Attijari Global Research (AGR) has revised its valuation of Maroc Telecom's target share price to MAD 117, offering potential appreciation of 24% to 2025. This positive outlook on the share's future performance on the stock market is based primarily on the operator's operational achievements, confirming the resilience of its business model despite the increasingly challenging regulatory and competitive environments observed since 2019, AGR explains in its recent «Research Report – Equity» titled "Maroc Telecom: resilience always pays off in the end». Indeed, the operator has successfully maintained a consolidated EBITDA margin (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) of over 51% and recurring earnings power of MAD 6 billion over the 2019-2024 period, according to the same source. Moreover, sector trends in Morocco remain promising, particularly with the strong performance of fiber optics and the advent of 5G, which are expected to offset the decline in mobile sales. In Africa, Moov subsidiaries, which contribute over 50% of Maroc Telecom's revenues in 2024, are projected to demonstrate more attractive growth, driven by robust momentum in mobile data, fixed internet, and mobile money. Furthermore, AGR notes that Maroc Telecom's proven ability to navigate exogenous shocks while ensuring shareholder returns is reflected in its debt repayment capacity, cash generation capacity, and sustained investment efforts. Starting in the fourth quarter of 2024, Maroc Telecom's share price is anticipated to benefit from an improvement in its risk profile as investors gain better visibility of future earnings and dividend trends. With this in mind, AGR's experts expect the stock's valuation levels to rise, aligning with the anticipated normalization of its dividend. Additionally, Bank Al-Maghrib's shift towards a more accommodative monetary policy in 2024 is likely to stimulate investor interest in yield stocks, according to the report. In this regard, AGR's analysts highlight that, considering the surge in market valuation levels, Maroc Telecom has emerged as the top yield stock among large caps, offering a recurring D/Y (Dividend Yield) of 6%, significantly outperforming the cement (3.8%), banking (3.5%), agrifood (3.4%), and energy (3%) sectors.
