Telecom Italia S.p.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TI)

CoreAndExplore (68.11) Submitted: 5/18/2012 12:08:56 AM : Start Price: $8.58 TI Score: +30.79

It's in Italy.

inkstainedwretch (31.82) Submitted: 5/16/2012 9:37:36 AM : Start Price: $8.87 TI Score: -31.05

Bad, but not as bad.

RyanIdaho (89.08) Submitted: 12/16/2011 8:38:49 AM : Start Price: $9.30 TI Score: -47.48

Value is right

rstikele (32.15) Submitted: 8/23/2011 11:06:15 PM : Start Price: $10.23 TI Score: -62.35

TI provides wireless communication services in many countries, and wireless communication is on the rise

pdxorus (< 20) Submitted: 8/23/2011 5:13:48 PM : Start Price: $10.23 TI Score: -62.35

This is the big player in a growing market. It is undervalued.

crassus300 (< 20) Submitted: 7/20/2011 7:49:34 AM : Start Price: $10.87 TI Score: -49.08

If the Italian economy improves they will be looking to improve there infrastructure and broadband is vital for a modern country.

Weeeeeeeee (< 20) Submitted: 5/7/2011 11:03:07 AM : Start Price: $12.49 TI Score: -57.67

I've invested in the Telecom Italia prefered (savings) shares, symbol TITR, listed on the exchange of Milan. The savings shares have no voting rights, but in exchange for this you get a minimum dividend of 5% of the nominal value of the shares (E 0.55) when the company makes enough profit, and you will always receive a dividend that is 2% of the nominal value of the shares higher than the dividend on regular shares. This means that dividend yield for this year was about 8%, and if management's statements that they want to raise dividend payout by 30% over the coming years come true, you will be looking at a yield of 10%-11%. Combine this with a P/E of around 6, P/CF of 2.5, P/B of 0.6 and you are already looking at a very attractive investment. Granted, their ROE is not very impressive (although not too bad either), but at current prices this just means there is still a lot of room for improvement; and that is exactly what the company is trying. A few weeks ago, key members of the executive board were replaced by people brought forward by the largest shareholder, Telco, which is a joint venture set up specifically to own a large stake in TI, and of which Spanish Telefonica is in turn the largest shareholder. I expect that this new board will continue to increase shareholder value by cost cutting operations in Italy, further reducing debt (which is already quite low compared to a lot of competitors) and increasing operations in emerging market South America, notably Brazil and Argentina.

There is still a possibility that Telefonica will choose to increase its stake in TI, especially for the current low prices (they bought their current stake a couple of years ago when the regular share was still trading above E 2,-, and maybe buy the entire company in order to strengthen its own position in Latin America. This is far from certain of course.
All in all, I believe TI shares, and especially the savings shares, are a very promising long term investment.

EclecticRecluse (77.82) Submitted: 3/18/2011 3:58:46 AM : Start Price: $12.76 TI Score: -64.13

High Cashflow for Market Value

infiniti01 (< 20) Submitted: 2/15/2011 10:20:33 AM : Start Price: $11.92 TI Score: +55.95

While this stock has very good valuations, especially the fact that this stock is priced well below its book value, the debt levels are quite high; hence, the debt/equity ratio is @147%, and for a dividend of only 3.1%, the payout ratio is 66%. Even if this stock seems cheap, debt levels are too high, there is too much risk with debt default in Europe, especially Italy, and I would probably make more money buying China Mobile!

ohkrlll (< 20) Submitted: 1/12/2010 2:16:46 PM : Start Price: $12.29 TI Score: -79.05

Good fundementals.

NWTOGME (< 20) Submitted: 10/21/2008 3:44:41 PM : Start Price: $9.26 TI Score: -89.07

close enough