It's been a rough few months for Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) shares. A rough year, in fact.
Today, the Telstra share price is trading at $3.66, up 0.41% for the day thus far. That might look pleasant, but it still leaves Telstra shares down 7.9% over 2024 to date.
It also leaves Telstra down a painful 16.55% over the past 12 months, and down around 18% from the ASX 200 telco's last 52-week high of $4.46 a share that we saw back in June 2023.
So investors have taken a significant bath on the value of their investments in Telstra of late.
Why? Well, as we discussed earlier this month, investor sentiment seems to have cooled on Telstra ever since the company's decision last year not to monetise or sell off its valuable InfraCo Fixed division. This division houses some of Telstra's most crucial assets, including data centres, undersea cables and fibre networks.
Investors were expecting Telstra to be able to fetch a compelling price for these assets, which would have led to an immediate return for shareholders. But since Telstra opted to keep these assets in-house, the markets seem to have responded with apathy ever since.
Since June last year, we have seen Telstra shares drift lower and lower, culminating in last Friday's new 52-week low of $3.64 a share.
Check that out for yourself below:
And yet, more than one ASX expert is telling investors that this Telstra share price slump represents a lucrative buying opportunity.
Image source: Getty Images
ASX experts name Telstra shares as a buy
Last week, my Fool colleague James covered ASX broker Bell Potter's buy rating on Telstra stock.
Bell Potter set a 12-month target for the Telstra share price of $4.25 a share. If realised, the telco's share price would rocket by 16.4% over the coming year.
The broker argued that Telstra shares were looking cheaper right now compared to other stock market investments. It also noted that the company was still growing at a slow but steady rate and that an infrastructure sale was still a viable option for the company.
Bell Potter is also pencilling in a dividend raise every year until FY2026, which it predicts will see Telstra fork out 20 cents per share in dividend payouts.
But Bell Potter isn't the only broker eyeing off Telstra.
We also recently covered the views of another broker – Goldman Sachs. Goldman is even more bullish on Telstra, with a 12-month share price target of $4.55. This optimism also stems from the potential to "monetise [Telstra's] InfraCo Fixed assets" and the company's "defensive earnings and positive growth outlook".
So, shareholders will no doubt feel fairly positive about their Telstra holdings after hearing what these two ASX experts predict for the company. But we'll have to wait and see what happens over the next 12 months.
Right now, the current Telstra share price gives this ASX 200 telco a trailing dividend yield of 4.79%.
