What Do Analysts Think About The Future Of China Telecom Corporation Limited's (HKG:728)?

Since China Telecom Corporation Limited (HKG:728) released its earnings in September 2018, the consensus outlook from analysts appear fairly confident, with earnings expected to grow by 13% in the upcoming year against the past 5-year average growth rate of 1.7%. Currently with trailing-twelve-month earnings of CN¥19b, we can expect this to reach CN¥21b by 2019. I will provide a brief commentary around the figures and analyst expectations in the near term. Readers that are interested in understanding the company beyond these figures should research its fundamentals here.

See our latest analysis for China Telecom

Can we expect China Telecom to keep growing?

The 23 analysts covering 728 view its longer term outlook with a positive sentiment. Given that it becomes hard to forecast far into the future, broker analysts tend to project ahead roughly three years. To get an idea of the overall earnings growth trend for 728, I’ve plotted out each year’s earnings expectations and inserted a line of best fit to determine an annual rate of growth from the slope of this line.

By 2021, 728's earnings should reach CN¥30b, from current levels of CN¥19b, resulting in an annual growth rate of 13%. EPS reaches CN¥0.38 in the final year of forecast compared to the current CN¥0.23 EPS today. Margins are currently sitting at 5.1%, which is expected to expand to 7.1% by 2021.

Next Steps:

Future outlook is only one aspect when you're building an investment case for a stock. For China Telecom, I've compiled three fundamental factors you should look at:

1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk.
2. Valuation: What is China Telecom worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether China Telecom is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Other High-Growth Alternatives : Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of China Telecom? Explore our interactive list of stocks with large growth potential to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.

Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.