Bharti Airtel stock rises 2% post Q3 earnings, here's what brokerages say

Bharti Airtel share rose over 2% today after the telco reported a marginal fall in its net profit for the December quarter. The large cap stock touched an intraday high of Rs 726 , rising 2.42% on BSE. The large cap share has gained 20.17% in one year and risen 5.23% since the beginning of this year. Market cap of the firm rose to Rs 3.95 lakh crore on BSE.Later, the shares closed 1.52% higher at Rs 719.60.

The stock hit a 52 week high of Rs 781.90 on November 24, 2021 and a 52 week low of Rs 490.36 on March 25, 2021.

The telecom operator reported a 2.8 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 830 crore in Q3 against a net profit of Rs 854 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

Bharti Airtel's India revenue in Q3 rose 10 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs 20,913 crore from Rs 19,007 crore earlier. Consolidated revenue rose 12.6 per cent to Rs 29,867 crore in Q3 from Rs 26,518 crore in the December 2020 quarter.

Bharti Airtel Q3 results: Net profit falls 2.8% YoY to Rs 830 cr, ARPU rises to Rs 163

"The recent tariff revision for mobile services has gone down well and we are exiting the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs 163. The full impact of the revised mobile tariffs, however, will be visible in the fourth quarter. Our Enterprise, Homes and Africa business continue to deliver strongly, with steady increase in contribution to the overall mix of the portfolio," Bharti Airtel MD and CEO for India and South Asia Gopal Vittal said.

He added that the company's balance sheet is robust and now generating healthy free cash flows that enabled Bharti Airtel to prepay some of its spectrum liabilities to the government which led to a reduction in the interest burden.
 

The consolidated net debt of the firm rose to Rs 1.59 lakh crore in the December 2021 quarter from Rs 1.47 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

YES Securities said,"Bharti Airtel reported 3QFY21 operating profits at Rs 147 bn, marginally missing our estimate (YES: Rs 152bn) , but stood slightly better than street estimates (Rs 145.7bn). The miss on our estimates stemmed from higher than estimated network operating costs ( plus 5% QoQ) and S&GA expense (plus 14% QoQ), while ARPU at Rs 163, also stood above our estimate (Rs 161), partly offsetting impact of higher costs. "

Motilal Oswal in a report said, "Steady EBITDA growth; winning market share: Consolidated EBITDA grew 6% QoQ (above estimates), led by 6% QoQ steady growth in India Mobile EBITDA. This came on the back of steady market share wins and better growth versus RJio. EBITDA is up 22% since last year, highlighting that the healthy subs/ARPU equation is showing gains, without the full benefit of the tariff hike."