6 things Morgan Stanley liked in Bharti Airtel Q4 earnings

Moneycontrol BureauBrokerage firm Morgan Stanley retained its underweight rating on Bharti Airtel post its fourth quarter earnings, saying strong operating profit was not translating into pre-tax profit.However, the brokerage said it liked six things in the Q4 numbers.(Excerpts from the Morgan Stanley report)* Robust domestic minute growth at 17.5 billion minutes (a six-year high),and 100 basis points improvement in wireless margins* Africa margins expanded around 80 basis points quarter-on-quarter * Capital spending during the quarter was Rs 60.6 billion, with around 55 percent allocated to India wireless. Company was free cash flow positive during the quarter.* Buyback should support the stock in near term * South Africa turned EBITDA positive * Effective tax rate was low at 39.7 percent during the quarter, driven by Africa; sustainability is questionable.