EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $17.35, but opened at $15.28. EchoStar shares last traded at $15.27, with a volume of 1,045,246 shares.

The communications equipment provider reported ($0.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by ($0.23). EchoStar had a positive return on equity of 5.24% and a negative net margin of 36.33%. The firm had revenue of $4.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SATS has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on EchoStar in a research note on Saturday, April 13th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on EchoStar from $14.25 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on EchoStar from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. TD Cowen cut their price target on EchoStar from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on EchoStar in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other EchoStar news, Director James Defranco bought 70,000 shares of EchoStar stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $13.14 per share, for a total transaction of $919,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 176,951 shares in the company, valued at $2,325,136.14. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 55.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EchoStar

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in EchoStar by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,465,583 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $58,049,000 after purchasing an additional 33,451 shares in the last quarter. Pennant Select LLC purchased a new position in shares of EchoStar during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,892,000. Beryl Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in EchoStar in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,090,000. Pennant Investors LP purchased a new stake in EchoStar in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,679,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in EchoStar by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,095,327 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $18,150,000 after acquiring an additional 383,030 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.24 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.64.

About EchoStar

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.