Singtel Stock (SGX: Z74) Outlook on Dec 25, 2025: Latest Optus Fallout, Data Centre Deal Watch, Dividends, Buybacks and Analyst Targets

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel) enters the final stretch of 2025 with its share price sitting near multi‑year highs—yet the story is not the sleepy “telco-as-a-bond” narrative investors used to tell themselves. As of Dec 25, 2025, Singtel last traded around S$4.55, with a 52‑week range of roughly S$3.04 to S$4.92—a big move for a mega‑cap telecom. ^[1]

Under the hood, the bull case has been turbocharged by three engines: (1) improving operating momentum and upgraded guidance, (2) a capital-return machine (dividends + buybacks) funded by asset recycling, and (3) investor excitement around digital infrastructure—especially data centres. ^[2]

But December also delivered a reminder that Singtel still has a very large, very real Australian risk: Optus. An independent review into Optus’ September 18 emergency-call outage—linked to fatalities—flagged process failures and cultural issues, with accountability actions now explicitly on the table. ^[3]

What follows is a full, up-to-date (as of 25.12.2025) stock-focused briefing: the latest news, the most relevant forecasts, and the competing valuation takes shaping Singtel sentiment.

Where Singtel shares stand now

Singtel’s last quoted level around S$4.55 puts the stock close to the top end of its past year’s trading band. ^[4] Market data services also show Singtel up strongly year-to-date (mid‑40% range), reflecting a broad rerating rather than a single one-off catalyst. ^[5]

A key nuance for Dec 25 readers: Christmas Day is a public holiday in Singapore, so fresh market moves may be limited while investors digest headlines and position for the year-end. ^[6]

The headline risk: Optus and the “Triple Zero” outage review

The most market-sensitive December development isn’t in Singapore—it’s in Australia.

On Dec 18, 2025, reporting around an independent inquiry into Optus’ emergency-call (Triple Zero/000) outage described multiple failures during a firewall upgrade, including issues involving both Optus and contractor Nokia. The review highlighted gaps in process and escalation, and stated that the Optus board’s response could extend to financial penalties and terminations tied to individual accountability. ^[7]

For Singtel stock, this matters in three ways:

Operational reliability risk becomes valuation risk. When regulators and politicians get involved—especially around emergency services—telecom margins can become a policy football.

Optus turnaround credibility is on trial. Singtel’s broader “growth engines” narrative leans on Optus stabilising and contributing. Singtel has pointed to Optus operating improvements before; the review threatens to re‑attach a “trust discount” to the Australian unit. ^[8]

The news cycle is sticky. Even if the financial impact is contained, repeated reliability headlines can keep pressure on customer churn, pricing power, and brand perception—exactly the levers Optus needs to pull for a clean recovery.

The growth narrative: data centres, Nxera and the STT GDC deal watch

While Optus is the volatility generator, data centres are the “multiple-expansion dream.”

Singtel has been positioning its digital infrastructure arm (Nxera) as a core growth pillar. In its latest major results update, Singtel said Nxera EBITDA is expected to grow at more than 20% annually over the next four years, supported by additional operational data-centre capacity. ^[9]

Then came the deal speculation that poured gasoline on the theme:

In early November, sources-based reporting said KKR and Singtel were in advanced talks to buy full ownership of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) for over S$5 billion, which would rank among Asia’s largest data-centre transactions amid surging AI-driven demand for digital infrastructure. Singtel also cautioned that there was no certainty talks would lead to a binding agreement. ^[10]

This is exactly the kind of optionality equity investors love: a mature cash-generating core supporting a plausible “infrastructure platform” rerating. But it’s also where execution risk hides—large deals, complex financing, and integration questions can turn a shiny narrative into a headache.

Asset recycling: Singtel monetises Bharti Airtel, funds the pivot

Singtel’s capital strategy has been unusually central to the share price story in 2025.

On Nov 7, 2025, Singtel said it sold 51 million shares in India’s Bharti Airtel—about a 0.8% stake—raising gross proceeds of S$1.5 billion as part of a S$9 billion asset recycling programme aimed at funding investments in digital infrastructure and services. Singtel estimated a gain of about S$1.1 billion, and noted its stake in Bharti fell to 27.5% (from 31.4% in 2022). ^[11]

The market reaction was immediate: Singtel shares jumped sharply on the day of the announcement. ^[12]

Strategically, this is Singtel trying to do something that sounds simple but is brutally hard in practice: sell mature/valuable holdings at good prices, and redeploy into higher-growth, higher-multiple assets—without blowing up the dividend.

Dividends and buybacks: the shareholder-return flywheel

Singtel’s 2025 run-up hasn’t been only about future growth. It has also been about cash returns now.

