[ET Net News Agency, 11 September 2020] Goldman Sachs lowered its target price for
China Unicom (CU)(00762) by 8.5% to HK$7.5 mainly due to the higher 5G cost assumptions
and higher net debt. Goldman maintained its "buy" rating.
The research house believes CU is well-positioned to capture the structural tailwind of
the DICT (data, information, and communications technology) business growth, with a
continued effort to strengthen its presence in the Government & Enterprise market, and
potential business cooperation and synergy with strategic investors including Alibaba,
Tencent, Baidu, and JD.com, per the company.
Goldman estimated DICT business to deliver revenue growth CAGR of 24% over the next
three years and to account for 18.2% of total service revenue in 2022 (versus 10.8% in
2019). Moreover, historically being the telecom industry laggard, CU is currently enjoying
upward elasticity, which Goldman estimated will translate to higher earnings growth at
7.4%/14.8%/10.0% in 2020/21/22, versus the industry average at -1.5%/+1.6%/+0.6%. (KL)