Deutsche Bank stays at 'buy' on Vodafone despite 'not great' underperformance
Vodafone Group
76.38p
16:54 03/06/25
Analysts at Deutsche Bank kept their recommendation for shares of Vodafone at 'buy', despite their underperformance versus the sector and the wider market year-to-date.
FTSE 100
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2,359.76
16:59 24/01/22
The company delivered total shareholder returns of approximately 16% in the back half of 2019, followed by the start of a recovery in organic service revenues in 2020, fading headwinds from currencies and with a deal to sell its Italian towers to Inwit at an "attractrive" multiple.
Alas, year-to-date the shares were down 26% in euro, having underperformed the Stoxx 600 telecommunications sector index by 8% and the wider pan-European Stoxx 600 by 4%.
"Not great for a supposedly defensive stock," said Deutsche.
Deutsche attributed that to liquidity issues during the stock market sell-off, local indices, emerging market exposure and the company's leverage.
The analysts trimmed their target price from 233.0p to 220.0p.