Exane sees improving earnings for European telcos; prefers Orange, Telia and KPN

Elisa Oyj

10/04/2025 11:44

** Exane BNP Paribas says European telecom operators can offer more than a near-term hiding place for investors after years of underperformance

** It says U.S. tariffs and recession fears are dragging the sector into spotlight, with its improving earnings outlook and potential support from market consolidation

** Exane considers Orange ORAN.PA, Telia TELIA.ST and KPN KPN.AS (all "outperform") to be the "all-star" telcos of the year

** It upgrades Telecom Italia TLIT.MI to "outperform" from "neutral" seeing a potential upside from Italian consolidation

** It raises BT Group BT.L and Elisa ELISA.HE to "neutral" from "underperform"

** It cuts Swisscom SCMN.S to "neutral" from "outperform", saying the Swiss group is no longer a safe haven given risks in Switzerland and Italy

** It also downgrades Germany's 1&1 1U1.DE and United Internet UTDI.DE to "underperform" from "neutral" on worsening German trends

 (Reporting by Tiago Brandao)

 ((Tiago.Brandao@thomsonreuters.com;))