Shares of Deutsche Telekom slid to a fresh 52-week low of €23.54 last Tuesday, deepening a sell-off that has now wiped more than 18% off the stock since the start of the year. By Friday’s close, the stock had recovered slightly to €25.20, but remains far below its late-February peak of €34.35 — a gap of 26.64% that underscores the breadth of the current downturn.
The latest leg lower comes as Barclays trimmed its price target on the telecoms giant to €36.50, a reduction that still implies upside of roughly 45% from current levels. That apparent contradiction — a cautious analyst call that nonetheless points to substantial potential — highlights the degree to which the stock has been punished. The 200-day moving average, a key gauge of long-term momentum, sits at €28.78, 12.43% above the current price, reinforcing the bearish technical picture.
Management is fighting fire with its own money. On 1 July, Deutsche Telekom launched the third tranche of its €2 billion share buyback programme for the 2026 financial year. Under that phase, which runs until 30 September, the company plans to repurchase up to 23.5 million of its own shares through Xetra trading in Frankfurt, spending a maximum of €560 million. Since the programme’s inception in April, the group has already bought back over 18.6 million shares at a cost of around €490 million. By the halfway point of the year, the total tally stretched beyond 35 million shares, with roughly €1 billion deployed — a sign that the buyback is being used aggressively to absorb selling pressure.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Deutsche Telekom?
Yet the market remains unconvinced. The relative strength index on a 14-day basis stands at 36.9, inching towards the 30 threshold that traditionally signals an oversold condition. Some investors have begun to dip in, using the €23.54 low as an entry point. Still, the annualised volatility of 28.92% suggests further choppy sessions ahead. The long-term downtrend, defined by the wide gap to the 200-day average, is still firmly intact.
In a bid to sharpen the group’s competitive edge, Deutsche Telekom has also reshuffled leadership at its consulting arm. Dr. Uwe Heckert took the helm of Detecon at the start of the month, replacing Jürgen Schäfer. Heckert, who previously ran the healthcare operations at T-Systems, is tasked with strengthening the consultancy’s global profile and improving operational efficiency — a move that could eventually feed into group margins.
Attention now turns to 6 August, when Deutsche Telekom will report second-quarter and first-half numbers. The focus will be on free cash flow, which the company expects to hit roughly €19.8 billion by 2026. For the near term, though, the progress of the buyback and the ability of T-Mobile US to navigate stiff American competition — uncertainty surrounding potential restructuring at the US unit has been weighing on sentiment — will determine whether the stock can build a base above its fresh trough.
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