EchoStar (SATS)

Communication Services · $2.7B market cap · SEC CIK 0001415404

Next reports on Mar 17, 2027, with analysts expecting $2.06 in earnings per share.

The case for SATS

• Trades at 0.66× book value, below what the balance sheet says it owns.
• Revenue up 1019% on the year. A jump that size is often a deal or an accounting change, so check the filing.
• Has compounded revenue at 131.2% a year over five years.
• Current assets cover the near-term bills 7.6 times over.

The case against

• Losing money over the last year: net margin −10957.2%, return on equity −95%.
• Burned $1.1B of free cash in FY2025.
• Carries $18.7B of long-term debt with no operating cash flow to pay it down.
• Priced at 321.4× sales, which leaves no room for a stumble.
• Down 28.9% over the past year.
• Swings harder than the market (beta 13.77).

What the score is made of

Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Communication Services companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. The score is where that blend places it in the S&P 500. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.

• It is losing money, so it has no P/E; that counts against value rather than being skipped.
• Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 19 Communication Services companies.

The financials

The financials, five years deep

Pulled from EchoStar's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are worked out from the others.

What EchoStar says it does

– Patents and Other Intellectual Property” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information. We may not be aware of all intellectual property rights that our services or the products used in connection with our services may potentially infringe. In addition, patent applications in the United States are confidential until the Patent and Trademark Office either publishes the application or issues a patent (whichever arises first). Therefore, it is difficult to evaluate the extent to which our services or the products used in connection with our services may infringe claims contained in pending patent applications. Furthermore, it is sometimes not possible to determine definitively whether a claim of infringement is valid. 44 Table of Contents If our products contain defects, we could be subject to significant costs to correct such defects and our product and network service contracts could be delayed or cancelled, which could…

Risk factors SATS lists in its 10-K

• “Item 1. Business – Overview – Competition”
• “Item 1. Business – Overview – Wireless - Business Strategy – Wireless”
• We face certain risks competing in the wireless services industry and operating a facilities-based wireless services business
• The wireless services industry is dominated by incumbents
• Our ability to compete effectively in the wireless services industry is dependent on a number of factors
• We depend on certain third parties to provide us with infrastructure and products and services
• Wireless services and our wireless spectrum licenses are subject to government regulation
• Our pay-TV competitors may be able to leverage their relationships with programmers to reduce their programming costs and/or offer exclusive content that will place them at a competitive advantage to us
• Changes in how network operators handle and charge for access to data that travels across their networks could adversely impact our Pay-TV business
• Economic weakness and uncertainty may adversely affect our ability to grow or maintain our business
• Fewer subscriber activations and increased subscriber churn rate
• Higher subscriber acquisition and retention costs
• We are facing increasing competition which could impact demand for, and result in, increasing pricing pressures with respect to, our products and services
• If we are unable to take advantage of technological developments on a timely basis, or at all, we may experience a decline in demand for our services or face challenges in implementing or evolving our business strategy
• Any deterioration in our operational performance and subscriber satisfaction could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations
• If our subscriber activations decrease, or if our subscriber churn rate, subscriber acquisition costs or retention costs increase, our financial performance will be adversely affected
• With respect to our Pay-TV business, programming expenses are increasing, which may adversely affect our future financial condition and results of operations
• We may not be able to obtain necessary retransmission consent agreements at acceptable rates, or at all, from local network stations
• We have limited satellite capacity and failures or reduced capacity could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations
• Our failure to effectively invest in, introduce and implement new competitive products and services could cause our products and services to become obsolete and could negatively impact our business
• We rely on a single vendor or a limited number of vendors to provide certain key products or services to us, and the inability of these key vendors to meet our needs could have a material adverse effect on our business
• We depend on independent third parties to solicit orders for our services that represent a meaningful percentage of our total gross new subscriber activations
• We rely on highly skilled personnel for our business, and any inability to hire and retain key personnel or to hire qualified personnel may negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations
• Our business growth and customer retention strategies rely in part on the work of technically skilled employees
• Our owned and leased satellites in orbit are subject to significant operational and environmental risks that could limit our ability to utilize these satellites
• Our use of certain satellites is often dependent on satellite coordination agreements, which may be difficult to obtain
• We may face interference from other services sharing satellite spectrum
• Our business depends on certain intellectual property rights and on not infringing the intellectual property rights of others
• We are, and may become, party to various lawsuits which, if adversely decided, could have a significant adverse impact on our business, particularly lawsuits regarding intellectual property
• If our products contain defects, we could be subject to significant costs to correct such defects and our product and network service contracts could be delayed or cancelled, which could adversely affect our revenue
• We have experienced and may experience in the future cyber-attacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized access to our systems on a consistent basis
• The confidentiality, integrity and availability of our services and products depends on the continuing operation of our information technology and other enabling systems
• Our international businesses expose us to additional risks that could harm our business
• Our ongoing investments in security will likely continue to identify new vulnerabilities within our services and products
• We have substantial debt outstanding and may incur additional debt, and covenants in our Indentures could limit our ability to undertake certain types of activities and adversely affect our liquidity
• We depend upon our subsidiaries’ earnings to make payments on our indebtedness
• We have made substantial investments to acquire certain wireless spectrum licenses and other related assets, and may be unable to realize a return on these assets
• We may pursue acquisitions, dispositions, capital expenditures, the development, acquisition and launch of new satellites and other strategic
• initiatives to complement or expand our business, which may not be successful and we may lose a portion or all of our investment in these acquisitions and transactions
• We will need additional capital, which may not be available on favorable terms or at all, to fund current obligations, continue investing in our business and to finance acquisitions and other strategic transactions
• The conditional conversion features of our convertible notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition
• From time to time a portion of our investment portfolio may be invested in securities that have limited liquidity and may not be immediately accessible to support our financing needs
• Covenants in our and our subsidiaries’ Indentures restrict our business in many ways
• Our services depend on FCC licenses that can expire or be revoked or modified and applications for FCC licenses that may not be granted
• The risk of non-compliance with laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, the risk of changes to laws and regulations, could adversely affect our business
• If our internal controls are not effective, our business, our stock price and investor confidence in our financial results may be adversely affected
• We are controlled by one principal stockholder who is our
• Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
• It may be difficult for a third-party to acquire us, even if doing so may be beneficial to our shareholders, because of our capital structure
• Future issuances of our Class A common stock and hedging activities may depress the trading price of our Class A common stock
• Sociopolitical volatility and polarization may adversely affect our business operations and reputation
• We may face other risks described from time to time in periodic and current reports we file with the SEC

Filings

Other Communication Services companies