SATS To Post Q4 Earnings Inline With The Street
Analysts at Citigroup maintain their "buy" rating on EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), while reducing their estimates for the company. The target price for SATS is set to $24.
EchoStar is scheduled to report its Q4 results on March 1. “Our estimate calls for SATS to generate $464.3 million in revenue, a decline of 6.5% vs. 4Q08… We look for EBITDA of $55.5 million, up 89.7% vs. 4Q08 due to lower costs and modest improvement to the FSS top-line,” the analysts say. The analysts expect SATS’ Q4 EPS to be inline with the consensus projections.
“We have five key reasons for our bullish outlook: 1) EchoStar has cash and marketable securities worth close to $19 a share, limiting downside risk; 2) the company has recently begun generating positive free cash flow; 3) Dish now indemnifying EchoStar for all Tivo damages over $5 million; 4) Dish added net subscribers for first time in five quarters; and 5) SATS has potential for new contract wins from Dish Mexico and Slingbox,” the analysts add.
Citigroup has reduced its EPS estimate for 2010 from $0.02 to -$0.08 due to higher D&A expenses.
