Thursday, January 13, 2011

Vodafone's (NYSE:VOD) 2010 Won't Be Repeat Says Barclays

Vodafone (NYSE:VOD) faces an extremely tough year, according to Barclays, much tougher than investors may think at this time.

Barclays said, "Can last year's outperformance continue? Vodafone rightly closed its historical valuation discount to peers over the past 12 months, in our view. However, we believe the next 12 months will be tougher than many expect as austerity continues to weigh on earnings and regulation/competition is set to deteriorate, offsetting data growth. Although we still believe the US has scope to surprise on the upside, we believe this is largely priced in...Europe remains weak - voice/austerity offsets mobile data...Regulation, competition, technology also set to worsen."

Barclays downgraded Vodafone (VOD) from "Overweight" to "Equalweight." Vodafone closed Wednesday at $27.19, down $0.15, or 0.55 percent. Barclays lowered their price target on Vodafone from
196p to 192p.

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