It is an obstacle course out there for mobile companies MTN and Vodacom. Both are trying to grow their businesses and attract investor interest while dealing with a plethora of challenges. From their origins in the 1990s until fairly recently there was little to worry about apart from managing burgeoning growth. But over the past few years it has become a race to extract growth in a sector filled with price pressure, complexity and challenges. MTN has a slight edge, as it is in recovery mode from huge 2016 losses and has interesting developments, including improving its network and listings in Nigeria and Ghana. Its progress is not reflected in the share price, which has lost almost 6% in a year. Its p:e of 65 is probably the reason. Vodacom has not fared much better, with its price gaining just 2% over a year. It trades at a p:e of 16.
Analyst consensus is to sell MTN and buy Vodacom. Momentum Securities analyst Sibonginkosi Nyanga says that based on current valuations MTN is...
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