Overweight on Bharti Airtel, target price Rs 1,880: Axis Securities

Axis Securities has an overweight call on Bharti Airtel with a target price of Rs 1,880. The current market price of Bharti Airtel is Rs 1587.5. Bharti Airtel, incorporated in 1995, is a Large Cap company with a market cap of Rs 969654.35 crore, operating in Telecommunications sector.

Bharti Airtel's key products/revenue segments include Service Revenue and Sale of Products for the year ending 31-Mar-2024.



Financials
For the quarter ended 30-09-2024, the company has reported a Consolidated Total Income of Rs 41728.00 crore, up 7.35% from last quarter Total Income of Rs 38869.90 crore and up 11.65% from last year same quarter Total Income of Rs 37374.20 crore. The company has reported net profit after tax of Rs 3079.50 crore in latest quarter.

The company's top management includes Mr.Sunil Bharti Mittal, Mr.Gopal Vittal, Ms.Chua Sock Koong, Mr.Tao Yih Arthur Lang, Mr.Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Ms.Nisaba Godrej, Ms.Kimsuka Narasimhan, Mr.Shyamal Mukherjee, Justice(Retd)Arjan Kumar Sikri, Mr.Sunil Bharti Mittal, Mr.Douglas Anderson Baillie, Mr.Gopal Vittal, Ms.Chua Sock Koong, Mr.Tao Yih Arthur Lang, Mr.Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Ms.Nisaba Godrej, Ms.Kimsuka Narasimhan, Mr.Shyamal Mukherjee, Justice(Retd)Arjan Kumar Sikri, Mr.Douglas Anderson Baillie. Company has Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP as its auditors. As on 30-09-2024, the company has a total of 609 Crore shares outstanding.

Investment Rationale
Bharti Airtel anticipates no immediate significant capital expenditure despite the rollout of 5G. Management expects Capex levels to remain stable, with investments focused on broadband expansion, enterprise solutions, and data centres. However, Capex related to 4G radio is expected to decline. Airtel has identified over 2,500 sites for network cost reduction initiatives, which will contribute to lowering operating costs in the future. Axis Securities'BUY rating on the stock is retained due to the company's superior margins, impressive subscriber growth, and increased 4G conversions. The brokerage is overweight on Bharti Airtel with a target price of Rs 1,880.

Key risks: Competitors may eat market share resulting in loss of sustainable revenue.

Promoter/FII Holdings
Promoters held 53.14 per cent stake in the company as of 30-Sep-2024, while FIIs owned 25.07 per cent, DIIs 18.63 per cent.