CLSA retains ‘buy’ rating on Bharti Airtel after telecom major's entry into $100 billion mcap club

Shares of the telco major Bharti Airtel traded flat with a positive bias in Monday’s trade (June 10, 2024) even as Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA maintained its ‘buy’ stance on the counter with a target of Rs 1,540, implying probable gains to the tune of 8 per cent. The stance comes as the company recently entered India’s $100 billion market cap club. 

So, considering today’s stock movement, Bharti Airtel now ranks fourth in terms of m-cap only behind Reliance Industries (RIL), TCS and HDFC Bank. CLSA attributes the record gains in the company’s m-cap to three main drivers including high-growth scalable business, strong management, and global competitive edge.

Besides, it noted that Airtel’s robust growth in the mobile segment, backed by efficient management execution, has pushed it into the exclusive group of four Indian companies with m-cap exceeding $100 billion.

At the last count, Bharti Airtel shares traded higher by 0.5 per cent at Rs 1,432.95, while at the day’s high it scaled to Rs 1436.45, which is also the stock's fresh 52-week high price.

In an investor update, the company pointed out that its ARPU has increased to Rs 209 in Q4FY24, doubling from the lows registered in FY19.

Bharti Airtel share price performance

The stock of Bharti Airtel has gained nearly 72 per cent in the past one year outperforming the Nifty 50 index which has risen 26 per cent.

(This story will be updated shortly)