NEW YORK—New research shows that large institutional investors upped their positions in the telecommunications market, which helped increase the capital inflow into the sector by 2.17 percent in the fourth quarter. The total influx of money was $3.2 billion, according to Susquehanna Financial Group telecommunications equipment analyst Joe Chiasson.
Chiasson’s evaluation of 13-F filings shows that institutions managing at least $100 million, exclusive of mutual funds, increased their positions in telecommunications equipment by $11 billion. However, Chiasson found that other institutions reduced their holdings by $7.8 billion during the same period.
“The telecommunications equipment market, particularly the wireline segment, is currently in a low growth state (4 to 5 percent), and is facing a number of overhanging issues,” Chiasson said. “While there are clearly some positive investment themes such as VoIP and broadband access, those are largely offset by some areas of secular technology decline, such as circuit switching.
“Compounding the mixed technology view are recent concerns about the impact consolidation of service providers’ capex and competition from Chinese vendors will have on the sector.”
