In his most recent note on Dec 3, Baker observes that for the first half ended September, Optus increased ebitda by 7.4% with revenue up 4.1%, while costs were cut by A$80 million.
Morningstar analyst Dan Baker has somewhat reversed his previously conservative stance on Singapore Telecommunications (SGX:Z74
) , raising his fair value for the counter slightly from $3.37 to $3.46, along with his four-star rating.
Just over a month ago, Baker downgraded Singtel's moat rating to no-moat mainly because of Optus' poor profitability, which has averaged operating profit of $240 million per year over the past four years at an estimated return on invested capital of under 2%.
