Bharti Airtel Q4 Profit Beats Estimates; Should you Buy, Sell or Hold the Telecom Stock?

Bharti Airtel Share Price: Shares of Bharti Airtel were trading higher on Wednesday morning, a day after the company announced its March quarter earnings.

Bharti Airtel reported a 50 per cent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,006 crore for the quarter ended March 2023 from Rs 2,008 crore a year back. Sequentially, it was a surge of 89 per cent.

Revenue from operations stood at Rs 36,009 crore, up 14 per cent from Rs 31,500 crore reported a year ago. Revenue was up 1 per cent sequentially, Bharti Airtel said in an exchange filing.

Although the company beat estimates at the profit level, it missed the topline expectations.

What should investors do now?

Jefferies maintains a ‘Buy’ on Bharti Airtel for a price target of Rs 900. The revenues/EBITDA were in line but profits were ahead of its estimates. The company reported strong 4G and postpaid subscriber additions along with healthy FCF generation in the January-March quarter. Growth in homes and enterprise business remains strong, the brokerage said.

Credit Suisse recommends an ‘Outperform’ on the Bharti Airtel counter and estimates a price target of Rs 950. The Q4FY23 earnings were broadly in-line with its estimates. The India mobile revenue grew 1% QoQ led by subscriber growth while home broadband growth remained robust at 6% QoQ, the brokerage said further. Meanwhile, weakness in ‘Direct to home’ business continues.