The shares of BT Group (LSE: BT.A) have been a graveyard for many a retail investor. The former state-owned telecoms company floated in December 1984, when millions of Brits bought its shares. Way back then, the BT share price was 130p, valuing the business at £7.8bn. As I write, the shares stand at 163.1p, valuing the group at £16.2bn. So BT’s value has roughly doubled over 37 years (excluding dividends). That’s hardly a knockout performance.
The BT share price roller-coaster
Over the past five years, the BT share price has been one big disappointment. It’s crashed by more than half (-54.8%) since November 2016. It’s also down 35.9% over three years. However, the stock is ahead 36.8% over one year and down just 4.5% over six months.
But BT shares have been on a real downer since 17 June, when they hit their 2021 closing high of 205.6p. On 25 October, they closed at just 135.2p. Then, on Halloween (31 October), I argued that the BT share price had fallen too far. With the shares at 138.93p, I said I would buy BT at this price. The stock has since leapt by as much as 17.4% in 10 days.
So what caused BT shares to leap by more than a fifth (+20.6%) since 25 October? I believe that this rise was driven by two factors. First, buying pressure drove up BT shares — perhaps driven by bargain-hunting value investors like me. Second, BT’s half-year results, released on 4 November, injected new life into the stock last Thursday. Good news for long-suffering BT shareholders!