ForBarr downgrades Spark

Spark's dividend expectation weighs on rating. (Image: Spark)

Thu, 29 Jun 2023

Forsyth Barr has downgraded Spark from outperform to neutral and reduced its target price from $5.50 to $5.45.Shares in the telco were trading at $5.12 at midday Thursday.Analysts Aaron Ibbotson and Benjamin Crozier said in a note they expected lower cloud revenues and margins with dividends expected to fall by 3% by the 2025 financial year.“Over the next few years, we expect mobile to continue to show strong trends, but believe a combination of accelerating headwinds in private cloud and lower free cash flow as Spark invests in data cent...

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