The Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price has been on fire in 2021.
Since the start of the year, the telco giant's shares have gained a remarkable 29%.
This means the Telstra share price is outperforming the ASX 200 by some distance. In fact, it is even outperforming the Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price!
Can the Telstra share price hit $4.50 by the end of the year?
The good news for shareholders is that one leading broker believes the Telstra share price can rise even further.
According to a recent note out of Morgans, its analysts have put an add rating and $4.44 price target on the company's shares.
Based on the current Telstra share price of $3.89, this implies potential upside of 14% over the next 12 months.
And with Morgans expecting another fully franked dividend of 16 cents per share in FY 2022, the potential return increases to over 18% including this.
All in all, this broker appears to believe there's a reasonable chance the Telstra share price could be nearing $4.50 by the end of the year.
Why is the broker bullish?
Morgans came away from Telstra's recent T25 event feeling very positive on the company's future.
It commented: "With T22 now upon us, Telstra's investor day focused on aspirations for T25 (from FY23 to FY25), and they didn't disappoint. The crux of the investor day commentary is that the worst is now behind TLS. Earnings bottomed in FY20. Underlying earnings, and maybe even the dividend, are expected to grow at a reasonable pace over the next four years."
In addition, the broker highlights that industry trends are positive and feels the sum of the parts (SOTP) for the company is worth more than the Telstra share price implies.
It concluded: "Industry dynamics have turned positive (NBN and mobile prices are increasing after 5 years of declines; TLS's targets imply they continue to rise); The SOTP for TLS is worth more than the current share price (and steps to release this value are underway; albeit timing is unclear); and Underlying earnings returned to growth in 2H21 and should continue growing out to FY25."
