China Tower Corporation Limited (HKG:788) Just Reported And Analysts Have Been Lifting Their Price Targets

Last week, you might have seen that China Tower Corporation Limited (HKG:788) released its yearly result to the market. The early response was not positive, with shares down 8.2% to HK$11.22 in the past week. Revenues of CN¥98b were in line with forecasts, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) came in below expectations at CN¥0.61, missing estimates by 4.4%. Earnings are an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance, look at what the analysts are forecasting for next year, and see if there's been a change in sentiment towards the company. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analysts are expecting for next year.

See our latest analysis for China Tower

Taking into account the latest results, the consensus forecast from China Tower's twelve analysts is for revenues of CN¥101.7b in 2025. This reflects a reasonable 4.0% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to shoot up 20% to CN¥0.74. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of CN¥102.0b and earnings per share (EPS) of CN¥0.75 in 2025. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates.

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With the analysts reconfirming their revenue and earnings forecasts, it's surprising to see that the price target rose 5.6% to HK$13.21. It looks as though they previously had some doubts over whether the business would live up to their expectations. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so - it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. There are some variant perceptions on China Tower, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at HK$15.09 and the most bearish at HK$9.41 per share. These price targets show that analysts do have some differing views on the business, but the estimates do not vary enough to suggest to us that some are betting on wild success or utter failure.

Taking a look at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can understand these forecasts is to see how they compare to both past performance and industry growth estimates. We can infer from the latest estimates that forecasts expect a continuation of China Tower'shistorical trends, as the 4.0% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2025 is roughly in line with the 4.9% annual growth over the past five years. Juxtapose this against our data, which suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the industry are forecast to see their revenues grow 3.6% per year. It's clear that while China Tower's revenue growth is expected to continue on its current trajectory, it's only expected to grow in line with the industry itself.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that there's been no major change in sentiment, with the analysts reconfirming that the business is performing in line with their previous earnings per share estimates. They also reconfirmed their revenue estimates, with the company predicted to grow at about the same rate as the wider industry. We note an upgrade to the price target, suggesting that the analysts believes the intrinsic value of the business is likely to improve over time.

Following on from that line of thought, we think that the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. We have estimates - from multiple China Tower analysts - going out to 2027, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Don't forget that there may still be risks. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for China Tower that you should be aware of.

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This article by Simply Wall St 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. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.