Public Markets

For the third straight reporting period, the FOCUS Telecom Business Services Index (TBSI) managed a positive return, outperforming the S&P 500 and only slightly underperforming the NASDAQ. The TBSI gained 14.3% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ gained 11.7% and 15.4%, respectively, over the same time frame. The TBSI remains in negative territory for the full-year period with a drop of 4.2%. This compares unfavorably to strong gains in both the S&P 500 (up 16.3% year-over-year) and the NASDAQ (up 43.6% year-over-year). Sector multiples are also lower than they were at this time last year. The sector revenue multiple fell from 0.7x a year ago to 0.6x, while the sector EBITDA multiple declined from 9.2x to 8.4x.

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