EchoStar Q3 Earnings And Sales Falter, But Gains Ground With Sling TV Subscribers

EchoStar Corporation SATS shares are trading lower on Tuesday.

The company reported third-quarter loss per share of 52 cents, missing the analyst consensus loss estimate of 37 cents. Quarterly sales of $3.890 billion (down 5.3% year over year) missed the street view of $3.909 billion.

In the third quarter, Net Pay-TV subscribers dropped by about 43,000, while Sling TV gained 145,000 subscribers. The company ended the quarter with 8.03 million total Pay-TV subscribers, including 5.89 million DISH TV subscribers and 2.14 million Sling TV subscribers.

“Our efforts focused on profitable customer acquisition and retention, strengthening our consumer offerings and enhancing our nationwide Open RAN 5G network,” said Hamid Akhavan, president and CEO, EchoStar. “In addition, we recently announced a series of transformative transactions that will disrupt the wireless and pay-TV industries.”

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The company ended the third quarter with 912,000 Broadband Satellite subscribers, a loss of about 43,000 in the quarter, compared to 59,000 lost in the same period last year. The smaller loss was due to the launch of the new EchoStar XXIV satellite and higher demand for new service plans. However, the third quarter was affected by the end of ACP program funding on June 1.

The company exited the quarter with cash and equivalents worth $2.8 billion and inventory worth $441.68 million.

The company’s long-term debt, finance lease, and other obligations, net of the current portion as of the end of the quarter, totaled $21.557 billion.

“We secured financing to meet our November debt maturity and announced an agreement with a group of our convertible note holders. This last transaction provides approximately $5.2 billion in additional financing and extends payment terms for the existing convertible notes tendered,” Akhavan added.

In addition, the company recently agreed to sell its pay-TV business to DIRECTV, subject to successful completion of an ongoing exchange and other closing conditions.

Price Action: SATS shares are trading lower by 3.46% to $25.23 at last check Tuesday.

Photo via Shutterstock

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