Although British Telecom shares have seen a remarkable run, shares in BT have now been downgraded from marketperform to underperform at Sanfod C. Bernstein, who have said that “pension worries will weigh on shares going forward.”
According to an article over on Market Watch by Barbara Kollmeyer, Bernstein has also stated that BT shares are now priced at a 15 percent premium to the sector which implies that the market more likely expects future pension deficit make up payments to be 40 percent up to 50 percent of their present level or expects “considerable operational outperformance.”
Bernstein also said that “Both of these beliefs and all of the combinations along the spectrum stretch our imagination to breaking point.”
The article also says that BT “is also an underinvested national infrastructure with too high market share in voice and a better and soon bigger cable competitor in the domestic market.”
Not being of a business mind when it comes to shares, this seems to sound as if BT isn’t doing too well, although that’s only my personal assumption and could well be wrong.