Orange Rises Sharply as Deutsche Bank Raises Price Target
Orange shares posted one of the strongest gains on the CAC 40 index at the Paris Stock Exchange on Friday morning, boosted by a Deutsche Bank note that raised its price target for the French telecom operator and named it the bank's top pick in the sector.
In a note published in the morning, the German bank pointed out that the group will hold an investor day on February 19, which, from the market's perspective, should provide an opportunity to present new medium-term growth targets, three years after its last meeting with the financial community.
According to the German institution, another key topic will be the possibility of consolidation in the French market, as
Les Echos
reports that discussions regarding a potential acquisition of SFR are still ongoing.
On this matter, Deutsche Bank states that the price of the deal could turn out to be higher than expected, but also believes that the cost of the transaction should remain financially manageable for Orange, given the proposed financial structure and the strength of the incumbent operator's balance sheet, whose debt ratio is currently limited to 1.9x.
While the bank considers it possible that an announcement could occur before February 19, it does not expect Orange to unveil targets that incorporate this new scope.
At 9:40 a.m., the stock was up 1.5% while at the same time, the CAC 40 index was down by around 0.1%.
Orange is the French leader of telecommunications company. Net sales (including intragroup) break down by activity as follows:
- telecommunication services for individuals (76.9%): mobile telephone services (253 million clients at the end of 2024; Orange brand name in France, the United Kingdom and Caribbean, FTP Espana in Spain and PTK Centertel in Poland), fixed telephone services and Internet access (38.3 million clients). The group also offers services for telecommunication operators. Net sales break down by country between France (54.6%), Europe (21.8%), Africa and Middle East (23.6%);
- telecommunication services to businesses (18.4%): Internet access services, mobile telephone, voice and data transmission services and integration and information management for communication applications;
- telecommunication services to international telecommunication operators (3%);
- other (1.7%).
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