Telecom Italia upgraded to Buy at Gabelli & Co
Gabelli & Co upgrades TI to Buy from Hold. Firm notes TI has endured an abysmal 2016 in terms of share price performance, with a YTD loss of 34.7%, effectively underperforming the whole of the European telecom sector, which itself has struggled. The share price looks to have decoupled from company fundamentals -- 3Q company results easily exceeded expectations and provided yet further evidence of a sustainable turnaround. They view the pressure on TI shares to stem more from political and macro concerns for Italy as a whole than any legitimate concerns about the company's outlook. They also believe Q2 marked an inflection point with domestic EBITDA growth for the first time since 2009, and see TI moving decisively towards domestic rev stabilization in 2017, another key milestone; €0.98 PMV.