There is no talk of anything else. The Saudis’ incursion into Telefónica has taken center stage in the business and political world for a week. A period in which the ‘teleco’ has seen its price boosted by more than 5%, which helps it to establish its market capitalization above 22,650 million. This push allows it to reach 4 euros per share and recover the levels it set before the summer after the setback that came with losing a wholesale contract with 1&1. A ‘rally’ from which the funds that include this value in their portfolio take advantage.
In Spain alone, more than twenty investment vehicles are exposed to Telefónica, whose weight in net percentage exceeds 10%, as occurs in Bancoa Bolsa. This fund, managed by Abanca, invests more than half of its money in Spanish equities, including heavyweights such as Inditex and Iberdrola, in addition to the aforementioned firm and contributor to which it has accumulated profitability so far. year higher than 11%.
120923 Telefónica funds – Infogram
In this sense, other products from the aforementioned manager also stand out, such as Abanca Renta Variable España (+13.3% profitability in 2023), in which the listed company chaired by José María Álvarez-Pallete has a weight of 5.9% . However, it is not the only national manager that is betting on the telecommunications group. The classification includes firms such as GVC Gaesco that have benefited from STC’s entry into the capital of the aforementioned Spanish firm through GVC Gaesco TFT (7.05% of Telefónica’s weight in the fund in net percentage) or GVC Gaesco Bolsalider-A (6.12%), as proof that many of them even have exposure through two or more products.
At the same time, CaixaBank, BBVA, Amundi, ING Direct and Catalana Occidente are other firms whose vehicles have Telefónica in their portfolio, according to information collected by ‘Bloomberg’. In none of them is the exposure less than 4%, a percentage that has contributed to reinforcing the positive performance recorded by the funds analyzed. Of the twenty funds analyzed, the vast majority posted double-digit gains for the year, with which they managed to beat the rise of the Ibex 35, which at the close of the European markets this Tuesday reached 14.9%.
The key now is whether it will maintain this upward path. Although most analysts predict that the emergence of the Saudi Telecom group can “put a floor” in the share price, JP Morgan questions this and warns that the tailwinds blowing for the company in the stock market may be temporary. It equips this operation with the entry of Etisalat into Vodafone in May 2022 and focuses on the fact that the British ‘teleco’ has lost around 40% of its stock market value since then.
“We hope that European authorities finally recognize the need for regulatory change to create healthy European champions,” the report notes, while questioning STC’s statements highlighting Telefónica’s growth potential. In the opinion of JP Morgan, operations such as the sale of Telxius towers in Spain, Germany and some regions of Latin America, as well as the entry of investors into the companies that control its fiber outside of Spain “do not agree” with the reasons that He uses the Saudi fund to become the main shareholder.
In the absence of the Government ruling on the approval of this historic movement within the shareholders, Telefónica’s board of directors is scheduled to meet on September 27, a meeting in which it will foreseeably address this movement. The group’s securities have recorded a revaluation of 16% so far this year, which leads it to reduce its potential to less than 8%, one of the lowest in the Ibex 35.
