Airtel shares rally 3% after Q2 profit jumps 31%; 4 brokerages bullish on telecom major, check share price targets

Market Mastery

Webinar by Vishal Malkan

Find the weak links

in your portfolio by Vishal Malkan

Shares of Bharti Airtel surged over 3 percent in early trade on Friday, November 6, after the telecom major reported robust earnings in the July-September quarter of the financial year 2026-27. The Sunil Mittal-led company release its Q2 FY27 results post-market hours on Thursday. The stock also remained in focus after brokerages maintained their positive outlook, with CLSA raising its target price to Rs 2,765.

Airtel shares opened with an intra-day high of Rs 2,120, up 3.06 percent from the previous closing of Rs 2,056.90, on the NSE. At around 1.51 pm, the stock was trading 1.09 percent higher at Rs 2,079.30.

Bharti Airtel Q2 results

Bharti Airtel reported a 31 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 8,888 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, driven by strong revenue growth across its India and Africa businesses, although higher network operating costs weighed on earnings. The telecom operator had reported a net profit of Rs 6,792 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

The telecom major’s revenue from operations rose 16.7 percent YoY to Rs 60,878 crore in Q2 FY27, compared with Rs 52,145 crore in the year-ago period. Consolidated EBITDA stood at Rs 35,240 crore, with an EBITDA margin of 57.9 percent.

Average revenue per user (ARPU), a key earnings metric for companies in the telecom sector, expanded to Rs 271 in Q2 FY27 from Rs 256 in the year-ago period.

Bharti Airtel's India revenue grew by 9.4 percent to Rs 42,308 crore. India mobile service revenue increased by 10.1 percent YoY, driven by strong customer additions and improved realisation.

Gopal Vittal, Executive Vice Chairman of Bharti Airtel, said the company delivered another quarter of consistent performance, with consolidated revenue increasing 4% sequentially, reflecting the strength of its diversified portfolio.

"Africa delivered a standout quarter with 6.7% QoQ constant currency revenue growth. Africa’s improving performance is also benefiting from the rollout of Airtel’s homegrown technology stack across markets, powering our go-to-market capabilities. Group-wide synergies are also beginning to deliver tangible operating gains," Vittal said.

Brokerages on Bharti Airtel share

CITI on Bharti Airtel: Buy, Target Price Rs 2,230

Brokerage Citi maintained its ‘Buy’ rating on Bharti Airtel with a target price of Rs 2,230, stating that the company delivered a robust performance in the second quarter of FY27, with India mobile revenue and EBITDA increasing 3.4% and 3.8%, respectively, QoQ. Both the metrics came in around 1% ahead of its estimates.

“This performance came despite elevated churn on account of premiumisation initiative taken during quarter (withdrawal of Rs299 plan), with stronger-than-expected ARPU accretion offsetting lower net subscriber additions,” said the brokerage

The enterprise segment too reported a strong quarter, with Airtel business revenue and EBITDA growing 11% and 15% YoY. Overall India revenue and EBITDA, excluding Indus Towers, increased 11% and 12%, respectively.

Citi said consolidated EBITDA stood at Rs 35,200 crore, up 5% sequentially and 1.5% ahead of its estimates. The brokerage added that capital expenditure and free cash flow generation were steady, although net debt increased 6% quarter-on-quarter, on account of the dividend payout during the quarter.

CLSA on Bharti Airtel: Outperform, raises target price to Rs 2,765

CLSA maintained its ‘Outperform’ recommendation on Bharti Airtel and raised its target price to Rs 2,765. The brokerage stated the company's Q2 FY27 consolidated revenue and EBITDA stood at Rs 60,900 crore and Rs 34,900 crore, respectively, registering sequential growth of 4-5% and year-on-year growth of 17-18%. Both the metrics came in ahead of expectations, supported by stronger performances in India and Africa.

India mobile revenue and EBITDA increased 3-4% sequentially and 10-11% year-on-year, respectively.

CLSA highlighted that Bharti had its highest ever postpaid net additions and ARPU reached Rs 271, up 3% QoQ and it is currently 24% higher than sector leader. Also, it emphasised that Bharti’s 2Q FY27 consolidated FCF was high Rs Rs 19,000 crore, or around $2 billion after leases and capex while gearing was low at 1.2x.

Equirus Securities: Long (Under Review), Target Price Rs 2,295

Equirus Securities has given a ‘long’ rating for Bharti Airtel with a target price of Rs 2,295 apiece, implying upside potential of 12 percent. The brokerage said Airtel’s Q2 FY27 results were marginally ahead of its expectations, supported by broad-based revenue growth and EBITDA margin expansion across business segments.

“The seasonally strong quarter (92 days vs. 90 days in 1Q) also supported performance. FCF generation remained healthy, while leverage continued to improve, with Net Debt/EBITDA declining to 1.28x from 1.38x in FY26 and 2.19x in FY25,” it said, adding the capex intensity declined to 20.5% vs 22.9% QoQ and 22.6% YoY, signalling improving balance-sheet strength and cash flow generation.

India Mobile wireless ARPU stood at Rs 271, in line with the brokerage’s expectations of Rs 271. However, subscriber additions were lower than expected at 0.2% QoQ vs the brokerage’s estimate of 0.6 percent.

“While Airtel continues to deliver consistent ARPU improvement, we believe a stronger focus on subscriber growth remains important to sustain overall revenue momentum,” it added.

JM Financial on Bharti Airtel share: Buy, Target Price 2,410

JM Financial Institutional Securities reiterated its ‘Buy’ rating on Bharti Airtel and marginally raised its target price to Rs 2,410 from Rs 2,400.

The brokerage said Bharti Airtel’s Q2 FY27 consolidated EBITDA stood at Rs 35,800 crore in Q2 FY27, coming in 1% and 4% above its estimates and the consensus estimates, respectively. The performance was supported by slightly better-than-expected India wireless EBITDA, driven by a 2.7% sequential increase in ARPU to Rs 271, partly offset by muted subscriber additions of 0.7 million, alongside strong growth in the Africa business.

Enterprise business revenue increased 11.4% year-on-year to Rs 5,880 crore, while EBITDA grew 15.1% to Rs 2,530 crore, supported by broad-based growth across its core business and digital services portfolio.

JM Financial also highlighted robust traction continues in the home broadband business, but the company continues to lag the market leader on subscriber addition.

The brokerage noted that India capital expenditure, excluding Indus, remained steady at Rs 7,430 crore in Q2 FY27 and Rs 15,440 crore in the first half of FY27. Additionally, Nxtra invested Rs 2,830 crore towards a land parcel for data centre expansion. Net debt (ex-lease liability) rose by 6,430 crore QoQ to Rs 88,300 crore due to dividend payment of Rs 17,860 crore.

“We are marginally raising FY28–29 EBITDA estimate by ~1% factoring in H1FY27 results; TP has been revised up marginally to INR 2,410 (from INR 2,400), implying 12.9x FY28E EV/EBITDA for India business (ex-Indus) versus 11.2x implied as per CMP,” it said.

The brokerage said it believes the industry’s wireless ARPU is likely to grow at around 12% CAGR over FY26–29, driven by regular tariff hike and multiple premiumisation strategies. There is also improved visibility of a tariff hike of around 15% in the next six months (given the last tariff hike was in July 2024) coupled with the government’s intent to ensure a ‘3+1’ player market and the industry’s requirement to improve RoCE amid inability to monetise the significantly incurred 5G capex, it added.