Shares of Vodafone Idea Ltd. were trading with gains of over 6% on Thursday, February 13. The stock ended a three-day losing streak to open at ₹8.10 and went on to hit an intraday high of ₹8.94 per share.

The big trigger came after the telco told analysts that it will spend ₹10,000 crore to expand its network by the end of March. That’s almost as much that of the total spend in the first nine months of the year. The Aditya Birla Group company has spent ₹5,300 crore in capex between April and December 2024.

The optimism helped the market overlook the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) demand for a ₹6,090 crore bank guarantee before March 10.

While its ready to step on the gas with capital expenditure, it needs money, about ₹35,000 crore, from banks to fund the expansion. “We expect the bank funding to conclude in next 7-8 weeks. We had a closing cash balance of about ₹18,000 crore as of June 30, 2024 and we are sufficiently funded to execute the capex plans in the interim,” chief executive officer (CEO) Akshaya Moondra said in a conference call with analysts.

Global brokerage firm Citi has issued a ‘Buy’ rating on Vodafone Idea, but slashed is price target to ₹12 per share. Vodafone Idea’s December quarter losses have also narrowed.

Out of the 22 analysts that have coverage on Vodafone Idea (market capitalisation of ₹62,800 crore), 12 have a ‘Sell’ rating on the stock, six recommend ‘Hold,’ and four have a ‘Buy’ rating.

Goldman Sachs has the lowest target on Vodafone Idea at ₹2.4, while Ambit Capital has the highest at ₹15.