Berenberg cuts Vodafone target price8 Nov 2023 14:48
Vodafone (VOD) is already one of the worst-performing telecoms stocks and Berenberg is concerned about the ‘achievability’ of 2023/24 guidance.
Analyst Carl Murdock-Smith retained his ‘hold’ recommendation and reduced the target price from 85p to 80p on the Citywire Elite Companies AAA-rated stock, which softened 0.9%, or 0.7p, to 78.2p yesterday.
Vodafone’s poor performance is ‘largely due to depressing full-year results in May, which included disappointing guidance, a poor performance in Germany and a frank assessment of Vodafone’s need to change, by new permanent chief executive Margherita Della Valle’.
Murdock-Smith said since May, the group has made ‘three major announcements, on M&A in the UK and Spain and a national roaming agreement with 1&1 in Germany, but to only muted reception’.
‘Looking ahead to the first half results on 14 November, we worry that the results may raise concerns about the achievability of 2023/24 guidance, while questions linger about longer-term German capex and dividend sustainability,’ he said.
(Source: Citywire)