# Telstra Group (TLS.AU)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/TLS.AU

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z. Financial observations: FY1997–FY2026.

Listing currency: AUD. Reporting currency: AUD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: AUD 4.79 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low AUD 2.47 per share, central AUD 2.80 per share, high AUD 3.24 per share. Buy at or below the central value AUD 2.80 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 7.0% at the stated quote. About 7.0% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; AU 10-year bond 5.2% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 6 revenue declines in the last 10 years

- more than 5 revenue declines in ten years

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 6

- Years with a net loss: 0

- Operating margin variation: 0.21×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.18×

- FY2018: 0.15×

- FY2019: 0.11×

- FY2020: 0.10×

- FY2021: 0.10×

- FY2022: 0.13×

- FY2023: 0.14×

- FY2024: 0.14×

- FY2025: 0.15×

- FY2026: 0.19×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- Recent gross margin fell 11.2pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 8.6%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 5.9%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 11.2 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 35.4%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 24.2%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 14.5%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 12.4%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 10.6%

- FY2018: 8.7%

- FY2019: 6.2%

- FY2020: 4.9%

- FY2021: 5.9%

- FY2022: 7.6%

- FY2023: 8.6%

- FY2024: 8.8%

- FY2025: 8.6%

- FY2026: 11.7%

### economics: fail

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 1.27×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: AUD 12B

- Net income, five-year total: AUD 9.7B

- Return on incremental invested capital: 0.0%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -0.8 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -5.7 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 12.6%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2022: 1.36×

- FY2023: 0.98×

- FY2024: 0.46×

- FY2025: 1.33×

- FY2026: 2.00×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2017 to 2026 (9 years)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 8.7% vs 8.8%

- Per-share earnings: 0.33 to 0.19 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: -0.8%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: -1.1%

- Market cap gain: AUD 5.8B

- Cumulative retained earnings: AUD -409M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: -0.8%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: -1.1%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2017

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2026

- Per-share value growth: -6.5%

- Per-share value change: AUD -0.14

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: AUD 0.33

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: AUD 0.19

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -0.02

- Average buyback yield: 1.1%

- Buyback history: 9 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: AUD 7.1B

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: AUD 23B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 8.7%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 8.8%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: AUD 0.33

- FY2018: AUD 0.30

- FY2019: AUD 0.18

- FY2020: AUD 0.15

- FY2021: AUD 0.16

- FY2022: AUD 0.15

- FY2023: AUD 0.17

- FY2024: AUD 0.14

- FY2025: AUD 0.19

- FY2026: AUD 0.20

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -10.3%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.94×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 0.0%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 3.03×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.86×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -9.2%

- FY2018: -11.8%

- FY2019: -10.6%

- FY2020: -10.1%

- FY2021: -11.3%

- FY2022: -12.3%

- FY2023: -9.6%

- FY2024: -10.6%

- FY2025: -11.5%

- FY2026: -10.3%

## Holders

## Price story

Price needs cash profits to grow 7.7% a year for ten years · sales +1%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:59.331Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 7.7% a year for ten years

- 2025-08-13: Telstra forecasts annual earnings below view, taking shine off share buyback plan ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/australian-telco-telstra-logs-31-220551929.html))

- 2026-07-08: Telstra Stock Drops 3.8% After Network Outage Disrupts Calls and Trains ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/telstra-stock-drops-3-8-145526421.html))

- 2026-08-13: Telstra Stock Slips as A$1 Billion Buyback Meets Profit Miss ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/telstra-stock-slips-1-billion-183752032.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +1%; source https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/; observed 2026-10-16.

- FY2017: AUD 26B 

- FY2018: AUD 26B 

- FY2019: AUD 25B 

- FY2020: AUD 24B 

- FY2021: AUD 22B 

- FY2022: AUD 21B 

- FY2023: AUD 23B 

- FY2024: AUD 23B 

- FY2025: AUD 23B 

- FY2026: AUD 23B 

### Gross margin · FY2026

gross margin 24.2%; source https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/; observed 2026-10-16.

