Deutsche Telekom's Quarterly Beat Draws Split Broker Verdicts as AI Chip Pact and Network Award Round Out a Busy Week

Deutsche Telekom's third-quarter report has produced a rare split among the bulls: two investment houses, both sticking to their positive ratings, moved their price targets in opposite directions. Goldman Sachs trimmed its target to EUR 36 from EUR 38 on 6 November while keeping a "Buy" rating, with analyst Andrew Lee recalibrating his estimates to reflect the quarterly figures, his forecasts for T-Mobile US and recent currency moves. Barclays went the other way on Tuesday, lifting its target to EUR 33 from EUR 32 and reaffirming "Overweight."

The divergence in targets sits atop a set of numbers that gave both houses reason to stay constructive. Revenue for the third quarter of 2026 came in at EUR 31.1 billion, representing organic growth of 5.5%. Adjusted EBITDA AL reached EUR 12.2 billion, up 8.0% on an organic basis, while adjusted net profit of EUR 3.0 billion marked a 12.7% increase, according to the company.

Management also raised its sights for the full year. Adjusted EBITDA AL is now guided to around EUR 47.6 billion for 2026, and free cash flow AL to roughly EUR 20.1 billion — both forward-looking company expectations rather than results already banked. Shareholders were offered a planned dividend of EUR 1.10 per share, one of the headline items in the 5 November quarterly release alongside the revenue growth and the upgraded annual outlook.

Away from the earnings file, the group kept up a steady stream of operational news. Its Magenta Moments loyalty programme has been extended with a weekly "Magenta Wednesday" format offering deals, promotions and prize draws to members. On the infrastructure side, T-Systems and Sparxity agreed on 3 November to collaborate on energy-efficient AI chips and computing systems, with Sparxity's hardware to be integrated and validated inside Telekom data centres; the memorandum of understanding was signed at the German government's digital summit.

There was recognition for the mobile network too. On 7 November, IMTEST and zafaco named Deutsche Telekom the winner of the 2026 mobile network test, awarding an overall grade of "very good" with a score of 1.24.

Investors will get their next full look at the group's trajectory on 25 February 2027, when Deutsche Telekom publishes fourth-quarter and full-year 2026 results.