Dividend: higher interim payout (and a clear timetable)

Singtel declared an interim dividend of 8.2 Singapore cents per share, up from 7 cents a year earlier, and indicated it would be paid on Dec 9, 2025. ^[13]
Market dividend trackers also list the ex-dividend date around Nov 20, 2025, with payment on Dec 9, 2025. ^[14]

Buybacks: authorised programme and active repurchases

Singtel’s board previously authorised a S$2 billion share buyback programme, framed as part of active capital management and “value realisation.” ^[15]

Importantly, this was not just a press-release promise—Singtel filed multiple daily share buy-back notices through late November and early December. ^[16]
One disclosed repurchase (example: Nov 27, 2025) showed 2.5 million shares bought at roughly S$4.72–S$4.75, with the filing also listing cumulative buybacks to date under the mandate. ^[17]

For the stock, buybacks can matter in two ways: mechanically (reducing share count) and psychologically (signalling management believes the stock is undervalued, or at least worth supporting).

What analysts are forecasting for Singtel stock

Here’s the key point: the Street is broadly constructive, but targets vary depending on how much value analysts assign to the data-centre pivot—and how much discount they apply to Optus risk.

Consensus ratings and 12‑month targets

A widely cited consensus estimate based on 17 analysts pegs Singtel at an average 12‑month target of ~S$5.19, with a high estimate of S$6.20 and a low estimate of S$4.36. The same source summarises the consensus stance as “Buy.” ^[18]

Other aggregators broadly cluster in the same zone:

S$5.11 average (high S$5.71, low S$4.62) based on a smaller set of recent analysts. ^[19]
~S$5.24 (max S$6.20, min S$4.40) on another compilation. ^[20]
A Singapore-focused summary of multiple broker notes shows targets in a ~S$4.86 to S$5.75 range with median ~S$5.14. ^[21]

At a last price near S$4.55, these imply low‑teens upside on average—if Singtel executes and headlines don’t detonate. ^[22]

A notable bullish house view: DBS (Dec 11)

One of the more optimistic published bank views shows a BUY call with a target price of S$5.71 (publication date Dec 11, 2025). That note argues for catalysts including a significant step-up in data-centre contribution and potential Singapore mobile ARPU stabilisation, while also pointing to the strategic value of associates (like Bharti Airtel). ^[23]

Valuation debate: “undervalued compounder” vs “priced-in rerating”

Singtel is now at the awkward stage of a rerating where everyone agrees the stock looks better than it did, and then immediately disagrees on whether the upside remains.

The “still undervalued” argument

One analysis of the recent rerating points to Singtel trading around 12.4x earnings, below broader peer averages, and suggests a DCF-based fair value around S$6.31—while explicitly warning that this upside depends on cash flows growing as projected and execution staying clean. ^[24]

The “already expensive” counterpoint

Another valuation model pegs intrinsic value around S$3.71 and characterises the stock as overvalued versus the current market price. ^[25]

Why such different answers can both be “reasonable”

Models disagree because they’re not really arguing about today. They’re arguing about:

whether Nxera becomes a meaningful earnings driver or remains capital intensive,
whether Optus steadily improves or keeps generating regulator-grade disasters,
and how much of Singtel’s value should be attributed to associates versus the operating businesses.

In other words, Singtel is being valued less like a slow utility and more like a portfolio of telecom + infrastructure + regional telco equity stakes—each with its own volatility and narrative gravity.

The financial backdrop investors are anchoring to

Singtel’s latest half-year results update (for the six months ended Sep 30, 2025) is the fundamental “receipt” supporting the 2025 rerating.

The company reported underlying net profit of S$1.35 billion, up from S$1.19 billion a year earlier, driven by stronger contributions from Optus and regional associates. Singtel also upgraded its fiscal 2026 outlook for operating company earnings growth to high single digits to low double digits, and reiterated the longer-run growth ambition for Nxera. ^[26]

What to watch next in 2026

The near-term setup for Singtel stock is basically a three-variable system:

1) Optus: will accountability actions and process fixes restore trust—or trigger new regulatory pain?
The December review put escalation protocols, culture, and governance in the spotlight. Expect ongoing scrutiny, including political and regulatory follow-through. ^[27]

2) Data centres: deal clarity and execution milestones
Any concrete update on the STT GDC consortium talks could move the stock—either direction—because it changes the scale and risk profile of Singtel’s infrastructure ambitions. ^[28]

3) Next earnings catalyst
Market calendars point to Singtel’s next projected results milestone around mid‑February 2026 (projected Q3 FY2026 release timing). ^[29]

Bottom line: Singtel’s 2025 rerating is real—now it has to be earned again

As of Dec 25, 2025, Singtel stock sits at an interesting crossroads:

The market has rewarded Singtel for behaving like a disciplined capital allocator (asset recycling + buybacks + dividends). ^[30]
The company has backed the narrative with upgraded guidance and a clearer digital infrastructure roadmap. ^[31]
But Optus remains the chaos variable, and December’s emergency-call outage review is exactly the kind of event that can reintroduce a “conglomerate discount” overnight. ^[32]

Analyst targets mostly imply further upside, but the spread between bull and bear views is a neon sign: investors are no longer debating whether Singtel is improving—they’re debating how durable the improvement is. ^[33]