Singtel stock recovers by 25% from decade low: Maybank

Recovery was underpinned by associate companies.

Singtel’s stock has recovered by 25% from its decade low, Maybank Kim Eng reported.

Maybank said the recovery was underpinned by associate companies. With the Indian telco undergoing a structural shift, associate companies like Bharti are benefiting from a surge in data usage whilst gaining more market share from 2G to 4G conversion as 4G subscriber additions at 14.4m QoQ was higher than Reliance Jio's 7.3m in 2Q.

They calculate associate income may contribute to the bottomline by growing 27% over the same period, led by Bharti.

Maybank also predicts that Singtel will have a compound annual growth rate of 5.9% over FY21 to FY23 on earnings recovery from the pandemic.

However, RHB Group said competition will still remain fierce in 2021 because of progressive recovery in mobile-related revenues and pick-up in economic activities.

Last year, Singapore rolled out its plans for 5G in the country with Singtel as one of the telcos announced by The Infocomm Media Development Authority winners for 5G Call for Proposal.

RHB also said it does not see 5G as a game-changer, with key risks such as competition and monetisation of 5G services.