UPDATE: Bank of America Raises PT on Mobile TeleSystems OJSC on Good Q4 Numbers

In a report published Wednesday, Bank of America analyst Haim Israel reiterated a Buy rating on Mobile TeleSystems OJSC

, and raised the price target from $20.00 to $22.00. In the report, Israel noted, “Now that the big-3 have all reported Q4 numbers, our 4 takeaways are: (1) Russia continues to deliver. The Big-3 managed to improve profitability, focusing on the value per SIM rather than number of SIMs. (2) Big-3 unanimous message: this will continue into 2013 with market expected to growth high single digits with flattish margins (3) Data continues to be a driver. Data traffic is up c.36% y/y with increasing ARPU, translating into higher traffic with improving margins; and (4) Russian cellular is at the forefront of dividend payment. Big 3 will pay c. $4bn of dividends in the coming months, with MTSS paying the highest DY.” Mobile TeleSystems OJSC closed on Tuesday at $20.00.