Telstra share price down 21% since February. Is it now in the buy zone?

Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) has seen a significant correction to its share price over the past few months, declining by around 21% since early February. Does this now place Australia’s largest telecommunications provider in the buy zone?

Strong continued demand for telco services

Although Telstra’s share price fall has been in line with many other S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) listed shares, I don’t believe the sharp sell-off was fully justified.

While many ASX listed companies have seen a decline in demand for their products or services, over the past few months, Telstra’s broadband and mobile services are proving to be essential to both businesses and consumers throughout the coronavirus crisis. This has helped with strong continued demand. There has been a sharp increase in fixed broadband bandwidth with more Aussies working from home, people keeping in touch with family and friends online and staying entertained through streaming media services like Netflix.

T22 strategy still on track

In a market update in March, Telstra revealed that it still appears to be on track to achieve most of the goals it had put in place as part of its T22 strategy, which includes reducing underlying fixed costs by $2.5 billion annually by the end of FY22. Telstra also announced that it would move forward capital expenditure initiatives, from the second half of FY 2021 into the calendar year 2020, to increase its overall network capacity and to accelerate the rollout of its 5G network.

In fact, Telstra was actually part of a small group of ASX 200 companies which were recently able to reaffirm their guidance in light of the coronavirus impact. However, the telco provider did acknowledge in its March update, that it expects both free cash flow and EBITDA for FY2020 to be at the bottom end of its guidance range.

In addition, the defensive nature of Telstra’s telecommunications business model, the continued demand for its services throughout the crisis and its strong free cash flow positions it well to maintain its current dividend of 16 cents per share. On current prices, Telstra pays a trailing fully franked dividend yield of 3.24%.

Foolish takeaway

I believe that Telstra was, to some degree, unfairly caught up in the wider market sell-off triggered by the coronavirus crisis. I feel that long-term, focused investors are presented with a fairly good buying opportunity after its recent market correction. Telstra’s fundamentals remain solid and Australia’s largest telecommunications provider appears reasonably placed for long-term growth over the next five to 10 years, driven by its market-leading position in the rollout of 5G services. I currently prefer it over its other rivals such as Optus, Vodafone-TPG and Vocus Group Ltd (ASX: VOC).

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Motley Fool contributor Phil Harpur owns shares of Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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