- FY2017: 51.0% 

- FY2018: 47.8% 

- FY2019: 45.5% 

- FY2020: 16.4% 

- FY2021: 17.1% 

- FY2022: 23.8% 

- FY2023: 25.3% 

- FY2024: 63.2% 

- FY2025: 63.9% 

- FY2026: 24.2% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in telecom services; annual sales are AUD 22.9 billion.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2026: revenue 22937000000; grossProfit 5557000000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); TLS.AU: Telstra Group Limited provides telecommunications services in Australia and internationally. The company operates through six segments: Telstra Consumer; Telstra Business; Telstra Enterprise; Telstra International; Networks, Product and Technology; and Telstra InfraCo. It offers telecommunication and technology products and services to consumer and small and mid-sized business customers using mobile and fixed network technologies, as well as operates call centers, retail stores, retail distribution network, digital channels, distribution systems, and Telstra Plus customer loyalty program. The company also provides technology, network capacity and management, unified communications, cloud, security, industry solutions, and integrated and monitoring services to government and large enterprise and business customers; media and technology products; telecommunication services, including terrestrial, mobile and satellite network connectivity, subsea network capacity and network technology management services, as well as hosting services and integrated solutions; and manages international subsea cables. In addition, it operates the fixed passive network infrastructure, including data centers, exchanges, poles, ducts, pits and pipes, and fiber network; designs and constructs fibre, exchanges, and other infrastructure; provides wholesale customers with access to network infrastructure; offers long-term access to components of infrastructure under the infrastructure services agreement; and operates the passive and physical mobile tower. The company was formerly known as Telstra Corporation Limited and changed its name to Telstra Group Limited in November 2022. Telstra Group Limited was founded in 1901 and is based in Melbourne, Australia.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 24.2% to 63.9% during 2024–26; it earns 8.6% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 63.2%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 63.9%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2026: grossProfit / revenue = 24.2%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); 10-year return on capital observations [[2017,0.10623773599631713],[2018,0.0870810789852807],[2019,0.0622122053419052],[2020,0.04919371981213521],[2021,0.05881241304295239],[2022,0.07585136542754198],[2023,0.08617030576174713],[2024,0.0879064633223892],[2025,0.08559949438159611],[2026,0.1170976617125934]]; median 0.08588490007167163. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 10 of 10 years; bought back AUD 1.3 billion of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2017: growth capex 0; upkeep 3725000000; owner earnings 5588000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 3571000000; owner earnings 5461000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 3207000000; owner earnings 4156800000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 3442000000; owner earnings 4115400000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 3140000000; owner earnings 3907000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 3094000000; owner earnings 2294600000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2023: growth capex 0; upkeep 3870000000; owner earnings 1892090882.4963431. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2024: growth capex 239984092.82629395; upkeep 4824015907.173706; owner earnings 745125838.1231816. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.32207189785656126.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 3874000000; owner earnings 2885988220.2304735. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2026: growth capex 0; upkeep 2609000000; owner earnings 4479950872.817955. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); Dividend observations: [[2017,3736000000],[2018,3150000000],[2019,2259000000],[2020,1903000000],[2021,1902000000],[2022,1888000000],[2023,1964000000],[2024,2022000000],[2025,2317000000],[2026,2262000000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); FY2026: cash repurchases 1279000000 AUD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 0.4% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); TLS.AU SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 0.447 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 7.7% yearly over ten years; actual decline was 3.1%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:34:08.762Z); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.09812523668240158. Price 4.79; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2016 owner earnings/share 0.5461373512383088 → FY2026 0.3998178731810167. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (AUD per share)

