue growth forecast of 7.6%, though it
also trimmed its FY2017 EBITDA and net profit forecasts by 1.2% and 3.9%, respectively,
given poor operational cost control.
It said the big problem is the risk of 5G. There is a lack of visibility, and China
Mobile's track record understandably makes investors fear the worst. To attempt to address
this risk, Credit Suisse has increased its aggregate FY2020-23 capex forecast by 14.7% to
Rmb781bn, matching the Rmb781bn China Mobile invested across the FY2013-16 period in
rolling out fibre and 1.5mn 4G BTS at 2.6GHz. (KL)