EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Hits New 12-Month High After Strong Earnings

EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $30.58 and last traded at $30.50, with a volume of 1020893 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $29.01.

The communications equipment provider reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.63) by $1.87. The company had revenue of $3.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.93 billion. EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 0.64% and a negative net margin of 15.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SATS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen cut their price objective on EchoStar from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on EchoStar from $15.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com raised EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on EchoStar in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EchoStar

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in EchoStar by 251.3% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,609 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in EchoStar in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Quarry LP raised its holdings in EchoStar by 8,906.7% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in EchoStar by 189.1% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,796 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 3,137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 65.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,684 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 2,635 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $26.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.41 and a beta of 0.72.

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.