Could the Medibank share price be on the road to recovery?

The Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) share price is decidedly in the green today, up 2.63% to $2.93.

Medibank shares hit a new 52-week low of $2.76 last Friday as the fallout continued from its cyberattack.

The Medibank share price has lost 14% of its value since news of the cyberattack broke two weeks ago.

Is the Medibank share price on its way back up?

That’s a very hard call to make. Sure, the Medibank share price is up today. But this cyberattack story isn’t over. There is likely going to be more news to come and the share price will react each time.

As my Fool colleague James reported yesterday, Medibank has already put a number on the damage. Medibank estimates that its half-year earnings will be impacted by $25 million to $35 million pre-tax.

This doesn’t include potential remediation costs or regulatory and litigation costs. Nor the brand damage and potential customer churn.

According to the annual EFTM Mobile Phone Survey published on Friday, 10.32% of Optus customers have already switched to another provider following the company’s cyberattack.

A further 56% say they are considering changing providers. That’s one heck of a potential customer churn.

What do the experts think?

James reports that Citi has dropped its 12-month share price target for Medibank by 25% to $3.

Remarkably, that means there is potential upside for any ASX investor daring enough to buy a company in a PR crisis.

Citi said:

Key considerations from here will be the precise nature of the impact and the reaction of consumers to it, which is hard to gauge.

This could see the share price move in either direction, but the extent of the current uncertainty moves us to neutral, lowering our target price to $3.

The post Could the Medibank share price be on the road to recovery? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why did the IAG share price just hit a new 52-week high?
• These were the worst-performing ASX 200 shares in October
• Could the Medibank share price be in for way more pain?
• 5 big ASX announcements making news this week
• Citi downgrades Medibank share price and slashes target by 25%

Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Motley Fool contributor Bronwyn Allen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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