Bharti Airtel Gets a Bullish Call from Prabhudas Lilladher With a Target Price of Rs 2,226

Bharti Airtel's Resilient Q4FY26 Performance Driven by Strong Execution

Bharti Airtel's Q4FY26 results have shown a resilient performance, driven by strong execution across both its India and Africa businesses. In India, mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) grew 5.0% year-over-year (YoY) to INR257, though it remained largely flat quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) at INR259 in Q3FY26. Subscriber additions remained healthy at 4.7 million (vs. 4.4 million in Q3FY26), supporting mobile revenue growth of 8.3% YoY.

The company's Home services continued to deliver robust performance, with revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) growing 37.3% and 38.2% YoY respectively. The B2B business witnessed steady growth, with revenue and EBITDA increasing 3.3% and 5.4% YoY, respectively. However, the digital TV business remained under pressure, with revenue and EBITDA declining 2.3% and 14.3% YoY.

Consolidated EBITDA grew 16.6% and 2.3% YoY and QoQ to INR314.9 billion in Q4FY26. Revenue and EBITDA in FY26 grew 22.0% and 28.5% YoY. Management remains focused on driving ARPU growth through premiumization via bundled offerings, increasing postpaid penetration, and continued rural network expansion. Further, management remains optimistic on Africa's long-term opportunity and believes the region is on a growth trajectory like India over the last decade, which should support future growth.

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Outlook and Recommendation

We maintain our Buy rating on the stock with a revised target price of INR2,216 (earlier INR2,266), based on an implied 12x FY28E enterprise value (EV)/EBITDA for the India business, while additionally incorporating the value of investments in Airtel Africa, Indus Towers, and Bharti Hexacom.