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Iridium Communications IRDM is slated to release first-quarter 2025 earnings on April 22, before market open.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $212.9 million, indicating an increase of 4.4% from the year-ago level. The consensus estimate for earnings per share is 22 cents, unchanged in the past 30 days. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported earnings of 16 cents.
IRDM’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, while meeting once, with the average surprise being 35.2%. In the past year, shares have lost 8.6% against the Zacks Satellite and Communication industry's growth of 24.2%. (Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.)
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Factors at Play
Healthy demand momentum across all its business segments – service, subscriber equipment and engineering and support service – coupled with rapid subscriber engagement, is likely to have boosted Iridium’s first-quarter performance. Our estimate for service, subscriber equipment and engineering and support service units is pegged at $157.8 million, $21.7 million and $32 million, respectively.
Rising commercial service revenues remain a key growth driver, backed by strong performance across voice, IoT data, broadband, hosted payloads and other data services. We estimate commercial service revenues to be $130.1 million, indicating 6.5% growth from the prior-year actual.
The company expects steady growth in voice subscribers and revenues, driven by its unmatched reliability and global network coverage, solidifying its foothold in the satellite industry.
The hosted payload and other data service segment is also expected to have benefited from its cutting-edge Iridium Satellite Time and Location (STL) offering. The Iridium STL business is targeted to generate more than $100 million in service revenue per year by 2030. Hosted payload and other revenues will support 2025 growth as the Iridium Positioning, Navigation and Timing service (PNT) gains momentum. With civil and government uses, it is attracting GPS-dependent groups vulnerable to spoofing and jamming.
Iridium Communications Inc Price and EPS Surprise
Iridium Communications Inc price-eps-surprise | Iridium Communications Inc Quote
Increased Engineering and Support revenues, fueled by heightened activity with the U.S. government, particularly the ongoing Space Development Agency contract, are encouraging. This partnership aligns Iridium with the U.S. government's long-term space goals.
Furthermore, Subscriber equipment sales rebounded strongly after pandemic-related supply chain challenges, showing solid recovery momentum. In the fourth quarter, segmental sales jumped 38% year over year to $21.6 million, driven by strong demand for Iridium services.
Iridium is shifting to become the top L-band partner to VSAT at sea, focusing on safety services. Despite short-term challenges, its long-term outlook remains strong. Increasing competition in the satellite communications space, a high debt load and emerging cyber risks pose headwinds.