Analyst: EchoStar returns to growth
November 22, 2021
By Chris Forrester
A report from analysts at Quilty Analytics says that Charlie Ergen-backed satellite operation EchoStar is returning to growth mode.
The firm says that EchoStar has reported its third consecutive quarter-year of solid top-line growth coupled with double-digit bottom-line growth.
“In an unusual twist, however, the majority of this growth was driven by enterprise/equipment demand, including the In Flight Communications segment and defense sectors and the company’s $250 million OneWeb contract,” said the report.
EchoStar’s key fundaments show revenues up 6.6 per cent and EBITDA up an impressive 12.2 per cent.
The numbers are all the more reassuring given that EchoStar’s historic growth driver – its consumer broadband business – slipped into negative territory (service revenues down ~1 per cent) for the first time since 2016 as capacity constraints extended into previously stalwart international markets (down 8,000 subs in LatAm), says Quilty.
Investors seem to like the news which seemingly was immune from the mark downs which have badly affected the stock prices of Eutelsat and SES following on from the Russian deliberate satellite destruction.
EchoStar will launch its major new satellite, Jupiter-3, in the second-half of 2022.