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HK Equities · Finance research note

HKEX 0728 - China Telecom Corporation Ltd. - H Shares

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2. Company Fundamentals

2.3 Management

Role Metric
Consensus Rating N/A

2.4 Return

Metric Value
Expected Return (Ann.)* -21.88%
Risk / Std Dev (Ann.)* 21.92%
1-Year Price Return* -23.06%

Latest Market Data (as of 2026-08-14, Hong Kong time):

Metric Value
Last Price HK$4.725
52-Week Range HK$4.24 – HK$6.49
Observation Count 245 trading days

The return and risk statistics use daily adjusted closes from the retrieved one-year price series and annualise daily moments using 252 trading days. The last price is the latest regular-market price reported for the stated date. Source: Yahoo Finance market data.

DuPont Model Analysis

The DuPont model decomposes return on equity (ROE) into three operating and capital-structure drivers:

ROE = Net Margin × Asset Turnover × Equity Multiplier

The comparison uses the latest two comparable annual periods available for the issuer, with reported statement amounts shown in HK$. Revenue and net income are income-statement flows; total assets and shareholders’ equity are year-end balance-sheet figures. This is a simplified year-end-balance DuPont comparison rather than an average-balance ROE calculation.

DuPont component Calculation FY2025 FY2024
Revenue Reported revenue HK$529.56B HK$529.42B
Net income Reported net income HK$33.19B HK$33.01B
Total assets Year-end reported balance HK$870.64B HK$866.62B
Shareholders’ equity Year-end reported balance HK$460.83B HK$452.39B
Net margin Net income ÷ revenue 6.27% 6.24%
Asset turnover Revenue ÷ total assets 0.6082x 0.6109x
Equity multiplier Total assets ÷ shareholders’ equity 1.8893x 1.9157x
ROE Net margin × asset turnover × equity multiplier 7.20% 7.30%

Source: Yahoo Finance annual statements. Values are based on the two latest comparable annual periods returned by the source; fiscal period labels use the statement period-end year.

2.5 FCFF DCF Valuation

Valuation basis: This research model follows a five-year, unlevered FCFF DCF. It starts from reported annual operating inputs, forecasts revenue and operating cash conversion under an explicit mechanical policy, discounts FCFF at WACC, applies a Gordon-growth terminal value, and bridges enterprise value to an indicative common-equity value per share. It is an analytical estimate rather than a recommendation or personalised target price.

Step 1 — Forecast Operating Profit and NOPAT

Reported operating input Value
Revenue HK$529.56B
Prior annual revenue HK$529.42B
EBIT HK$44.73B
Tax rate 22.20%
NOPAT = EBIT × (1 − tax rate) HK$34.80B
Forecast start-growth basis 0.03%
Forecast policy latest reported annual revenue growth, bounded to -10.00% / 15.00%

Step 2 — Calculate FCFF

Current FCFF building block Value
NOPAT HK$34.80B
Add: depreciation & amortisation HK$104.20B
Less: capital expenditure -HK$73.15B
Less/(add): working-capital cash-flow movement -HK$22.21B
Current unlevered FCFF HK$43.64B

Explicit FCFF forecast

Forecast year Revenue growth NOPAT D&A Capex Change in NWC FCFF Present value
1 0.03% HK$34.81B HK$104.23B -HK$73.17B -HK$22.21B HK$43.65B HK$42.16B
2 0.65% HK$35.04B HK$104.90B -HK$81.46B -HK$22.36B HK$36.12B HK$32.54B
3 1.26% HK$35.48B HK$106.22B -HK$90.40B -HK$22.64B HK$28.67B HK$24.08B
4 1.88% HK$36.15B HK$108.22B -HK$100.16B -HK$23.07B HK$21.14B HK$16.57B
5 2.50% HK$37.05B HK$110.93B -HK$110.93B -HK$23.64B HK$13.41B HK$9.80B

Step 3 — Determine the Discount Rate (WACC)

WACC input Value
Risk-free rate 4.71%
Equity risk premium assumption 5.50%
Beta 0.55
Cost of equity 7.72%
Pre-tax cost of debt 3.73%
WACC 7.22%
WACC validation within standard range

