Public Markets
After two straight periods of decline, the FOCUS Telecom Business Services Index (TBSI) rebounded in our winter reporting period to deliver a strong three-month gain of 15.0%. This handily outperformed both the 7.1% gain in the S&P 500 and the 1.0% drop in the NASDAQ over the corresponding time period. Even with this period’s gains, the TBSI remains in the red for the full 12-month period with a loss of 11.5%. On the bright side, this still outperforms the 19.4% drop in the S&P 500 and the 33.1% drop in the NASDAQ over the past year. Sector multiples are lower than they were a year ago, but only by the narrowest of margins. The sector revenue multiple slipped from 1.0x to 0.9x, while the sector EBITDA multiple inched down from 11.0x to 10.9x.
