First-quarter earnings lift PLDT shares higher

INVESTORS turned bullish on PLDT, Inc. last week after the release of its first-quarter earnings report, which was ahead of forecast for both net income and core profit, analysts said.

Data from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) showed a total of 888,690 PLDT shares worth P1.68 billion exchanged hands from May 10 to 13, making it the sixth most actively traded stock last week.

The company’s shares finished at P1,930 apiece on Friday, up by 2.1% week on week. Year to date, the stock’s price increased by 6.5%. Local financial markets were closed on May 9 due to the national elections.

Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said PLDT’s movement was mainly anchored on its recently released quarterly income report, which was mildly ahead of the street’s forecasts.

In a separate e-mail, Philippine National Bank Senior Equity Research Analyst Jonathan J. Latuja said that apart from the earnings results, which he said were generally in line with expectations, no developments drastically affected the stock price.

Last Tuesday, the telco giant announced that it was planning to build more data centers as the group is now approaching capacity limits.

On May 5, PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said that the company had effectively been given license for its enterprise side to go ahead and expand.

The company’s goal is to position the country as Asia-Pacific’s next digital hub and destination. PLDT has been serving the requirements of some global technology companies through its data centers.

Mr. Latuja said the strategy is expected from PLDT and that its new business segment is a relevant growing space that the telco company must be present in. But he said its contribution to PLDT’s topline and bottom line would not be as significant as its core telco businesses, namely: fixed line and wireless services. —