EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS) Hits New 1-Year High on Earnings Beat

Shares of EchoStar Co. (NASDAQ:SATS) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $30.58 and last traded at $30.50, with a volume of 1020893 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $29.01.

The communications equipment provider reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.63) by $1.87. EchoStar had a negative return on equity of 0.64% and a negative net margin of 15.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SATS shares. TD Cowen cut their price target on EchoStar from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of EchoStar in a report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised EchoStar to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, UBS Group lifted 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SATS. Diameter Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in EchoStar by 523.7% in the fourth quarter. Diameter Capital Partners LP now owns 5,026,823 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $115,114,000 after purchasing an additional 4,220,853 shares during the period. Darsana Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of EchoStar by 133.3% during the 4th quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 7,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $160,300,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,000 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of EchoStar by 325.3% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 940,950 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $21,548,000 after acquiring an additional 719,685 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of EchoStar by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,301,367 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,701,000 after acquiring an additional 474,313 shares during the period. Finally, Stonehill Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of EchoStar during the 3rd quarter valued at $9,235,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.62% of the company’s stock.

EchoStar Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a PE ratio of -3.31 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $26.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

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.