- 2016-10: AUD 4.98 per share

- 2016-11: AUD 5.05 per share

- 2016-12: AUD 5.10 per share

- 2017-01: AUD 5.00 per share

- 2017-02: AUD 4.82 per share

- 2017-03: AUD 4.66 per share

- 2017-04: AUD 4.22 per share

- 2017-05: AUD 4.40 per share

- 2017-06: AUD 4.30 per share

- 2017-07: AUD 4.10 per share

- 2017-08: AUD 3.67 per share

- 2017-09: AUD 3.49 per share

- 2017-10: AUD 3.54 per share

- 2017-11: AUD 3.43 per share

- 2017-12: AUD 3.63 per share

- 2018-01: AUD 3.67 per share

- 2018-02: AUD 3.35 per share

- 2018-03: AUD 3.14 per share

- 2018-04: AUD 3.18 per share

- 2018-05: AUD 2.80 per share

- 2018-06: AUD 2.62 per share

- 2018-07: AUD 2.84 per share

- 2018-08: AUD 3.10 per share

- 2018-09: AUD 3.19 per share

- 2018-10: AUD 3.08 per share

- 2018-11: AUD 2.93 per share

- 2018-12: AUD 2.85 per share

- 2019-01: AUD 3.11 per share

- 2019-02: AUD 3.13 per share

- 2019-03: AUD 3.32 per share

- 2019-04: AUD 3.38 per share

- 2019-05: AUD 3.65 per share

- 2019-06: AUD 3.85 per share

- 2019-07: AUD 3.97 per share

- 2019-08: AUD 3.72 per share

- 2019-09: AUD 3.51 per share

- 2019-10: AUD 3.49 per share

- 2019-11: AUD 3.86 per share

- 2019-12: AUD 3.54 per share

- 2020-01: AUD 3.84 per share

- 2020-02: AUD 3.43 per share

- 2020-03: AUD 3.07 per share

- 2020-04: AUD 3.05 per share

- 2020-05: AUD 3.24 per share

- 2020-06: AUD 3.13 per share

- 2020-07: AUD 3.35 per share

- 2020-08: AUD 2.89 per share

- 2020-09: AUD 2.78 per share

- 2020-10: AUD 2.68 per share

- 2020-11: AUD 3.07 per share

- 2020-12: AUD 2.98 per share

- 2021-01: AUD 3.12 per share

- 2021-02: AUD 3.08 per share

- 2021-03: AUD 3.40 per share

- 2021-04: AUD 3.39 per share

- 2021-05: AUD 3.52 per share

- 2021-06: AUD 3.76 per share

- 2021-07: AUD 3.78 per share

- 2021-08: AUD 3.84 per share

- 2021-09: AUD 3.93 per share

- 2021-10: AUD 3.82 per share

- 2021-11: AUD 4.07 per share

- 2021-12: AUD 4.18 per share

- 2022-01: AUD 3.92 per share

- 2022-02: AUD 3.96 per share

- 2022-03: AUD 3.96 per share

- 2022-04: AUD 4.04 per share

- 2022-05: AUD 3.88 per share

- 2022-06: AUD 3.85 per share

- 2022-07: AUD 3.89 per share

- 2022-08: AUD 3.97 per share

- 2022-09: AUD 3.85 per share

- 2022-10: AUD 3.92 per share

- 2022-11: AUD 3.98 per share

- 2022-12: AUD 3.99 per share

- 2023-01: AUD 4.08 per share

- 2023-02: AUD 4.16 per share

- 2023-03: AUD 4.22 per share

- 2023-04: AUD 4.37 per share

- 2023-05: AUD 4.36 per share

- 2023-06: AUD 4.30 per share

- 2023-07: AUD 4.26 per share

- 2023-08: AUD 4.01 per share

- 2023-09: AUD 3.85 per share

- 2023-10: AUD 3.81 per share

- 2023-11: AUD 3.82 per share

- 2023-12: AUD 3.96 per share

- 2024-01: AUD 4.04 per share

- 2024-02: AUD 3.82 per share

- 2024-03: AUD 3.86 per share

- 2024-04: AUD 3.67 per share

- 2024-05: AUD 3.47 per share

- 2024-06: AUD 3.62 per share

- 2024-07: AUD 3.94 per share

- 2024-08: AUD 3.93 per share

- 2024-09: AUD 3.88 per share

- 2024-10: AUD 3.82 per share

- 2024-11: AUD 3.94 per share

- 2024-12: AUD 4.01 per share

- 2025-01: AUD 3.95 per share

- 2025-02: AUD 4.14 per share

- 2025-03: AUD 4.21 per share

- 2025-04: AUD 4.51 per share

- 2025-05: AUD 4.78 per share

- 2025-06: AUD 4.84 per share

- 2025-07: AUD 4.97 per share

- 2025-08: AUD 4.89 per share

- 2025-09: AUD 4.82 per share

- 2025-10: AUD 4.88 per share

- 2025-11: AUD 4.92 per share

- 2025-12: AUD 4.87 per share

- 2026-01: AUD 4.88 per share

- 2026-02: AUD 5.18 per share

- 2026-03: AUD 5.33 per share

- 2026-04: AUD 5.32 per share

- 2026-05: AUD 5.21 per share

- 2026-06: AUD 5.08 per share

- 2026-07: AUD 5.02 per share

- 2026-08: AUD 4.67 per share

- 2026-09: AUD 4.83 per share

- 2026-10: AUD 4.64 per share

## Annual estimated value (AUD per share)

- FY2017: low AUD 4.28 per share, central AUD 4.87 per share, high AUD 5.65 per share

- FY2018: low AUD 5.04 per share, central AUD 5.74 per share, high AUD 6.66 per share

- FY2019: low AUD 4.92 per share, central AUD 5.60 per share, high AUD 6.50 per share

- FY2020: low AUD 4.59 per share, central AUD 5.22 per share, high AUD 6.06 per share

- FY2021: low AUD 3.67 per share, central AUD 4.17 per share, high AUD 4.83 per share

- FY2022: low AUD 3.55 per share, central AUD 4.03 per share, high AUD 4.67 per share

- FY2023: low AUD 3.55 per share, central AUD 4.04 per share, high AUD 4.68 per share

- FY2024: low AUD 2.39 per share, central AUD 2.71 per share, high AUD 3.14 per share

- FY2025: low AUD 2.40 per share, central AUD 2.73 per share, high AUD 3.16 per share

- FY2026: low AUD 2.47 per share, central AUD 2.80 per share, high AUD 3.24 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.