It’s a big day for Telstra today with their much anticipated strategy update happening as I type – a platform to articulate their plans moving, which so far has created a big move in the share price on open (currently trading down 5.5% at $2.74). Back on the 22nd of last month I made a bet with one of the dealers on our floor – after today’s announcement, I’m more confident that I’ll prevail. The bet was simple, he thought TLS would see a $1 handle before a $3 handle while I was obviously on the other side, thinking that TLS had more upside than downside at that level. We put a ‘pineapple’ on it and the stock traded within 2c of the target last week – but alas, we’re back in the mid 70’s today. I use this story simply to highlight the huge amount of varying opinion towards one of Australia most iconic companies – there are simply some exceptionally negative views on this stock. It’s hard to say they have no foundation, as the stock has been a clear ‘disaster’ in recent years courtesy of the white elephant NBN and explosive competition, however now more than ever the stock looks interesting. I’ll outline why below.
