T-Mobile (TMUS) - Get Report shares were higher after analysts at Nomura Instinet upgraded the wireless-service provider to buy from neutral and raised their price target to $96 a share from $88.
The price target represents 22% potential upside from the stock’s Monday closing price of $78.62.
The firm is bullish on the pending merger between T-Mobile and Sprint (S) - Get Report, the third- and fourth-largest carriers in the U.S., saying that the “long awaited” resolution of the merger “is now well within the investable time horizon and is likely within a month.”
Analyst Jeffrey Kvaal sees a positive resolution for the two companies as being the most likely outcome, but even if the deal falls through, T-Mobile shareholders will be winners.
“[The] nearly two years of uncertainty since the deal’s announcement -- more if counting false starts -- has held T-Mobile in valuation limbo," Kvaal wrote.
T-Mobile’s "faster sales, Ebitda and free cash flow growth rates should command a multiple premium to its closest peers.”
T-Mobile has proposed to purchase Sprint for $26 billion, but getting final approval for the tieup has been a climb.
The Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission have cleared the deal. But a group of state attorneys general have sued to block the link, saying that it would prompt higher cellular-service prices for consumers.
Despite the delay, T-Mobile CEO John Legere and company have operated the business effectively, Kvaal said.
T-Mobile reported strong revenue growth between 2017 and 2019, rising from $40.3 billion to $44.9 billion expected for full-year 2019, the analyst said.
In November, Legere said he would be stepping down in April after leading T-Mobile since 2012 and engineering the merger with Sprint.
At last check T-Mobile shares were 0.6% higher at $79.10 while Sprint shares were unchanged at $5.23.
