EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $43.14 EPS

EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The communications equipment provider reported ($44.37) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.23) by ($43.14), Briefing.com reports. EchoStar had a negative net margin of 2.04% and a negative return on equity of 1.58%. The firm had revenue of $3.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.52) earnings per share. EchoStar’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis.

EchoStar Stock Performance

Shares of EchoStar stock traded up $2.83 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $73.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,151,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,646,370. EchoStar has a one year low of $14.90 and a one year high of $85.37. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market cap of $21.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -69.98 and a beta of 0.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at EchoStar

In related news, Director Kathleen Q. Abernathy sold 16,754 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.35, for a total transaction of $1,379,691.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Paul Gaske sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.32, for a total value of $58,740.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 460,740 shares of company stock worth $35,967,480 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 55.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of EchoStar

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in EchoStar during the 2nd quarter valued at about $73,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar during the first quarter worth approximately $128,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of EchoStar by 24.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 8,068 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 1,576 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new position in EchoStar in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $316,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in EchoStar by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 13,528 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 2,119 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on SATS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $105.00 price target on EchoStar in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Zacks Research upgraded EchoStar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Citigroup upgraded shares of EchoStar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of EchoStar in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.20.

EchoStar Company Profile

EchoStar Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides networking technologies and services worldwide. The company operates in four segments: Pay-TV, Retail Wireless, 5G Network Deployment, Broadband and Satellite Services. The Pay-TV segment offers a direct broadcast and fixed satellite services; designs, develops, and distributes receiver system; and provides digital broadcast operations, including satellite uplinking/downlinking, transmission and, other services to third-party pay-TV providers; and multichannel, live-linear and on-demand streaming over-the-top internet-based domestic, international, Latino, and Freestream video programming services under the DISH and SLING brand names.