EchoStar (NASDAQ:SATS – Get Free Report) and Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM – Get Free Report) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.
Volatility & Risk
EchoStar has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Iridium Communications has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares EchoStar and Iridium Communications”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| EchoStar | $15.83 billion | 0.55 | -$119.55 million | ($0.75) | -40.29 |
| Iridium Communications | $830.68 million | 4.14 | $112.78 million | $1.06 | 29.96 |
Iridium Communications has lower revenue, but higher earnings than EchoStar. EchoStar is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Iridium Communications, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
33.6% of EchoStar shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.4% of Iridium Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. 55.9% of EchoStar shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of Iridium Communications shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares EchoStar and Iridium Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| EchoStar | -1.37% | -1.08% | -0.37% |
| Iridium Communications | 14.68% | 19.41% | 4.60% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for EchoStar and Iridium Communications, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| EchoStar | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Iridium Communications | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2.80 |
EchoStar currently has a consensus target price of $24.70, suggesting a potential downside of 18.27%. Iridium Communications has a consensus target price of $34.25, suggesting a potential upside of 7.84%. Given Iridium Communications’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Iridium Communications is more favorable than EchoStar.
Summary
Iridium Communications beats EchoStar on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About EchoStar
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. The Retail Wireless segment provides prepaid and postpaid wireless services under the Boost Mobile, Boost postpaid, and Gen Mobile brands, as well various wireless devices. The Network Deployment segment deploys a facilities-based 5G broadband network and commercializes deployment of 5G VoNR. The Broadband and Satellite Services offers broadband services to consumer customers, which include home, and small to medium-sized businesses; and satellite and multi-transport technologies, and managed network services to telecommunications providers, aeronautical service providers, civilian and defense government entities, and other enterprise customers. EchoStar Corporation was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado.
About Iridium Communications
Iridium Communications Inc. provides mobile voice and data communications services and products to businesses, the United States and international governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers worldwide. The company offers postpaid mobile voice and data satellite communications; prepaid mobile voice satellite communications; push-to-talk; broadband data; and Internet of Things (IoT) services. It also provides hosted payload and other data services, such as satellite time and location services; and inbound connections from the public switched telephone network, short message, subscriber identity module, activation, customer reactivation, and other peripheral services. In addition, the company offers voice and data solutions comprising personnel tracking devices; asset tracking devices for equipment, vehicles, and aircrafts; beyond-line-of-sight aircraft communications applications; maritime communications applications; specialized communications solutions for high-value individuals; mobile communications and data devices for the military and other government agencies, such as secure satellite handsets, as well as netted voice, messaging, and paging services; and maintenance services for the United States government's dedicated gateway. Further, it provides satellite handsets, voice and data modems, broadband data devices, and IoT data devices; various accessories for its devices that include batteries, holsters, earbud headphones, portable auxiliary antennas, antenna adaptors, USB data cables, charging units, and others; and engineering and support services. Iridium Communications Inc. sells its products and services to commercial end users through a wholesale distribution network that include service providers, and value-added resellers and manufacturers. The company was formerly known as Iridium Holdings LLC and changed its name to Iridium Communications Inc. in September 2009. Iridium Communications Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.
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