Telecom Argentina SA posted its
biggest weekly gain since 2009 as investors were attracted to
its cheap valuation and high dividend yield relative to Latin
American peers.
Shares rose 3.3 percent to 20.65 pesos at the close in
Buenos Aires as trading surged to more than five-times the
three-month daily average. Today’s gain pushed the weekly five-
day advance to 15 percent, the best weekly performance since
June 2009.
Telecom Argentina, the country’s largest mobile phone
operator after America Movil SAB’s Claro, has risen for seven
consecutive sessions and increased 34 percent this month, the
best-performing Latin American stock with a market value over $1
billion after Brazil’s Tupy SA.
“Telecom has a very attractive balance sheet and it still
doesn’t look expensive, even after these gains,” Carlos Aszpis,
an equity strategist at brokerage Schweber Cia., said in a
phone interview from Buenos Aires.
The company trades at 7.9 times its trailing 12-month
earnings, 46 percent below the average of Latin American
telecommunication companies, while its dividend yield is 4.1
percent, above the average 3.9 percent for its peers, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Telecom Argentina has a 33 percent share of Argentina’s
mobile phone market, compared with 34 percent for Claro,
according to data from Signals Telecom Consulting.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Eduardo Thomson in Santiago at
ethomson1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Papadopoulos at
papadopoulos@bloomberg.net