Determinants of stock prices in telecommunication industry: An application of fundamental analysis

Abstract

The present study attempted to assess the impact of fundamental ratios on the share prices of selected telecommunication companies in India. India has dramatically expanded over the past ten years to become the second-biggest telecoms market worldwide, with 1.17 billion users. The Indian telecom industry has proliferated thanks in part to the government of India’s liberal and reformist policies and strong customer demand. It has become a lucrative investment sector for investors due to its recent and prospective growth. Data on 13 telecom firms indexed in the S&P BSE telecommunication index from 2013 to 2022 were taken from companies’ annual reports, the BSE website (Bombay Stock Exchange), and other secondary sources. Six firm-specific fundamental factors viz. Debt to Equity ratio (D/E), Current ratio (CR), Total Assets Turnover ratio (ATR), Earnings per share (EPS), Price to earnings ratio (P/E), Return on equity (ROE), and three country-specific fundamental factors viz. Gross Domestic Product, Inflation rate, and S&P BSE Sensex return were considered. Fixed effect panel regression through Generalized Least Square (GLS) model was performed to find inferences. Debt Equity ratio and Inflation rate were found to impact share price negatively. Conversely, the Total Assets Turnover ratio (ATR), Earnings per share (EPS), Price to Earnings ratio (P/E), and Return on Equity (ROE) positively impacted selected companies’ share prices. The study results will benefit individual & institutional investors in formulating their investment and portfolio diversification strategies for gaining a high effective rate of return on their investments.