Step 4 — Estimate Terminal Value

Terminal-value input Value
Perpetuity growth rate 2.50%
Terminal value HK$291.22B
Implied terminal EV / EBITDA 1.84x
Terminal value as % of enterprise value 62.15%

Step 5 — Discount Cash Flows to Enterprise Value

Enterprise-value component Value
Present value of explicit FCFF HK$125.14B
Present value of terminal value HK$205.52B
Indicated enterprise value HK$330.66B
Discounting convention mid-year for explicit FCFF; terminal value discounted at year-end five

Step 6 — Convert Enterprise Value to Equity Value

Equity bridge Value
Indicated enterprise value HK$330.66B
Less: gross interest-bearing debt HK$49.31B
Add: cash and equivalents HK$111.52B
Add: affiliate investments HK$0.00
Less: minority interests HK$7.43B
Indicated common equity value HK$385.43B

Step 7 — Calculate Indicative Value Per Share

Per-share output Value
Shares used 91,507,138,699.00
Share-count basis reported diluted weighted-average shares
Current market price HK$4.67
DCF indicative value per share HK$4.21
Indicative value vs. market price -9.81%

Model Integrity Checks

Check Result
Perpetuity growth is below the risk-free rate pass
Perpetuity growth is below WACC pass
WACC is within the configured operating-company range pass
Terminal-year FCFF is positive pass
Terminal capex converges to D&A pass
Terminal-value concentration within review band
Implied price differs from spot by more than 30% within review band

2.6 Investor-Style Research Screen

Educational screen Result
Buffett-inspired cash-quality checks 4/4 evidenced checks
Lynch-inspired balance-and-growth checks 4/4 evidenced checks

Data lineage: Yahoo Finance public market and reported-statement data; retrieval timestamp: 2026-08-18 16:34:30.132430 UTC; latest reported fiscal period: 2025-12-31 00:00:00. Default assumptions: five-year forecast, mid-year discounting for explicit FCFF, a maximum 2.50% perpetuity-growth rate below both WACC and the risk-free rate, historical operating-ratio persistence, and capex convergence to D&A by year five. No sell-side consensus or management guidance is substituted for reported inputs. This is research and analysis only, not personalized financial advice.

2.7 Quantitative Factor Diagnostics

Model basis: Daily issuer USD excess returns are regressed in-sample using ordinary least squares on matching regional Fama–French factors. FF3 estimates market, size, and value loadings; FF5 adds profitability and investment. Coefficients are descriptive historical exposures, not predictions.

Estimation input Value
Regional factor set Asia Pacific ex Japan
Factor-return currency USD
Issuer-return basis USD adjusted total return
Estimation window 2025-08-20 to 2026-06-30
Aligned daily observations 210
Minimum observation requirement 120
Currency conversion for HK listings HKD adjusted close divided by daily USD/HKD close before simple daily return calculation

Fama–French Three-Factor and Five-Factor Results

Diagnostic FF3 FF5
Annualised alpha -38.69% -37.89%
Adjusted R² 0.03 0.02
Annualised residual volatility 21.69% 21.67%
Factor loading (t-statistic) FF3 FF5
Market excess return (Mkt-RF) 0.29 (2.36) 0.27 (2.03)
Size (SMB) -0.14 (-0.77) -0.21 (-0.91)
Value (HML) 0.41 (2.38) 0.39 (2.02)
Profitability (RMW) NM -0.12 (-0.50)
Investment (CMA) NM -0.11 (-0.39)

Definitions: Mkt-RF is the market return less the risk-free rate; SMB is small minus big; HML is high minus low book-to-market; RMW is robust minus weak profitability; CMA is conservative minus aggressive investment. Factor returns are sourced from the Kenneth R. French Data Library; issuer adjusted-return history is sourced from Yahoo Finance. For Hong Kong listings, adjusted HKD prices are converted into USD with daily USD/HKD closes before return calculation to match the USD regional factor basis. This is an in-sample historical regression; coefficients and t-statistics do not establish causation or predict future returns. This is research and analysis only, not personalized financial advice.

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