Iridium Surges On Strong Subscriber Growth: 'We Plan To Continue Being Aggressive,' CEO Says

Iridium Communications Inc IRDM shares are trading higher on Tuesday after the McLean, Virginia-based company reported second-quarter earnings of 27 cents per share, beating the street view of 18 cents.

Quarterly sales of 201.067 million missed the street view of $201.852 million.

Iridium ended the quarter with 2.41 million total billable subscribers, versus 2.14 million for the year-ago period. Subscriptions are up from 2.33 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2024.

Total billable subscribers grew 13% year-over-year, led by growth in commercial IoT.

Net income primarily benefitted from a year-over-year decrease in depreciation expense associated with extending the estimated useful lives of the company’s satellites and the prior year’s write-off of the company’s remaining ground spare.

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Capital expenditures were $12.4 million for the second quarter, including $1.2 million in capitalized interest.

The company ended the second quarter with gross Term Loan debt of $1.6 billion, $50.0 million outstanding under the Revolving Facility, and a cash and cash equivalents balance of $63.5 million.

Iridium repurchased three percent of its shares and increased its quarterly dividend to common shareholders, according to CEO Matt Desch. “We plan to continue being aggressive with our shareholder-friendly activities in 2024, based on current market valuations,” he added.

Outlook: The company reiterated its full-year 2024 outlook. Total service revenue growth is projected between 4% and 6% for the full year 2024.

Total service revenue for 2023 was $584.5 million.

Full-year 2024 OEBITDA is expected between $460 million and $470 million. OEBITDA for 2023 was $463.1 million.

Price Action: IRDM shares are trading higher by 9.49% to $28.38 at last check Tuesday.

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